TO COMMEMORATE the 50thanniversary of Jim Reeves’passing, H&H Music has

released a smashing eight-CD setentitled The Great Jim Reeves — acollection of 170 songs covering allaspects of the singer’s career.

Here in Britain, Reeves stands at No36 in the list of best-selling artists ofall time, achieving 25 Top 50 hitsincluding 13 Top 20 entries. To put thisin perspective, Bob Marley is at 38and Johnny Cash at 163. Our veryown superstar Daniel O’Donnell is at235. Jim Reeves is the only artist tohave scored as many as 34 chart hitsafter his death, which is amazing. Hehad 11 songs in the Irish charts from1962 to 1967.

In July 1964 shortly before hisdeath, he wrote a piece for RadioLuxembourg in which he said: “Stylesmay come, and styles may go, butcountry and western music, with itsorigins in centuries-old melodies, istruly music for all people, music thatwill live forever. That is why it’s mykind of music.”

Reeves’ magnificent voice isunmistakable. His smooth lightbaritone voice with perfect dictionwas just made for the ballads withwhich he became famous. He helpedpopularise the Nashville sound usingviolins and lusher arrangementsleading to his songs making thepopular charts.

All his greatest work shines throughhere in a collection lovingly puttogether by Steve Brink at H&H. Theeight CDs come with an excellent 48-page booklet written by Jim’sAmerican author and biographerLarry Jordan. The booklet is centralto the package because it brings thewhole Jim Reeves story to life.

“Even if you have bought everyVoiceMasters and/or H&H releasebefore, this set still offers 42 newoverdubs of RCA masters you havenever heard before,” says Jordan whohas also written almost 18,000 wordsfor the accompanying booklet. Itincludes notes on each song andsome rare photos.

“It truly was a ‘labour of love,’” saysJordan. “I did 42 of these overdubs inthe months following a heartablation, and I think they wereactually recuperative for me andaided my recovery! That’s becauseI have so much fun working withtalented musicians, orchestratorsand background singers. Over theyears I have assembled quite ateam and a real synergism hasdeveloped amongst all of us; thereare absolutely no egos involved.Everybody comes to the project witha spirit of cooperation and creativeenergy, striving to make these songssound as good as possible.”

It is the overdubs that will provemost interesting — and debatable —among Reeves’ fans. Some mightbaulk on the tampering with thoseclassic tracks, but what Jordan andCo have done is give some of thetracks better clarity and richness.They’ve boosted poor string sectionsof the day with more robust

performers and stripped backunnecessary accompaniments inorder to let Reeves’ main asset — hisvocal — shine through. It lifts thiscollection to something above a merecompilation of old tracks, repackagedand sold to fans that already treasurethe originals.

“What we are doing is tantamountto changing the frame around a greatpainting that has suffered the ravagesof time,” Jordan has said. “A lot ofJim’s recordings have experiencedaudio degradation over theyears and we havepainstakinglyrestoredthem so

his voice has better clarity andrichness than ever before. And thenwe’ve changed the frame — musically— so it’s as if we are now showcasing agreat painting so you see it to bestadvantage. Incidentally, bringing Jim’ssound up to date is the only way toget him played on radio and it is mymission to expose his incredible talentto new audiences. The so-called

purists who insist they onlylike his original

music can still listen to him that way;we haven’t taken their music awayfrom them!”

The commemorative CD set is amust, and not just for dyed-in-the-wool fans. Itcharts themusical life of areal countrymusic starwhose songsplayed a bigpart in the livesof ordinary folk.

Disc one isentitled EarlyDays andfeatures tracksfrom his early recording days. It’s aninteresting disc because all the songsare sung in higher keys that youwould not associate the man with. It’sinteresting to hear him do a cover ofWoody Guthrie’s Oklahoma Hills.

The second disc features a slew ofReeves’ rarities and alternate vocals.Track seven, Am I Losing You, writtenby Jim, was the turning point in hiscareer. He changed his recordingtechnique by lowering the key andmoving closer to the microphone — a

technique suggestedby his publicist

Bea Terry.Reeves

had

visited Terry in LA ostensibly to planhis publicity, but actually she helpeddo a little more including encouraginghim to try the close-to-the-mictechnique he’d employed in his firstjob as a DJ. He instantly moved fromhigh pitched hillbilly singer of MexicanJoe to one of the classiest singers ofthe 20th century — all because she toldhim to sing close up to the mic. Themove made sure Reeves made themost of his naturally gifted baritonevoice and created that intimate feelthat was to become his trademark.

Reeves’ voice lent itself well togospel music and disc three contains

20 classic tracks including TakeMy Hand PreciousLord, thefavourite hymnof Dr MartinLuther King, whileCD four,Narratives & Folk,shows what abeautiful speakingvoice Reeves had.

The NashvilleSound of the fifth

disc is one most will deem a highlightas it features a host of big hitsincluding songs such as A Fool SuchAs I, Adios Amigo, Just Call MeLonesome, I Fall To Pieces (withKenzie Wetz), Distant Drums, He’llhave To Go and I Won’t Forget You.

The sixth disc, Pop Stylings, showshow easy it was for Jim Reeves to slideinto pop music and how well it suitedhis style. The first 15 songs on CD seven,New Songs & Christmas, are songsthat were never recorded for RCAcommercial release. They were sunglive on his ABN Jim Reeves Show.

The collection concludes with aneight disc — In Concert & Interview —which has five songs from a concertin Nashville in 1961 plus an interviewat a San Antonio radio station and aconcert in Oslo in April 1964. It bringsto a close a truly remarkablecollection — but that’s not all.

H&H are also releasing a DVDentitled The Great Jim ReevesAnthology featuring 30 songs sunglive from his many TV appearancesand concerts.

Television played a huge part inthe singer’s career. In 1942 thenumber of TV sets in the US wasaround 6,000 but by 1951 it had risen

to 12 million and by 1955 half of allhomes had one.

Jim Reeves was a natural fortelevision with his easy persona andclear diction and by 1957 he seemedto be everywhere on TV. Jim’s BritishTV appearances, included a guestspot on a Manchester programmecalled Gazette hosted by Gay Byrne,were to be the last he would ever do.

All can be viewed and heard here.Full marks to H&H Music — it’s asuperb package.

■ The Great Jim Reeves eight-CD collection and The JimReeves Anthology DVD areavailable from H&H Music,www.handhmusic.co.uk. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8886 4141

July 19, 2014 RÍ-RÁ — THE IRISH POST ENTERTAINMENT SECTION 7

The Great Jim ReevesEight CD & DVD collection

(H&H Music)★★★★★

ALBUM REVIEW

A stunning new Jim Reeves collection proves the perfect re-introduction to one of the greats

Welcome to my worldJOE

GILTRAP

JIM REEVES 50TH ANNIVERSARY

ONE FOR THE COLLECTION: The new Jim Reeves eight-CD collection and DVD (above) will delight fans andthose new to the music legend