Reviewed by Dave Brassington

If you are a long-time fan of country crooner Jim Reeves (1923-1964) this eight CD box set will possibly be something to purchase and treasure. But there will be other fans who will detest what has been done to Jim's recorded legacy. Like the Marmite advert famously states, you will either LOVE or HATE this. Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the singer's tragic plane crash death and with extensive notes by Jim Reeves' biographer Larry Jordan, this is a handsome package which should rack up good sales in many parts of the world. Nobody in the long history of country music has ever achieved such international popularity as Gentleman Jim. The whole premise of this package is that this will re-introduce Jim's music to a new generation of listeners and to do that they've gone back to Reeves' original multi-track tapes and brought in a bevy of top class musicians to provide more contemporary accompaniments. The eight CDs are divided into 'Early Days', 'Rarities & Alternate Vocals', 'Gospel', 'Narratives & Folk', 'The Nashville Sound', 'Pop Stylings', 'New Songs & Christmas' and 'In Concert & Interview'. Personally I have heard very few "new" recordings of deceased artists' songs that have ever worked well, with the strong exception being the remix version of "Just A Little Conversation", where not only did they improve an Elvis album track, but gave Elvis another posthumous no 1 hit in Britain! I would think that if you put 50 Jim Reeves fans in the same room to listen to this ambitious undertaking, many and varied would be the responses, ranging from "brilliant!" to "sacrilege!" I am in the middle of such extremes as whilst I am keen to hear tunes I have never heard before with nice new backings, it grated on me to hear 2new" backings on tracks I have heard and loved since I first discovered them so many years ago. And to my ears, several tracks I am very familiar with on CD 2, like "Four Walls", "Anna Marie", "I Love You More" and "If Heartache Is The Fashion", are nothing like as good as the originals.

Cross Rhythms readers will be intrigued to note that of the whole package the 'Gospel' CD probably works best. I always thought Jim's two original religious albums were rather poorly produced and with dull accompaniments, so these new versions of classic gospel songs like "In The Garden" and "I'd Rather Have Jesus" work well. As somebody raised in the Methodist Church, Jim took singing gospel material very seriously and, as the sleevenotes records, often ruminating about the conflict between pursuing worldly goods and rewards in the hereafter. The beautiful imagery of "My Cathedral", reminiscent of the 23rd Psalm, was first embodied in a poem by Pat Twitty, a staff writer on Jim's ABN radio show which Jim read on air in 1957. He so liked the words he asked if they could be set to music.

'The Nashville Sound' CD will probably annoy most Jim Reeves purists for, in truth, the new backings for "Adios Amigo" and "Distant Drums" don't carry the same impact as his originals. The updated versions of pop ballads and the Christmas songs are acceptable. The last CD features a live show in Nashville recorded in August 1961, where Jim is singing with a large symphony orchestra. I had never heard this before, but listening to "Streets Of Laredo" where Jim accompanies himself on guitar (we really don't appreciate how good a guitar player he was), I was struck by the sheer quality of his deep voice, for me the most beautiful sounding voice I have ever heard! Following that there is a long interview with Texas disk jockey Bill Mack and then comes an alternate version of Jim's classic hit "He'll Have To Go". I thought it was absolutely awful and probably the low point of the whole release! Then we conclude with Jim's portion of the Oslo concert in Norway, recorded in April 1964, only a few months before his sad death.

The booklet by Larry Jordan is very interesting, containing much newly researched information, but having heard and read so much about Jim Reeves for over 50 years, there is at least one area of contention. In the past we have heard that it was Jim's RCA producer Chet Atkins who was responsible for getting Jim to sing in those beautiful low tones we are so familiar with. Jordan states that it was one of the lady loves in Jim's life, Bea Terry, who was responsible for this. Who knows? Other peculiarities in Jordan's writing are that Chet gets little mention in the booklet while the author also seems to believe that every time Jim recorded somebody else's song Jim's rendition was automatically better than the original. In particular Larry seems positively dismissive of Hank Williams, though Jim talks very warmly of the country pioneer in the Bill Mack interview. To sum up, there is much to enjoy in this monumental attempt to bring a new audience to the music of the pop and country star. Inevitably the expensive enterprise won't please some die hard fans. But, as the old saying goes, "you pays your money and you takes your choice!"

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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