All The Way + Sincerely

 

CD

 

"1961 saw Brenda Lee consolidating the successes of the previous year by continuing much in the same way: touring and making TV and promotional appearances while scheduling two albums a year and a new 45 every three months. As a force in the business, the team of Brenda Lee and manager/mentor Dub Allbritten was now second only to Elvis and the Colonel in terms of prestige and accomplishment.

Decca's Owen Bradley played an equally important role on the recording side. Both he and Allbritten were staunchly conservative in their approach, and with her mother usually closely on hand, Brenda was as compliant as she was professional. When the trade journal Billboard published a supplement celebrating Brenda's ten-year career in 1966, it noted:

'We found Brenda's personal life refreshingly ordinary, well-rounded and, consequently, rather uninteresting; there are none of those scandals that make for good copy but bad lives. In this area, high tribute must be paid to Dub Allbritten for taking great pains to avoid ending up with the product of a warped childhood. And Dub believes this pays off in the long run, on the professional side. 'In order to be a well-rounded performer,' Allbritten told the magazine, 'you must be a well-rounded human being. We have been very cautious about not letting the business interfere with her life'.'

The period spanning spring 1961 to spring 1962 was probably Brenda's banner year in terms of record sales. One session on 30 August 1961 produced four songs Break It To Me Gently c/w So Deep, Anybody But Me c/w Fool #1 which all became hits when paired together as singles.

Her other hits within this period were Dum Dum (which reached #4), You Can Depend On Me (#6) and Everybody Loves Me But You (#6). In most cases, the B-sides, such as Here Comes That Feeling, also charted. The Californian team of Jackie DeShannon and Sharon Sheeley penned several songs for Brenda during this particular phase including Dum Dum and So Deep. A recording artist in her own right, DeShannon had started out as a Brenda Lee-soundalike and the similarity in vocal style between the two artists enabled DeShannon to tailor her demos exactly to suit.

Meanwhile, efforts continued to replicate her success abroad. Brenda had made her name in Britain with brisker songs such as Sweet Nuthins, Let's Jump The Broomstick and Dum Dum. Big American hit ballads such as Fool #1, Emotions and I Want To Be Wanted had made less of an impression in the UK though I'm Sorry had nudged the Top 10 in 1960. In April and June 1962 she would make the Top 10 twice in a row with two fast songs, Speak To Me Pretty (a UK-only 45) and Here Comes That Feeling (a mere flipside in the States), confirming British preference for her faster numbers.

With her star on the rise, UK promoter Don Arden, best known as manager of the domiciled US rock star Gene Vincent, announced plans for Brenda's first British tour scheduled for March 1962. She was paired with Vincent on a billing that Arden, hedging his bets, promoted as The King and Queen of Rock. The itinerary took in such cities as Glasgow, Sheffield, Birmingham, London, Leicester, Newcastle and Liverpool and included a spot on ITV's prestigious Sunday Night At The London Palladium on which Brenda's timely plug for her latest single, Speak To Me Pretty, was watched by an audience of millions.

Two LPs, Brenda's fifth and sixth, were released during this period. 'All The Way', comprising a well-balanced programme of recent hits and older standards, peaked at #17 on Billboard's LP chart. It included Brenda's version of Do I Worry, an English pop hit by Jerry Lordan, writer of the instrumental classic, Apache. In marked contrast, 'Sincerely' seemed more of an attempt to bypass the kids in favour of an older crowd as it contained the highest proportion of lush ballads yet and was the first of her LPs not to include at least one of her hits 45s. As ever, the vocals and musicianship were exemplary.

In terms of sheer quality and consistency, Brenda Lee's growing canon of LPs was virtually unsurpassed for its time and Ace's release couples two more classy instalments in her story, in stero, bolstered with additional annotation and attractive period memorabilia".

 

Tracklisting

 

 

 1  Lover, Come Back To Me

 

 2  All The Way

 

 3  Dum Dum

 

 4  On The Sunny Side Of The Street

 

 5  Talkin' Bout You

 

 6  Someone To Love Me (The Prisoner's Song)

 

 7  Do I Worry (Yes I Do)

 

 8  Tragedy

 

 9  Kansas City

 

10  Eventually

 

11  Speak To Me Pretty

 

12  The Big Chance

 

 

13  You Always Hurt The One You Love

 

14  Lazy River

 

15  You've Got Me Crying Again

 

16  It's The Talk Of The Town

 

17  Send Me Some Lovin'

 

18  How Deep Is The Ocean?

 

19  I'll Always Be In Love With You

 

20  I Miss You So

 

21  Fools Rush In

 

22  Only You

 

23  Hold Me

 

24  I'll Be Seeing You