The traditional day for releasing new CD's is usually on a Tuesday. I found out this morning from an on-line friend that this past Friday (August 30th) a new CD hit the market featuring all of the single releases from Conway Twitty during his massively popular run on the Elektra, and eventual, Warner Brothers label (1982-1986). The release is titled
The Complete Elektra and Warner Brothers Chart Singles and it contains all of the single releases from Conway during his 4 year run at Warner Brothers (formerly Elektra/Asylum)...16 single releases altogether. I plan on purchasing the CD eventually. I already have all of the songs scattered around on other projects but this will be the only project to have every hit single from him during that 4 year time period, in chronological order, on the same release. I also want the CD for any liner notes that might be available, too.
Here's a preview of his early to mid 1980's period...
For those unaware, Elektra merged it's organization into the Warner Brothers company in late 1982 between the release of "
The Rose" and "
Lost in the Feeling". This means that Conway recorded for the Elektra imprint for just one calendar year (1982) before the merger. In that time he actually recorded more than 100 songs according to an authorized biography (published in 1986).
It's natural to assume that a lot of the recordings are unreleased (in the vaults) but 40 of the recordings found their way onto 4 individually released albums that year:
Southern Comfort,
Conway's #1 Classics Volume One,
Dream Maker, and
Conway's #1 Classics Volume Two. The Classics LP's are re-recordings of previous hit singles he recorded for his previous label, MCA.
As a side-note: If you ever come across any compilation CD released on Conway and it's from an independent company or an affiliate of Warner Brothers then chances are you're going to have the 1982 re-recordings of his classic hits instead of the original recordings from the 1970s. In the 1990s a company called Hollywood released a couple of low-budget CD's on him but they used the 1982 re-recordings of his classic hits. The 1982 re-recordings obviously become highly lucrative given their easy access in the licensing department...but most people prefer original recordings no matter if a re-recording may be technically or more vocally superior than the original.
In addition to all the recordings that year 1982 is also the year that he starred in his only television special,
Conway On the Mississippi.
The 2-hour program tracing his origins in the southern Mississippi
Delta area set on board the famed Mississippi Queen riverboat. The special originally aired on NBC.
Music
played a large part in the special, of course, as did footage of him
stopping by the area he lived, narrations of his childhood memories...and footage of him and others in a
charity baseball game make an appearance in the special as do appearances by Ralph Emery, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, George Lindsey, Dick Clark, and Jerry Lee Lewis. A heavily edited 90 minute version appeared on
The Nashville Network periodically throughout the 1980s. The edited version also seen a DVD release about a decade ago. The original 2-hour special took home a fan-voted award during the 1983 installment of the Music City News Country Awards as "Television Special of the Year". His tourist attraction,
Twitty City, had it's grand opening in 1982, also.
In 1983, after the merger, his next album titled
Lost in the Feeling hit the stores and later his only Christmas album emerged:
Merry Twismas from Conway and His Little Friends. 1984's
By Heart soon followed as did
Conway's Latest Greatest Hits, Volume One in late 1984. The compilation LP featured his previous 9 singles (1982-1984) and a brand new song, "
Ain't She Somethin' Else", which became his 49th overall #1 hit early in 1985.
Not missing a beat "
Don't Call Him a Cowboy", an unlikely single-release from Conway given it's humorous overtone became the 50th single of his to reach #1 in the music trade publications. The
Don't Call Him a Cowboy album cover features his son, Michael, as one of the customers at the bar. One of his most obscure hit singles came along next in the form of "
Between Her Blue Eyes and Jeans".
On record pressings and in promo ads it's officially titled "
Between Blue Eyes and Jeans" and yet in the recording he includes the word "her" while singing the title and so I've long since called it "
Between Her Blue Eyes and Jeans" even if it isn't, officially, the song's actual title. The song didn't reach #1 but it peaked in the Top-5 on the country chart in the fall of 1985 and it had a lengthy chart run, too, but it's rarely remembered. Then came the release of
Chasin' Rainbows. A fluke in the career of Conway Twitty...the 2 single releases from it didn't reach the Top-10 or reach #1. The highest charting single from the album is the lead-off track "
The Legend and The Man". Even though it's a powerful vocal performance it lacked the commercial vitality of his previous releases...and it being a somber ballad about a situation that a public at large isn't too familiar with (celebrity intoxication and indulgence) it just didn't grab their attentions enough to sustain a longer chart run (peaking in the Top-20...most charts had it stalled at #19 and or #18 depending on the publication).
The other single release arrived in early 1986, "
You'll Never Know How Much I Needed You Today". This song, in reality, returned him to the more familiar love song subject matter but it's airplay (or lack thereof) happened to be worse than his previous single release. Perhaps the title of the song is too long? Maybe the song itself ran too long? Perhaps the production or the song itself didn't blend well among other recordings played on the radio at the time? A lot of factors are at play...but the finish in the lower half of the Top-30 on the country charts meant some major changes, musically, happened to be in store for his next release. The results shown up on the 1986 release,
Fallin' For You For Years.
Incredibly the sound seemed much more louder, the instrumentation is a lot more varied, and his vocal performances seemed to be even more impressive than before. The album as a whole, if played back to back with
Chasin' Rainbows, sounds as if the 1986 album had been recorded in a different time period...that's how dramatic the differences are between late 1985's
Chasin' Rainbows and 1986's
Fallin' For You For Years. The changes worked because the first single release, the bouncy sing-a-long "
Desperado Love", became his 51st #1 single (his 40th and final #1 on Billboard). The pulsating love ballad title track, "
Fallin' For You For Years", shot to #1 on Radio and Records (#2 on Billboard) early in 1987. This happened to be the final release from Conway on the Warner Brothers label and, of course, it closes out the CD.
He returned to MCA the same year and continued his hit streak on into the early 1990s before his untimely and sudden death on June 5, 1993. Tomorrow is his birthday...born on September 1, 1933. This is the CD that became available on August 28th (this past Friday). You can purchase the CD directly from the Varese Sarabande site...call them at 512-371-6924 or visit their
SITE. Apparently they don't update their site in a timely manner because it still lists the CD as a pre-order 3 days after it's release and so I suggest you call the number I provided. I've purchased CD's released by Varese Sarabande before and the sound/audio's been great.
