Best of Freddy Fender
The Best of Freddy Fenderopens with "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," the 1975 track that helped the Texas balladeer cross over to country stardom. Indeed, it then took him onto the pop charts. Fender, whose profile has risen again as a member of the Texas Tornadoes, is truly a singular singer. Part of the fun of this collection, though, lies in checking out producer Huey P. Maeux's efforts to keep Fender commercial after his first No. 1 country hit. Take "Livin' It Down," which in 1976 climbed to No. 2 on the country charts. Here you have a guy with mariachi roots wrapped in an arrangement that sounds like it was borrowed from Bread, all for the delectation of Urban Cowboys. How--accommodating! Here's evidence that '70s countrypolitan wasn't so bad after all.--Steven Stolder