Although this 26-track compilation does have all five of Thompson's Top 40 pop hits ("Norman," "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)," "James (Hold the Ladder Steady)," "Paper Tiger," and "Have a Good Time"), it's not a career-spanning best-of. It just covers her work at the Hickory label in the early to mid-'60s, leaving her subsequent country-oriented material for the company untouched. Because of its thorough look at her early Hickory years, however, it might be a more preferable listen for pop/rock-oriented fans than the chronologically wider-ranging (though shorter) The Very Best of Sue Thompson on Varese Sarabande, which tagged on a bunch of her duets with Don Gibson. Thompson is most known for her rather novelty-oriented polka-tempoed hits "Norman" and "James (Hold the Ladder Steady)," but in fact much of her output was very much in the orchestrated pop/rock and country field Brenda Lee was ploughing in the same era. You get both sides of the coin on this CD, and the Brenda Lee-like stuff actually holds up better -- the 1961 single "Angel, Angel," written by the great songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, is perhaps the most accurate Lee sound-alike ever done. Thompson doesn't measure up to Lee, though -- her voice and interpretive skills aren't in the same class, and nor is the material. So this is an inconsistent listen, and too long for non-collectors. But it does have some decent songs, including a few obscure ones by major songwriters like the Bryants, John D. Loudermilk, and Roy Orbison (though the latter's "Bad Boy" hardly rates among his finer moments). Thompson also gets into a strangely more soul-oriented groove on a few of the later cuts -- 1965's "Sweet Hunk of Misery" (an obvious Supremes imitation written by Fame Studios chief Rick Hall), the fairly decent gutsy rocker "It's Break-Up Time," and Loudermilk's "Paper Tiger." ~ Richie Unterberger
Professional Reviews
Uncut (3/04, p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Hitching the diminutive sass of Brenda Lee to the pop-stomp of Jackie Wilson..."
