229. Patsy Cline, "The Ultimate Collection"

 


The greatest hits (or, in this case, "ultimate collection") debate arrives before us again with this lovely, exhaustive compilation of Patsy Cline songs.

Before we get into that issue, let's all agree that Patsy Cline is one of the greatest and most influential female singers in country and pop and 20th century music in general.  She had a voice like no other and this collection is a testament to that.  More on that later.

So here's my beef with including greatest hits albums on this list.  An album is a particular vision, a cohesive idea formed by a group of songs.  Some of the songs will land, some will not, some will be better than others, but the whole package is a snapshot of an artist at a particular place and time.  Part of the interesting thing about an album is how different the same artist can sound over time.  Take Meet the Beatles and Abbey Road, for example - clearly the same band, but way, way different sounds.  If you put "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "Golden Slumbers" on the same album, you elide or erase that progress.  By the same token, you could, say, put all of Prince's best songs on a single album and it might be the Greatest Album of All Time (seriously, it might be), but it's not really fair either to Prince, who made 42 studio albums, or the rest of the musicians, who are just out here grinding.

In 1961, Patsy Cline released an album called Showcase.  That album contained "Crazy," "Walkin' After Midnight," and "I Fall to Pieces."  On its own, Showcase is one of the best albums ever released.  That should be on here, not this slightly bloated collection of 32 songs.  Remember that Phil Spector collection we had back at #489?  Come on, man.  No one is listening to 73 songs.

But enough of that. Let's consider this music on its own merits.  The three songs I mentioned above are among the finest and most durable country-slash-country-pop songs ever recorded, and listening to them is a joy.  On this collection you'll also get Patsy's take on classics like "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" and "Your Cheatin' Heart."  It really is a joy to listen to; she has a voice that inhabits every song and the depth of feeling she can covey is incredible.  

Patsy died at 30 years old in a plane crash in 1963.  Boy, famous musicians used to die in plane crashes a lot more back then.  Of course the Internet has a list.  Buddy Holly, Randy Rhodes, Jim Croce.  I forgot about John Denver.  Poor Patsy Cline,  She would be 89 now and probably the revered elder stateswoman of country music.  

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? If we're gonna do greatest hits albums, then yes, of course.  But every Patsy Cline album probably should be.

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