Brenda Lee Albums (31)
'Little Miss Dynamite in Concert'
Release Date 6/29/2004
Tracks 13
Label Castle Pulse
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Miss Dynamite Live'
Release Date 12/19/2000
Tracks 13
Label Mastersound
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Brenda Lee may have seemed like an old timer when Even Better was released in 1980, but she was 36 years old -- only a few years older than Barbara Mandrell and Dolly Parton. The album contains two of Lee's last major hits, the biggest of which is the Top Ten "Tell Me What It's Like." "The Cowgirl and the Dandy," also a Top Ten hit, explores love across class boundaries in what is practically a rewrite of the Tommy Cash hit "The Cowboy and the Lady." Rafe VanHoy is a major player on the album, contributing several songs and lead guitar, while his wife, country star Deborah Allen, co-wrote "Goodbye Love" with Jim Stafford. The roster of well-known songwriters on Even Better certainly contributed to its success, as did Lee's willingness to tackle adult material despite her perpetual little girl image, as on the mildly lascivious "Do You Wanna Spend the Night." Ultimately Even Better was designed for the contemporary country audience of 1980 rather than the oldies nostalgia crowd, so there is no guarantee that fans of her early music will take a liking to this slick, modern country music. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
New Sunrise is an apt title for this album, made in 1973 when Brenda Lee received a makeover as a country-oriented MCA recording artist. The big hits began anew, and Lee spent much of the next three years in the country Top Ten. Two songs from New Sunrise were successful singles: "Sunday Sunrise" nearly made the Top Five, and Shel Silverstein's "Wrong Ideas" performed equally well. Lee is an excellent ballad singer, but after years of churning out serious, often continental, adult pop, it was a breath of fresh air to hear her perform lively material with down-home accompaniment. That said, much of New Sunrise is no different from her late-period Decca recordings, particularly the pop covers like Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life." The handful of country songs are a welcome departure; the rest is typical late '60s style Brenda Lee. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
"Johnny One Time" was Brenda Lee's first country hit in over a decade and the beginning of her commercial "second wind" on the country charts that reached gale force in the mid-'70s. Mike Berniker's production makes the song sound little different from the other straight pop ballads Lee recorded during this period, but "Johnny One Time" had been a minor hit for Willie Nelson a few months earlier, so that made it country enough to cross over. The album of the same name is no different from Lee's typical late-'60s output and in no way foreshadows her coming revival as a country artist. The cover art portrays Lee as a sophisticated pop vocalist, an image that is supported by the material, particularly the several songs with European roots. The Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen composition "If You Go Away" is in a similar cosmopolitan vein, but the cover of the Box Tops' "The Letter" is a bit of a surprise. Brenda Lee is a sadly underrated vocalist who could have gone in any direction she chose; on Johnny One Time she dabbles in various styles, but the prevailing mood is one of adult pop. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
