Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I'm Walking the Dog [Live]
2. It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels [Live]
3. Turn the Cards Slowly
4. Church, a Courtroom, and Then Goodbye
5. Honky Tonk Merry Go Round
6. I Love You, Honey
7. Come on In (And Make Yourself at Home)
8. I Don't Wanta
9. Stop, Look and Listen [#]
10. I've Loved and Lost Again
11. Yes, I Understand
12. For Rent [Live]
13. Walkin' After Midnight
14. Heart You Break May Be Your Own
15. Pick Me Up (On Your Way Down)
16. Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)
17. Today, Tomorrow and Forever
18. Don't Ever Leave Me Again
19. Try Again
20. Too Many Secrets
21. Then You'll Know
22. Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray
23. That Wonderful Someone
24. In Care of the Blues
25. Hungry for Love
26. I Can't Forget
27. If I Could See the World (Through the Eyes of a Child)

Disc 2:

1. Just Out of Reach
2. I Can See an Angel
3. Let the Teardrops Fall
4. Never No More
5. If I Could Only Stay Asleep
6. I'm Moving Along
7. I'm Blue Again
8. Love, Love, Love Me, Honey Do
9. Yes, I Understand
10. Gotta Lot of Rhythm in My Soul
11. Life's Railway to Heaven
12. Just a Closer Walk With Thee
13. Lovesick Blues
14. How Can I Face Tomorrow
15. There He Goes
16. Crazy Dreams
17. When Your House Is Not a Home [Live]
18. Stupid Cupid [Live]
19. Loose Talk [Live]
20. I Fall to Pieces
21. Shoes
22. Lovin' in Vain
23. Side by Side [Live]
24. True Love
25. San Antonio Rose
26. Wayward Wind
27. Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)

Disc 3:

1. Crazy
2. Who Can I Count On
3. Seven Lonely Days
4. I Love You So Much It Hurts
5. Foolin' Around
6. Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)
7. South of the Border
8. Walkin' After Midnight
9. Strange
10. You're Stronger Than Me
11. Come on In (And Make Yourself at Home) [Live]
12. Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold) [Live]
13. Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home [Live]
14. She's Got You
15. You Made Me Love You
16. You Belong to Me
17. Heartaches
18. Your Cheatin' Heart
19. That's My Desire
20. Half as Much
21. Lonely Street
22. Anytime
23. You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling in Love)
24. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)
25. You're Stronger Than Me
26. When I Get Thru With You (You'll Love Me Too)
27. Imagine That
28. So Wrong

Disc 4:

1. Why Can't He Be You
2. Your Kinda Love
3. When You Need a Laugh
4. Leavin' on Your Mind
5. Back in Baby's Arms
6. Tra le la le la Triangle
7. That's How a Heartache Begins
8. Leavin' on Your Mind
9. Tennessee Waltz [Live]
10. Faded Love
11. Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)
12. Love Letters in the Sand
13. Blue Moon of Kentucky
14. Sweet Dreams
15. Always
16. Does Your Heart Beat for Me?
17. Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home
18. He Called Me Baby
19. Crazy Arms
20. You Took Him off My Hands
21. I'll Sail My Ship Alone
22. Just a Closer Walk With Thee [Live]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32373 in Music
• Released on: 1991-10-22
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import

Amazon.com essential recording
The Country Music Foundation offers 104 songs--more than four hours of music--even though Patsy Cline died at 30 after less than a decade of recording. Given the wavering quality of her later string-laden work, four CDs might be excessive, but this set comprehensively follows Cline from upstart country boomer to pop diva. She could take charge of a song from day one, as the two 1954 radio transcriptions prove. On her vibrant late-1950s work, she moves from honky-tonk and rockabilly to soft ballads in commanding fashion. "Walkin After Midnight," her first hit, features Don Helms's gentle steel guitar while her vocals blend raw power with emotional vulnerability. By 1957, vocal groups had entered into the mix, and in 1961, hits such as "I Fall to Pieces," "She's Got You," and Willie Nelson's "Crazy" brought her pop stardom. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Not just a country singer, and what a voice!!!
I hadn't heard much of Patsy Cline's music before I bought this box set but what a revelation! Not only did she have a beautiful voice (I DID know that) but what really surprised me is the different styles of music she performed. Actually, to label her just a "country singer" is simply not accurate, as a few of the songs border on rock and roll. She could sing a ballad with achingly heartfelt emotion or belt out a rockabilly number with ease. To the nonchalant, a few songs could be considered soundalikes, but with Patsy singing them you won't care that much; like the hip cliche these days, she could sing the phone book and make it sound good!

