Pat Boone takes a batch of recent pop hits, applies his gold-record touch, and serves up
Great! Great! Great! in late 1960. The album succeeds to the goodly extent to which he is able to put his own unique stamp on these chart-toppers, thereby making them "his own." There are at least five tracks that would surely have been big sellers had they been
Boone 45 originals. A few selections, though, pale in comparison to the original hits and should have been dropped. His renderings of Buddy Holly's "That'll be the Day" and Lloyd Price's "Personality" clearly offer no competition to the better-known versions and drag the album down a bit. But from there things pick up nicely. "Stagger Lee" (
Lloyd Price, again) is an absolute knockout --
Boone at his rockin' & rollin' best. "The Wayward Wind" demonstrates nearly every aspect of his vocal attributes and is the perfect vehicle to exemplify his diverse talents as a singer. To a somewhat less extent the same is true for "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White," which, while keeping the spirit of the original instrumental, gives
Boone another opportunity to showcase his inflective brilliance. And Marty Robbins' "El Paso" proves, in yet one more way, that there was very little material that
Pat Boone could not handle well. He is comfortable and entirely equal to the task and renders this country classic as if it was tailor-made for him. His version of "Tweedlee Dee" is a good-time romp and takes no back seat to the
LaVern Baker original. And, for the most part, this is true throughout. If it doesn't quite all add up to great, great, great, the fresh sound and special appeal that
Pat Boone brings to these songs is, at the least, very good.