Recording information: 11/08/1956-02/07/1963.

Photographer: Les Leverett.

Does the world really need another Patsy Cline collection? It's a reasonable question, given how many are out there and how many feature the same material, and Gold in particular pushes the boundaries of the question, since the same two-disc set was previously released in 2000 with a different cover under the title The Ultimate Collection. Fortunately, Universal at least had the good sense to recycle one of their best Patsy Cline compilations; Gold's 32 tracks make for a broader view of Cline's career than the longtime favorite 12 Greatest Hits, but avoids the clutter of their four-disc box set, and the sequence gives this material a welcome sense of stylistic ebb and flow. (The new cover is also a lot more flattering than the slapdash artwork for The Ultimate Collection.) Most folks who already have a solid Patsy Cline collection aren't going to need this, but for those looking for a solid collection of great music from one of the finest vocalists of her generation, Gold is all the Patsy Cline most fans will ever need. ~ Mark Deming