Another reviewer mentioned that there was some "filler" on this box set. That depends on your point of view. The songs themselves are not filler material; for the most part they are first-rate. However, from the label's perspective, there may have been slightly different versions of previous songs that were added simply to pad the total amount of songs in the box set. But, I don't believe this is necessarily a bad thing, because, if it's a great song it's interesting to hear a different version of it. Again, Patsy's voice makes it all worthwhile.

I would give this collection 10 stars if it was possible! Five stars does not give it justice. Patsy Cline's voice was a gift that is appreciated even more today, as style, looks and dance beats are stressed more than talent and ability. Patsy was taken from us WAY too soon, as this collection will attest to. If you are not already a Patsy Cline fan, buy this box set and soon you will be!

This Rocks!
You don't have to be a country fan or over 50 to love Patsy Cline. I'm 25 and I loathe the stuff, but Patsy has the voice of an angel and emotes perfectly in every song. This box set is essential and has something for just about every mood. Check out her cover of "Stupid Cupid." It's adorable! Trust me, take a few listens, and before you know it, you'll be humming her songs all day and thinking about what a tragedy it is that she died too soon before her time.

An Essential For Hardcore Fans
Patsy Cline's presence looms so large in 20th Century American popular music that it is tempting to believe she was a great star during her lifetime. That, however, is not really true. Cline spent most of the 1950s playing honky tonks, doing the occasional radio or television appearance, and making records that usually didn't sell. It was not until 1960 that Cline began to reach a national audience--but even then Cline's hits were not as many or as big as you might think. Then as now, music fans tended toward very specific niches, and Cline didn't fit easily within any of them, a fact that often made her a very hard sell. Even the famous "Sweet Dreams" couldn't ride the notoriety of her untimely death in a 1963 airplane crash to the top spot on the country charts, much less the pop charts.

But for all of this, Cline had a devoted fan base--and more importantly a tremendous influence on the country and pop singers that came after her. Over time, that influence would grow to a legendary status, and by the close of the 20th century she would be considered one of the greatest vocalists of her era. She would also be one of the best-selling as well.

THE PATSY CLINE COLLECTION offers all of Cline's most famous recordings and then some. This box set, which comes with a very handsome booklet detailing Cline's life and career, consists of four CDs: "Honky Tonk Merry Go Around," which includes early examples of Cline's original juke-joint style; "Moving Along," which shows her transitioning into her classic style; and "Heartaches" and "Sweet Dreams," which presents her in full "cross-over" mode, blending numerous popular musical idioms into a seamless whole.

The quality of the recordings vary. Many are 1950s radio transcripts, with all the audio limitations such implies; the later recordings, of course, are state of the art c. 1960. But whether its the earliest cut (a radio transcript of "Walking the Dog") or the last (a live recording of "Just A Closer Walk with Thee"), every recording is distinctly Patsy Cline. There is absolutely no mistaking that incredible voice, and it transcends whatever limitations may be involved.

The collection offers well over four hours of Pasty Cline recordings, and quite frankly if your interest in Cline is limited to the high style of her late 1950s and early 1960s work you would really do better to purchase a less expensive compilation. There are many such releases that include only the essentials. But if you're a die-hard fan--and I'm certainly one of them!--this is a must-have set. It is a pricey purchase, to be sure, but once the investment is made you will never need purchase another. And I can honestly say that I don't regret a penny spent.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--