Charlie Rich (1932-1995) finally achieved superstardom when his laid-back readings of "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl" ascended in 1973 to the top spot of the Billboard Country chart and crossed over to Pop - the latter to Number One on that chart, too.  Although those songs kicked off a new chapter in the career of the man known by that point as the Silver Fox (for his mane of gray hair and wizened appearance), Rich's repertoire could hardly be defined by their mellow sound.  Ace has recently filled a gaping hole in his CD discography with the release of a new two-disc compendium.  Too Many Teardrops: The Complete Groove and RCA Recordings has 40 tracks (including many new-to-CD cuts and one previously unreleased song) recorded between 1963 and 1965 with producer and Nashville Sound pioneer Chet Atkins.  "Country" is just the tip of the iceberg in this enjoyable set which also includes R&B, pop, standards, jazz, and beyond - all Rich-style.

Rich took to music from a young age, learning piano and playing saxophone in his high school band. After enrolling at Arkansas State College on a football scholarship, he soon transferred to the University of Arkansas as a music major. He continued to play while enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and upon leaving the military, he made a reputation around the Memphis R&B club scene. His early demos were rejected by Sun Records' legendary Sam Phillips as too jazz-oriented and not commercial enough, but undeterred, Rich continued to aim for a career at Sun, and was eventually hired by Phillips as a session musician and songwriter. Sam signed Rich as a performer to his Phillips International subsidiary, and Rich's third single "Lonely Weekends" earned him a No. 22 Pop hit in 1960.  His next singles all failed to register, however, and he left Sun for RCA Victor's Groove imprint in 1963, which is where Ace's anthology begins.

Bill Justis had spotted Rich when he was at Sun Records, arranging to bring the young artist to Sun.  By the time Rich arrived at RCA/Groove, Justis was employed in the label's Nashville office to pen arrangements for its premier artists.  Groove had originally been a label for jazz, R&B, and blues, and so RCA Nashville head Atkins likely wasn't expecting to Rich to deliver pure C&W.  Instead, Atkins and Justis fashioned their productions to his strengths as a versatile vocalist.  Rich wrote much of his own material, also often turning to his songwriter wife Margaret as well.

In his first year at RCA, Rich took a page from the Elvis Presley playbook with storming rock-and-rollers like "She Loved Everybody But Me" (with hints of Ray Charles in the piano part) and "Big Boss Man," the latter a Jimmy Reed song that Elvis himself would actually turn into a hit in 1967.  (Charlie's version "bubbled under" the Hot 100.)  But that wasn't all up his sleeve.  "Are You Still My Baby" was a slice of prime blue-eyed soul, with Rich evincing just the tiniest country tear in his voice.  The song written by Rich was so R&B that The Shirelles even recorded it!  "Lady Love," also written by Rich, was another rhythmic soul romp from the big-voiced baritone, while the slower "Why Oh Why" also recalls Charles' fusion of country with rhythm and blues.  But jazz and blues was more the order of the day on Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Ol' Man River," presaging a direction Rich would explore more fully the next year.

1964 saw Rich more fully embracing the pop-tinged, lush Nashville Sound - the predecessor to the "countrypolitan" style which would ultimately take him to the heights of success.  Atkins' production is hand is evident on "Turn Around and Face Me," and the pretty ballad "Tomorrow Night" (one of many tracks featuring the familiar, fleet piano touch likely belonging to Floyd Cramer).  Charlie went lightly Latin on "No Room to Dance" (with a Vincent Trauth arrangement) and most tantalizingly, remade standards such as "Like Someone in Love" and "Nice and Easy" - the latter so closely associated with Frank Sinatra - in hip, swinging fashion.  One wishes he'd recorded an entire album in this mode.  In between the sessions that yielded those two classics, Rich also recorded Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" in a small combo arrangement.  The unnecessary background vocals were a concession to the lush Nashville Sound, but the true highlight is the tickling of the ivories in true jazz style.  Rich's affinity for the songs of a bygone era is further realized with his relaxed treatment of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter."

This collection's moving title track "Too Many Teardrops" is a quintessential three-hanky country weeper penned by Freddie Hart, recorded at Rich's final session of 1964.  He was obviously comfortable in this vein, for all his other talents, and the second disc of this non-chronologically assembled set concentrates on that style with such standouts as "The Grass is Always Greener," "It's All Over Now," and tunes from notable songwriters like Harlan Howard ("She Called Me Baby"), Marijohn Wilkin ("Is Goodbye That Easy to Say") and Liz Anderson ("(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers").  If the non-chronological format makes it a bit more difficult to trace Rich's artistic development, the songs are sonically and thematically arranged.

