More Evidence Why Cline Legacy Endures

Thanks to her exquisite recordings in the late 1950s and early ‘60s of such torch songs as “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces,” Patsy Cline remains one of the most captivating and influential vocalists in all of pop music.

Thirty-four years after she was killed in a plane crash, Cline continues to sell a million or so albums a year. Her greatest-hits album has been at or near the top of the country music reissue chart for more than 500 weeks. Her aggressive, emotional style--which incorporated elements of country, blues and pop--has been an influence on a wide range of singers, from Linda Ronstadt and k.d. lang to Wynonna Judd and LeAnn Rimes.

Though Cline’s story has been told through both a film (“Sweet Dreams,” with Jessica Lange as Cline) and a stage production (the touring “Always . . . Patsy Cline”), most of the singer’s fans know her music best through her formal studio recordings.

One of the delights of this live album is the firsthand glimpse that it provides of Cline’s blustery, good-ol’-girl personality. “Whew, it’s hot in here, ain’t it, hoss?” she declares at one point in this 1961 concert at the Cimarron Ballroom in Tulsa, Okla.

It was her first show after a near fatal auto crash and Cline, 28 at the time, was still walking with the aid of crutches, so she had to sit on a stool during the show.

Besides songs you’d expect to be in her set, including “I Fall to Pieces,” the album includes three songs she never recorded commercially. Among them: the Joe Turner/Bill Haley R&B; hit “Shake, Rattle & Roll” and the Connie Francis pop novelty “Stupid Cupid.”

Though Cline is best known for her ballads, it’s interesting to hear how much rawness and bite she could put into these upbeat tunes--another reminder that she deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame every bit as much as Ruth Brown or LaVern Baker, both of whom have been inducted.

The album’s audio quality is spotty--the source tape suffered water damage during the years it spent in a home garage--but the chance to hear Cline in the informal concert setting makes the album a treat.

*

*** The Pointer Sisters, “Yes We Can Can,” Hip-O Records. This veteran R&B-pop; vocal group’s albums have been widely uneven over the years, but it has delivered some irresistible singles. The latter range from the sophisticated social commentary of this 1973 title track to more mainstream efforts along the lines of 1978’s “Fire,” 1980’s “He’s So Shy” and 1984’s “I’m So Excited.”

Most of those hits were recorded for Planet Records, which means you won’t find them on this 14-song compilation drawn from the group’s early ‘70s days on Blue Thumb Records. When Anita, Bonnie, June and Ruth Pointer arrived on the scene, they stood apart from the normal Top 40 fare with both their music and appearance.

In wardrobe and musical style, they represented a stylish return to the ‘30s and ‘40s supper club tradition, mixing Andrew Sisters vitality with jazz-styled harmonies, Willie Dixon blues and even some down-home country.

If anything, the Pointers were too eclectic for their own good. While individually impressive, the wide-ranging musical forays left the Pointers a touch faceless. The problem compounded as they moved further into mainstream pop. Still, the individual moments here are quite winning.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).