Search - Patsy Cline :: Live at the Opry

Lisa K. (ldk) from DURHAM, NC
Reviewed on 8/7/2006...

Lovely classics by the best of them all.

Not really a "concert" per se, tunes date from 1956-1962

Greg Brady | Capital City | 07/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The songs here come from so-called "transcription" discs. These 16 inch discs were furnished to every station with rights to broadcast "Prince Albert Opry Show" aired live Saturday nights on the NBC radio network (and whenever they were able for the stations that couldn't catch a live feed and used the transcriptions instead.) The recordings themselves were recorded by Opry house engineers. The recordings here come from 1956,1957,1960,1961, and 1962. It's interesting to note, as the liners point out, that at the time the first two tracks were recorded Patsy had not had a national hit, so it was unusual that she was given the coveted "guest artist" slot as a show of faith by the Opry. (To give you an idea, the week before it was Flatt and Scruggs, the week after Johnny Horton). In January of 1960 she was made an Opry castmember, though she'd still only had 1 chart hit ("Walkin' after Midnight")



Recordings are dated as follows: Cuts 1 and 2 6/16/1956, cut 3 12/14/1957, cut 4 4/2/1960, cut 5 4/29/1960, cuts 6 and 7 8/12/1960, cut 8 9/3/1960, cuts 9 and 10 7/7/1961, and cuts 11 and 12 3/23/1962. Since these were recorded live at the Opry many of these feature introductions from the Opry hosts of the time: Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, Jim Reeves, and Hank Snow.



HIGHLIGHTS:

Though her earliest performances are wonderful, you can note the effect a solid chart hit has on an audience...witness the cheers as she performs "Walkin' after Midnight" (which had just hit #3 country and #12 pop). The yodeling tour-de-force on Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" is something to hear. Witness her snarl out the line "I've grown so used to that man somehow" and how she holds the prolonged final note. Stellar. Cline turns in an impassioned performance on Carl Smith's 1955 hit "There She Goes" (with the gender changed, naturally). Some barrelhouse piano underlays "Lovin' in Vain". If you want to hear more spare versions of Patsy's biggest hits, "I Fall to Pieces","Crazy" and "She's Got You" all have more steel than the released versions, no six-string bass, and without the reverb on the Bradley productions.



BOTTOM LINE:

If you're already a Patsy fan, the sound quality on this is pretty good for vinyl sources. (A little bit of surface noise and "crackle" may be heard here and there but it's surprisingly good.) Keep in mind, though, what's here is short: less than a half hour of songs total. You may want to opt for a used copy.



3 1/2 stars"