The Fabulous Charlie Rich - CHARLIE RICH****

I Almost Lost My Mind/Life Has Its Little Ups & Downs/San Francisco Is A Lonely Town/Sittin' & Thinkin'/July 12th 1939/Bright Lights Big City-Hush Hush-Baby What You Want Me To Do-Ain't That Loving You Baby (Medley)/ Raggedy Ann/Have You Ever Been Lonely/A Picture Of You/Love Awaits For Me/It Makes Me Wanta Cry

Despite critical acclaim country singer Charlie Rich had many years in the commercial wilderness before achieving fame in the mid 1970s. Fabulous was another of his albums which failed to make any impact on the charts.

“Charlie Rich's unique blend of country, jazz and blues was probably never better showcased than on this album of top-notch material. There was a certain reserve to his style which got in the way somewhat, but even so this is a fine record.”

“The music is as fresh as the day Charlie cut these songs. Once or twice in a lifetime, a song comes along and hits you so hard you remember exactly where you were, and what you were doing, when you first heard it. Life Has Its Little Ups And Downs was like that for me.”

“No one ever sang more soulfully, more sweetly or with more passion than Charlie Rich. His talents are on display here. Yet this is just a typical studio album for him. Although it was cut in Nashville with Billy Sherrill as producer, it is nothing like the albums he cut with him after hitting the big time in 1973. Here Sherrill was content to let Charlie do some of his favourite Jimmie Reed and Ivory Joe Turner songs, and the country songs Sherrill brought somehow fit in. Charlie sang these with so much passion they sounded right on an album with blues and jazz stylings. I wish I could do justice to this music and tell you how great it is.”

“Included in this album is Life Has It's Little Ups And Downs. Written by Charlie's wife Margaret Ann, this is one of the greatest songs I ever heard in the many years I've been listening to music. It's just so special.”

“Charlie Rich was so excellent; this really should have been titled 'The Excellent Charlie Rich'. I can already imagine this album with that title. Unfortunately, this second album with Billy Sherrill for Epic Records, like the previous one, made little commercial noise.”