Search - Timi Yuro :: Best of

A Versatile Songstress

Sherry Meyer | 09/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For a while there, Rosemarie Timothy Aurro Yuro had everyone thinking that here was another Little Esther Phillips when Hurt b/w I Apologize hit the charts in 1961 for the Liberty label. Certainly her deep, raw, and soulful rendition on both sides came closer than any other female white singer in capturing those R&B qualities, and when Hurt topped out at # 2 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 4 Billboard Pop Hot 100/# 22 R&B that September (the B-side made # 19 AC/# 72 Hot 100), there was every reason to expect she would become a fixture on the charts for many years to come.



Her next release, the old Nat Cole hit, Smile, was another solid # 9 AC, it didn't do quite as well on the Hot 100, going to # 42 in December, and failed to crack the R&B charts. The B-side, She Really Loves You (note the listing mistake for Track 5) also charted, but low at # 93 Hot 100. She then came back in early 1962 with an old, old standard, Let Me Call You Sweetheart (# 15 AC/# 66 in February b/w Satan Never Sleeps). On all these hits and their B-sides she was back by the orchestra of Belford Hendricks.



The Bert Keyes orchestra then backed her on What's A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?) which, b/w Thirteenth Hour, returned her to the R&B charts at # 16 as well as a solid # 12 Hot 100 in August, both produced by Clyde Otis. Timi then closed out that year with The Love Of A Boy, this time backed by Burt Bacharach, hitting the # 44 Hot 100 slot in December b/w I Ain't Gonna Cry No More.



1963 started off slow when the Bert Keyes-backed Insult To Injury only made it to # 81 Hot 100 in March b/w Just About The Time, but in September, once more with the Belford Hendricks orchestra, she took the Ray Price Country hit, Make The World Go Away, to # 8 AC/# 24 Hot 100 b/w Look Down, and in October the same pairing reached back to 1959 and a Billy Grammer hit for Gotta Travel On which, b/w a slow, bluesy rendition of Down In The Valley, made # 64 Hot 100 (by this time Billboard had suspended the R&B charts, something that would last throughout 1964, and so any R&B chart references you see for songs in this period are the same as the Pop entries and were only arbitrarily added later for "historical purposes" and in no way accurately reflect a song's popularity in that market).



Then came the British Invasion and, like a lot of North American singers, Timi found her records shunned on both radio and in juke boxes, being shut out in 1964 and, in February 1965 and now with Mercury, scoring only with the minor hit, You Can Have Him (# 96 Hot 100 b/w Could This Be Magic?) with the backing of the Jack Nitzsche orchestra, but by then everything British was in and almost everything North American was out. She closed out her chart carer in December 1966 with Turn The World Around The Other Way, which made it to # 37 AC b/w Just A Ribbon.



Timi Yuro was one of the most versatile singers to appear in that era, and you only have to listen to her hits, as well as Country standards like She's Got You and I'm Movin' On, to realize just how good she was.



The ONLY thing preventing me from giving this 5 stars is the omission of Gotta Travel On/Down In The Valley from her Liberty cuts, and those last four sides with Mercury. With space for 25 selections, you'd think the producers could have obtained permission and found room for each.

"

TIMI YURO

Sherry Meyer | CHAS.S.C. | 11/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hurt: The Best of Timi Yuro I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD NEVER FIND HER MUSIC AGAIN. AWESOME!!!!!!! THE BEST OF THE BEST!!!!!"

The Reason You've Been Crying

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 07/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""I know the reason you've been crying; I heard she won't be needing you; How does it feel being the one left behind; What's a matter baby, is it hurting you?," Timi sings on one of the most biting & bitter romantic breakup songs ever recorded. Yuro's vocals on "What's A Matter Baby" captured my imagination with the dramatic impact of her singing. Although at the time the track only went to #12 on the pop charts, it's an amazing testament to Yuro's power as a vocalist. This 1992 collection is still probably the best overview of Yuro's career, although the Best of the Mercury Years also has its charm. Her biggest hit was "Hurt" with its aching sadness & an arrangement rooted in its era. However, her amazing vocal presence delivers the payload, "Even though you've hurt me like nobody else could do, I would never ever hurt you." The well known torch song "Smile" is reinvented with Timi's emotionally laden delivery, "Now you should smile though your heart is aching, Smile even though it's breaking, When there are clouds way up in the sky, you're gonna get by." I love Yuro's unabashed use of strings on tracks like "You Belong to My Heart" that creates such a rich sonic landscape for Yuro's powerful vocals. "Count Everything" with its under-the-boardwalk percussion is a lovely track. Yuro tests her chops as a songwriter on "Only Love Me." "That's Right, Walk On By" is another breakup song with Timi's vocals bursting with hurt & anger, "I'm just your used-to-be & I know you don't have no more use for me." Yuro recorded a couple Burt Bacharach songs with the large swelling vocals on "The Love of a Boy" and the bouncy "If I Never Get to Love You." "I Ain't Gonna Cry No More" has a catchy chorus as Yuro takes the stance of one who's now romantically wiser. It's a great track. She takes the Hank Cochran track "Make the World Go Away" and breathes life into it with her powerful vocals. Elvis Presley also sang "She's Got You" and sold a few more records, although Timi's vocals are strong. This is an excellent collection that still sounds powerful and affecting as we near the 50th anniversary mark of "Hurt." Enjoy!"