Four years after her tragic death in a place crash at the age of 30,
Patsy Cline
was still one of the best-loved female vocalists in country music, and in 1967
Decca Records
, the label that released the bulk of her hits, responded with this album, a collection of 12 of her most popular songs. There isn't anything particularly artful about the way this album was compiled or designed, but
Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits
certainly delivers what its title promises: these were most certainly the most popular tunes
Cline
cut during her tenure with
Decca
, and every one is a stunner, with
's rich, powerful voice gliding over the polished and evocative production by
Owen Bradley
.
and
Bradley
didn't invent "countrypolitan," but precious few artists managed to meld the sophistication of pop and the emotional honesty of country as brilliantly as this music accomplishes with seemingly effortless grace, and these songs still sound fresh and brilliantly crafted decades after the fact. This isn't the most thorough of the literally dozens of
collections on the market, and it isn't the best, but this was one of the first efforts to sum up her career in the years after her passing, and in 33 minutes it makes an airtight case that
was one of the finest and most versatile singers to ever step before a microphone. No small accomplishment, that. [In 1988, this collection was remastered and repackaged under the title
12 Greatest Hits
.] ~ Mark Deming