Rich's RCA tenure ended in early 1965 after two sessions which were typically eclectic, encompassing elegant Nashville sound balladry ("Share Your Love with Me"), a recasting of a Johnny Mathis pop classic (the romantic "The Twelfth of Never" in laid-back manner), and a new take on "Tragedy," the 1959 hit by Thomas Wayne and the DeLons (and later covered by The Fleetwoods and Brian Hyland).  Rich's version actually sounds a bit more like The Fleetwoods' "Mr. Blue."  During these February sessions, Rich also recorded Eddie Snyder and Paul Vance's pop confection "Ten Dollars and a Clean White Shirt" as well as their more dramatic composition, "One More Mountain (One More River)," the sole unreleased track here.  (The brief "Christmas Greetings" - recorded for a promotional LP featuring numerous other RCA artists - is a welcome treat.)

Duncan Cowell has remastered these stereo tracks, Bob Stanley has written the comprehensive liner notes, and Tony Rounce has provided a helpful sessionography.  Charlie Rich's career was long and varied; when he decamped RCA for Mercury's Smash imprint, he continued on his happily wide-ranging path.  His 1970s success at Epic found him smoothing out the rough edges but never losing his innate musicality and resonant voice.

Previously, collecting all of the released tracks on this collection would have necessitated purchasing around ten LPs - Rich's two original RCA platters and the endless, raiding-the-vault compilations that followed in the wake of his Epic success.  Too Many Teardrops: The Complete Groove and RCA Recordings is one-stop shopping for fans and collectors of the late, great Silver Fox.

Charlie Rich, Too Many Teardrops: The Complete Groove and RCA Recordings (Ace CDTOP2 1509, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Big Boss Man
2. Are You Still My Baby
3. Turn Around and Face Me
4. Big Jack
5. If I Knew When What I Know Now
6. River, Stay 'Way From My Door
7. She Loved Everybody But Me
8. Share Your Love with Me
9. Let Me Go My Merry Way
10. Like Someone in Love
11. Nice and Easy
12. Lady Love
13. The Ways of a Woman in Love
14. Rosanna
15. I'm Right Behind You
16. Tomorrow Night
17. No Room to Dance
18. I've Got You Under My Skin
19. Ten Dollars and a Clean White Shirt
20. Tragedy

CD 2

1. Too Many Teardrops
2. There Won't Be Anymore
3. One More Mountain (One More River)
4. It's All Over Now
5. The Grass is Always Greener
6. Why, Oh Why
7. I Need a Thing Called Love
8. It Just Goes to Show (You Never Know About Love)
9. My Mountain Dew
10. I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore
11. The Big Build Up
12. She Called Me Baby
13. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
14. Now Everybody Knows
15. Ol' Man River
16. The Twelfth of Never
17. Gentleman Jim
18. Is Goodbye That Easy to Say
19. (My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers
20. Christmas Greetings (Mono)

CD 1, Tracks 1 & 9 from Groove single 58-0025, 1963
CD 1, Tracks 2, 4, 6, 14 & CD 2, Track 15 from Charlie Rich, Groove LP GS-1000, 1964
CD 1, Tracks 3 & 11 from Groove single 58-0041, 1964
CD 1, Tracks 5, 10, 16-17 & CD 2, Tracks 8, 10-11, 14, 18 from That's Rich, RCA Victor LP LSP-3352, 1965
CD 1, Track 7 & CD 2, Track 5 from Groove single 58-0020, 1963
CD 1, Tracks 8, 15, 20 & CD 2, Track 7 from She Called Me Baby, RCA Victor LP APL1-0686, 1974
CD 1, Track 12 & CD 2, Track 6 from Groove single 58-0032, 1964
CD 1, Track 13 & CD 2, Track 9 from Groove single 58-0035, 1964
CD 1, Track 18 & CD 2, Track 13 from She Loved Everybody But Me, RCA Camden LP CAS-2417, 1970
CD 1, Track 19 & CD 2, Track 12 from RCA Victor single PB-10062, 1974
CD 2, Tracks 1 & 4 from RCA Victor single 47-8468, 1964
CD 2, Tracks 2 & 17 from RCA Victor single 47-8536, 1964
CD 2, Track 3 previously unreleased
CD 2, Track 16 from Big Boss Man!, RCA Victor LP LSP-3537, 1966
CD 2. Track 19 from Now Everybody Knows, RCA Victor LP ANL1-1251, 1975
CD 2, Track 20 from RCA Victor single SP-45-128, 1963