Merhba from Malta: Received my package of 5 CDs of the Jim Reeves Radio Show all safe and sound here. Have already played the first CD and this has whetted my appetite for the remaining four, to say the least. For those of us who grew up in the Fifties it's a refreshing reminder of what radio (or rather the wireless) was like before the onset of the dreaded DJ disease. And such is the effortless ease of Gentleman Jim in the radio studio that one is also reminded of how it all started with him in just such a setting. What a natural. His speaking voice was as mellifluous as his singing voice, a fact which does not apply, surprisingly, to many singers. Crosby-like, he could also crack a joke with aplomb (recall that clip from his Oslo appearance in which that great quip about his songs 'some of 'em are fast while more of 'em are half-fast' and the nonchalant way he shrugged off the non-response of the Norwegian audience?) as is evidenced here. That Gentleman Jim's intelligence was as high as his baritone was low, comes through in the wink-an-eye way he handles the corniness of some of the jokes in this set. With this set Larry Jordan has added yet another fitting stone to the monument he has been painstakingly constructing to one of the Great Voices of the age. From his comprehensive cover notes I love in particular this quote from Gentleman Jim when he replied to a fan who was unhappy at his seeming desertion of country for pop: ' ...but if one crop won't grow you must plant some other'. PS Here in Malta we are looking due west across at the ancient city of Carthage in Tunis while in the karaoke bars the timeless voice of the genius from Carthage, Tx is celebrated on a weekly basis.
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