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 Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 8:44 pm |
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The Browns "The Complete Hits" (Collectors Choice)
The Browns sprang from Arkansas in the mid-50s as a sibling vocal trio
comprised of Jim Ed, Maxine and Bonnie Brown. They're best remembered
hit, 1959's country-pop #1 crossover, "The Three Bells," was cut five
years into their career, and though they'd continue to chart together
and solo, they'd never again find such chart-topping success. The
group debuted as a duo of Jim Ed and Maxine in 1954 with "Looking Back
to See," Maxine's clever hootenanny-styled account of her sister's
flirtatious exchange with a suitor. The pair's youthful voices had the
same jubilant tone as The Collins Kids, but the fiddle and barrelhouse
piano backing was more mid-American country than West Coast swing and
rockabilly, and Maxine never belted out the songs like Lorrie Collins.
Younger sister Bonnie joined her siblings as they began regular
appearances on the Louisiana Hayride and Ozark Jubilee, and the trio
waxed the original pedal-steel and fiddle weeper "Here Today and Gone
Tomorrow" with harmonies tightened by their sibling bonds. Following
their labelmate Jim Reeves in 1956, the Browns moved from the indie
Fabor to the Nashville powerhouse RCA where they hit with a cover of
the Louvin Brothers' "I Take the Chance." As on many of the Browns'
recordings, Jim Ed sang verses (or parts of verses) solo, and was
joined by his sisters on the choruses. They'd strike again later in
the year with the terrific courting tune, "I Heard the Bluebirds
Sing."
While the group's harmonies remained steady, by 1958 there were
changes taking place in Nashville. "Beyond the Shadow" expanded their
productions to stereo, and the light piano further softened a guitar
whose twang was already quite polite. The following year they broke
through with a cover of the 1940s Swiss cabaret song "Les Trios
Cloches." Originally popularized by Les Compagnons de Chanson, the
song was recorded a cappella by Edith Piaf, and translated into
English as "The Three Bells." The story of "Jimmy Brown" from birth to
marriage to final passing was remembered by the like-named Jim Ed
Brown, the tune was laid down with the Nashville Sound at the tail-end
of a 1959 session with producer Chet Atkins and arranger Anita Kerr.
The recording was a sensation, much as it had been in France in the
mid-40s, topping the country chart and giving Atkins his first pop #1.
In quick succession the trio waxed additional crossover hits with folk-
pop resurrections of Jo Stafford's "Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)"
and Sammy Kaye's "The Old Lamplighter." The Nashville Sound was in
full bloom by this point, with strings and tinkling pianos
accompanying the group's languorous vocal harmonies, making for a
sound as smooth as The Fleetwoods pop sides. Even country songs like
"Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On" were rendered smooth as glass
with violins and cooing background vocals. It was a long way from
"Looking Back to See," but the trio's harmonies took well to the new
setting. The soft, sweet ballads continued into the mid-60s with
"Everybody's Darlin' Plus Mine," "Meadowgreen," and "I'd Just Be Fool
Enough." The group's harmonies even ventured into Lettermen-esque easy
listening on Chip Taylor's "I Hear It Now." There were a few
diversions from the Nashville Sound, including a 1963 version of "Oh
No" whose middle tempo and guitar solo could pass for an early Conway
Twitty tune. Jim Reeves' "Then I'll Stop Loving You" brought the trio
back to their earlier close-harmony roots, and 1966's "I Will Bring
You Water" is a surprising slice of sunshine folk-pop.
Collectors' Choice 21-track collection includes their earliest hits
for Fabor and all of the RCA sides they landed on the country Top-100
and pop Top-20. As terrific as are the group's best known hits, the
versatility with which they wielded their harmonies is even more
impressive. They're just as convincing singing hill-bred country as
Nashville Sound, folk and straight pop; they covered a lot of ground
in their decade-plus of recording. An exhaustive look at their career
can be found on Bear Family's eight-CD "The Three Bells," but for most
listeners, this disc is just right. Audio note: tracks 1-7 and 17-21
are mono (though at least the first seems to be slightly out of
balance), the rest stereo. [(c)2008 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com] |
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