Anita Bryant - Golden Classics: Paper Roses

Yet Another Collectables Disappointment

Anita Bryant had exactly eleven Billboard Pop Hot 100 single hits, only one of which also made the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts and, in a 14-selection compilation entitled "Golden Classics", Collectables manages to give us all of four. Big whoop! Well actually five if you count Step By Step, Little By Little which was a Hot 100 "bubble under" at # 106 in 1962.

Now, one could be charitable and say that the title reflects, as in the Curb fashion, not necessarily Anita's golden classics, but rather a mix of hers and others. After all, The Wedding, Free, A-Sleepin' At The Foot Of The Bed, Cold, Cold Winter, and God Bless America were solid hits for other artists. But then you get tracks 5, 10, and 12 which were "classics" for no one that I know of, least of all Anita. Hurry Home To Me (track 11) was a minor Country hit in 1970 for Bobby Wright.

The four hits included are: Till There Was You from the Broadway musical The Music Man (# 30 Hot 100 in late summer 1959) b/w Little George (Got The Hiccoughs) and Paper Roses (# 5 Hot 100 in May 1960 b/w Mixed Emotions), both hits with the backing of Monty Kelly's orchestra; In My Little Corner Of The World (# 10 Hot 100 in August 1960 b/w Anyone Would Love You); The World Of Lonely People (# 17 AC/# 59 Hot 100 in June 1964 and her last charted single, b/w It's Better To Cry Today Than To Cry Tomorrow). With the exception of the last, which came on the Columbia label, all her hits were released by Carlton.

A much better "Golden Classics" compilation would have contained the four just mentioned plus: Six Boys And Seven Girls [# 62 in 1959]; Promise Me A Rose (A Slight Detail) which reached # 78 in 1959 and its flipside, Do-Re-Mi which made it to # 94 - all three with the backing of Monty Kelly; One Of The Lucky Ones [# 62 in 1960]; Wonderland By Night [# 18 in 1961 with Lew Douglas & His Orchestra]; A Texan And A Girl From Mexico [# 85 in 1961]; and I Can't Do It By Myself [# 87 in 1961]. And, perhaps, her other "bubble under" - 1964's Welcome, Welcome Home [# 130].

I don't subscribe to the theory expressed in some other reviews that Anita's tumble from the spotlight was precipitated by her controversial comments. Rather, she was just one more in a long list of recording artists who found themselves shunted aside by the British Invasion in 1964. That, and the fact she was just not as good as some of the other female non-R&R pop artists who were competing for attention at the time, such as Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Betty Everett,Dionne Warwick, and Nancy Wilson, to name a few.

As for this release, I found it highly disappointing from the point of view of us collectors of hit singles. September 1, 2007

Great Recordings by a Great Artist

I have read the reviews for this CD. I will always be an Anita Bryant fan because I know the media did her in. She never professed to hate gays, all she did was appear somewhere for that Shack woman and the media got all over her............which snowballed out of control. All I can say is GET OVER PEOPLE! And to the person who says she never wrote her own music is wrong. The CD "Anita, With Love" has many songs written by Anita. Anyway, this is a great CD. February 20, 2007

The worst kind of MOR-pop ever made.

This album is a fine example of truly cheesy MOR-pop. If you want to enjoy truly classy, sophisticated and elegant romantic music with plenty of SOUL and feeling, I wholeheartedly recommend the recordings of such great DIVAS as Angela Bofill, Phyllis Hyman, Jean Carn and Anita Baker instead of this trash. February 11, 2005

If Anita could turn back time...

I bet knowing the downfall her career has suffered in the twentysomeodd years since her hate campaign against the gay community -- her core fanbase... Anita would probably go back and INSTEAD record disco tunes, since that's what all the other divas were doing in the late 70's, and they're all still around, whereas Anita's not.

Anita DOES have a good singing voice, but why support an artist who let it be known she hates her biggest fanbase, especially when contemporary artists like Streisand and Midler who go out of their way to pander to us, and they're still around!!! Anita Bryant is all but forgotten to all except gay men who remember her as betraying us, and guys in their 60's who thought she was beautiful in the 50's, the rest of the world has forgotten.

But if anything, Anita set a standard for all artists to follow... when you bite the hand that feeds you, don't expect undying love.

I suppose this cd is okay if you're a fan of the style of music, but the hatefulness and ugliness about what she stands for evisorates whatever pros comes from her music. January 9, 2005

Lost it in the 70's!

Anita Bryant staged a cross country hate campaign that was an extreme exercise in how ugly discrimation can be in the hands of self-righteous hypocrites with no social conscience...thus bringing a quick ending to her already faded career. January 4, 2005

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