Complete Pop & Country Hits

Liner Note Author: Colin Escott.
Recording information: Abbott Studios, Escondido Canyon, Malibu, CA (02/21/1956); KWKH Studio, Shreveport, LA (02/21/1956); KWTO Studios, Springfield, MO (02/21/1956); RCA Victor Studio, Methodist Television, Radio & Film C (02/21/1956); RCA Victor Studio, Nashville, TN (02/21/1956); Abbott Studios, Escondido Canyon, Malibu, CA (03/15/1954); KWKH Studio, Shreveport, LA (03/15/1954); KWTO Studios, Springfield, MO (03/15/1954); RCA Victor Studio, Methodist Television, Radio & Film C (03/15/1954); RCA Victor Studio, Nashville, TN (03/15/1954); Abbott Studios, Escondido Canyon, Malibu, CA (06/09/1958-01/20/1967); KWKH Studio, Shreveport, LA (06/09/1958-01/20/1967); KWTO Studios, Springfield, MO (06/09/1958-01/20/1967); RCA Victor Studio, Methodist Television, Radio & Film C (06/09/1958-01/20/1967); RCA Victor Studio, Nashville, TN (06/09/1958-01/20/1967); Abbott Studios, Escondido Canyon, Malibu, CA (07/14/1955); KWKH Studio, Shreveport, LA (07/14/1955); KWTO Studios, Springfield, MO (07/14/1955); RCA Victor Studio, Methodist Television, Radio & Film C (07/14/1955); RCA Victor Studio, Nashville, TN (07/14/1955); Abbott Studios, Escondido Canyon, Malibu, CA (07/27/1956-12/20/1956); KWKH Studio, Shreveport, LA (07/27/1956-12/20/1956); KWTO Studios, Springfield, MO (07/27/1956-12/20/1956); RCA Victor Studio, Methodist Television, Radio & Film C (07/27/1956-12/20/1956); RCA Victor Studio, Nashville, TN (07/27/1956-12/20/1956).
Photographer: Wayne Knight.
Note the qualifier in the title of Real Gone Music's 2013 collection of the Browns: this doesn't contain just the trio's country hits, but also their charting pop singles. Now, this doesn't amount to much -- they only had three songs that made the pop Top 100 but not the country charts; between 1960 and 1961, "Teen-Ex" went to 47 while "Blue Christmas" and "Ground Hog" scraped the lower reaches of the charts -- but it's enough to give Real Gone's Browns collection over the very similar 2008 Collectors Choice compilation The Complete Hits, which topped out at 21 tracks and contains an identical sequencing with the exception of those three pop hits inserted halfway through the disc. Listening to the Browns' work with the pop tunes incorporated, it's actually a little hard to spot the difference between the pop and the country. The Browns were always gentle, sweet harmonizers who played to crossover easy listening tastes, so having these pop tunes with a novelty bent included feels appropriate, especially as these '50s and '60s sides seem, in retrospect, to have much more to do with pop than country. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine