Search - Slim Whitman :: Red River Valley/Home on the Range

Two classic seventies albums

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 08/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Slim Whitman became extremely popular in Britain during the fifties as a result of the huge success of his single, Rose Marie, which topped the British charts for eleven weeks. With the advent of rock'n'roll, Slim's chart hits soon dried up, but he had a resurgence of popularity in the seventies. By the beginning of that decade, Slim was semi-retired but a successful appearance at a British country music festival showed that there was still plenty of interest in his music. In 1974, Slim returned to the British singles charts with a top 20 hit, Happy anniversary. The album featuring that single sold well in Britain and was followed by a hugely successful TV advertised compilation that made number one in the British album charts. The two albums featured here were the first and second releases following that success, both appearing in 1977. It is no surprise that both of these albums were extremely popular, but the sheer scale of their success was a surprise.



Red River valley, the first album here, was released early in 1977 and gave Slim a second consecutive British album. The title track, though recorded by plenty of different singers down the years, has (as far as I know) never been a hit single for anybody except for Johnny and the Hurricanes, who had an instrumental rock'n'roll version with a modified title (Red River rock) that became a big American hit. The rest of the album is filled with covers, though some are much better known than others. Una paloma blanca (the title means One white dove) and Rhinestone cowboy were both very successful in the mid-seventies for the original artists, while Too young and Cara mia had both been popular in the fifties. Somewhere my love (from Dr Zhivago) and Now is the hour (the Maori farewell song) may also be familiar to you via other versions. My elusive dreams (a great country song that Tammy Wynette's fans will recognize) is perhaps the best known of the remainder.



Home on the range, released towards the end of 1977, failed to complete a hat-trick of British number one albums for Slim, but it came close as it made number two. Like its predecessor, the title track is the only western-themed song on the album Overall, the selection of songs here is more solidly country though the sound and style of the album is the same. Pop music fans will recognize Paper roses, the most famous recording being by Marie Osmond, but it was originally an American hit for Anita Bryant and subsequently a British hit for Maureen Evans. Top of the world (Carpenters), I'll be home (Pat Boone), and Diane (Bachelors) are other songs that pop music fans may recognize. Two other familiar songs are a traditional Irish song (When you and I were young Maggie) and an oldie from the forties (Dear heart).



Slim Whitman was never again able to reproduce the success of these two albums, but while these albums deserved all the success that they had, Slim recorded many other albums of a high quality."