Search - Patience and Prudence :: The Best of Patience and Prudence

Hard to rate -- a good news/bad news CD

Bruce R. Gilson | Wheaton, MD United States | 12/22/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As I say in my title, this CD is good news and bad news both. One problem, of course, is that so little was recorded by these girls that "best of" is a misnomer; it is really ALL of their work. So it has to include good stuff and bad.



A significant problem, too, is that the liner notes have a significant omission as well as what seems to be a serious error. The omission? The liner notes talk of two demo recordings made (one for their grandmother and one for a family friend who sang professionally) but do not mention that the last two tracks on the CD are those demo recordings. I'm sure that is the case, but you couldn't tell that from what is actually written there. (The liner notes also say that "Tonight You Belong to Me" was a song the girls learned in camp under the title "They Say" but don't prepare you for the fact that the lyrics that go with that title are the ones they sang in the demo!)



The error (or at least it seems to be an error!) refers to the work that the girls did after their big hits. The notes state that the girls joined with another young artist named Mike Clifford, but the collaboration lasted only about a year; then five years later the girls (who up to then had recorded for Liberty Records) signed up with a different label, Chattahoochee Records. If this is correct, why are all the Chattahoochee tracks listed as "Mike Clifford and Patience and Prudence"? Something doesn't fit.



The CD divides into three parts. The first is the era of Patience and Prudence by themselves, on the Liberty label, including their three hits, "Tonight You Belong to Me," "Gonna Get along Without You Now," and "All I Do Is Dream of You." The other more obscure songs from this era (many written by Mark McIntyre, their father) still have the typical Patience & Prudence sound, and if you like the three big hits (as I do!), the others ought to sound good to you as well. This group constitutes about 2/3 of the CD, and is the "good news" part.



Then there are the "Mike Clifford and Patience and Prudence" tracks. They begin on Liberty and include all the Chattahoochee tracks; they seem to be an attempt to do Rock'n'Roll, with a big loud guitar that overpowers the girls' voices, and I just don't think that sound works. (This is the "bad news" (together with the problems with the kiner notes!)



And finally the CD ends with the two demos I referred to earlier. They are interesting to listen to, and nice to have, though clearly amateurish. I think I'm happy to have those two tracks, but wish that the liner notes would confirm my assumption that they are those demos the notes describe.



One thing that unifies the CD is that all three portions have one song in common, the girls' biggest hit, "Tonight You Belong to Me," in three quite different versions!"

THE BEST OF PATIENCE & PRUDENCE

L. Dequesada | JAMAICA,, NY United States | 08/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Few 50's rock duos left such an unforgettable impression on me as Patience and Prudence Mc Intyre. Their 1956 hit of "Tonight You Belong To Me" is of course the crown jewel of their repertoire with the gone but not forgotten, Liberty Records label. Unfortunately their recording career was short, but fortunately their entire discography for "Liberty" was preserved and now its available to those of us who remember and treasure it. I wish to thank the "Collectors" label for bringing back to us these wonderful recorded musical treasures of the fabulous 50's and of our favorite artists Patience and Prudence."

Delicious Ear Candy - The Cover Art Says It All

Vincent Incardona | Rochester, NY | 07/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Patience McIntyre was quoted as saying that there would be two types of people interested in this CD: collectors who like it for their own reasons, and people who like it because it reminds them of a happy time in their life. I don't qualify on either count--I wasn't even born until 1961, never heard of Patience and Prudence until a few months ago, and since I haven't bought a music CD in ten years, I hardly qualify as a collector. One morning on my way to work, I happened to hear "Tonight You Belong To Me", and about six bars into the song, I realized I had a big smile on my face for no apparent reason. Then, a few weeks later, I heard "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" and had the same reaction. It's been a long time since a musician did that to me once, much less twice, so naturally I had to find out who that was, why I'd never heard them before, and whether there was more.



It wasn't easy. It took a call to the station and a lot of time with a search engine to find out who and what I was hearing and where I could get it, and since the rest of the tracks on the CD apparently didn't do well commercially, I wasn't sure whether I'd be disappointed when I found it. I decided that I wanted it anyway, even if only for the two big hits and the cover art (nice job, Patience), and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I really, really liked the whole thing. It could be their harmony, the gentle quality of their voices, the catchy pop arrangements, or the unpretentious style that does it for me, or maybe it's enough to say they made a unique and really nice sound together and just leave it at that. It's true that a couple of the songs are a bit lyrically challenged ("Should I comb my hair back, baby? Should I? Whaddya say?"), but even those sound good. This music is one of those things that exist just for pure sensory delight, like furry cats and ice cream sodas.



One hidden treat was probably not apparent to anyone but the recording engineer at the time: because the girl's voices were soft and gentle, they were miked very closely. The best part of that probably got lost on vinyl, but if you download the CD to your favorite MP3 player and listen to the earlier tracks through a pair of ear buds, the effect is like having the songs whispered in your ear. Delicious! On later tracks, you can hear their voices mature and mellow a bit, and although that's a slightly different sound, I think I like it even better. My favorites from this group were "Heavenly Angel" and "Whisper Whisper". Some people don't care for the more up-tempo rock and roll, but I found that I even liked that too. "Didn't I" and "How Can I Tell Him" always stay in my head for awhile after I've heard them.



My only real complaint? Pictures! We want pictures. I only found two with all that searching, one of which is a muddy reproduction from TIME magazine (March 1957) on microfilm. A clip of their TV appearance would be a real bonus.



I'll confess that I was a little disappointed when I found out that the two "kids" who made me smile that day are in their early sixties, mostly because it means that this collection is all there is and there isn't going to be any more. But I'm really pleased that both Patience and Prudence and their music are still with us. Thanks, ladies, for the smiles.

"