MY ALL TIME FAVORITE! What can I say? He is the best and this CD is great! I bought several as back-ups!
Not the optimum Butler collection, though it's decent Jerry Butler has been making smoothly soulful music for over 40 years now and as you'd expect changed record labels over that time. Record labels consideration for the bottom line being what it is, so far there's NO comprehensive collection for Butler assembling ALL of his career chart hits. Some were on Vee-Jay, others on Mercury..even Motown. This collects most of the best of the 50s/60s stuff with a couple interesting, if not particularly well-known, 70s moments from the Iceman.
HIGHLIGHTS: "For Your Precious Love" is a soul classic. "Moon River" leaves Andy Williams' better known rendition in the dust and proves Butler to be a creamy voiced vocalist with more in common with Nat "King" Cole than, say, Wilson Pickett. "Make it Easy on Yourself" practically bleeds emotion. The duet with Betty Everett on Everly Brothers classic "Let it Be Me" equals the original. "Only the Strong Survive" was a powerful anthem of tenacity. "Devil in Mrs. Jones" is a funky novelty from 1976 no doubt inspired by the porn flick of the same name ("The Devil in Mrs. Jones/makes me want to make love all night long/The Devil in Mrs. Jones/makes me want to raise some h*ll of my own")
LOWS: "Chalk it Up" isn't outright bad, but Butler doing disco is probably most interesting as an oddity.
BOTTOM LINE: This is OK and you might be happy with it, but the out-of-print Rhino collection does a little better job of gathering together at least the 50s and 60s material (ASIN B00000348Y). Still, you'll need to get the Millennium collection too to fill in some of the gaps from his last gasp of stardom in the early 70s. (ASIN B00004ZDVY)
The Iceman Stirs the Soul Rave all you want; Jerry Butler never got the respect that he deserved in record sales. "Moon River" got eclipsed shortly after its release by Andy Williams' version. "Let it Be Me" (with the talented Betty Everett) never sold like the Everly Brothers' version. Tony Orlando and Dawn would steal the thunder of "He Will Break Your Heart" with "He Don't Love You like I love You", though some years later. The Walker Brothers copied every nuance of Jerry's "Make it Easy On Yourself" and Elvis Presley, forgetting his own legacy and during his "singing-other-people's-hits" period, released "Only the Strong Survive" about the same time as Jerry Butler's. (Nice try, fella). With this CD, you can hear the real thing. This is a collector's item. And I hope Jerry Butler sees some profit from its sale.
wider than a mile Very impressive collection by one of the sweetest voices in soul music. Some of my friends say "For your precious love" is the greatest oldie ever, and I tend to agree. Back in 1958 that song was a revelation for me, because soul music wasn't that much played in Scandinavia back then (we did not have a word for this music then - it was just music!). And "Moon river"! Yes, this is the definitive version of the song. If you like R & B from the 60's then this is for you. Or if you just like good music, that is. You'll play it over and over.
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Trevor
Megaton Man
