Star Dust

Nice clean vinyl with a smart high gloss cover.

Pat Boone's Stardust arrived on the heels of seven consecutive million-selling singles in mid-1958, a year in which no less than eight of his songs would hit the Top 40. The album itself did nothing to alter Boone's position as a top teen idol, second only to Elvis. But it did remove any vestige of doubt as to who was America's singer of popular songs with the broadest appeal. That matter, though, was likely settled a few months earlier when he edged out Elvis as favorite male singer of 1957. But if further proof was needed, Stardust's overwhelming success provided it. The album rose to number two on the charts and stayed in the Top 40 for 32 weeks. It is the quintessential Pat Boone vocal performance, and it absolutely established him as one of the great ballad singers of our time. Every track is top-notch, and if it doesn't represent yet his most finely finished musical package, it is definitely his most easily appreciated work as a singer. No Boone album would match its commercial success.

Boone's voice is strong and crystal-clear, and his confident but never overstated delivery turns a batch of fine standards into pure gems as it brings back the special joy of simply sitting down, listening, and losing oneself in the music. Just two of the 14 tracks are proffered non-ballad style. "Little White Lies" is done in Boone's good-natured uptempo way, and "St. Louis Blues" breaks the album's mood with its strong rock-style exuberance. It just may have been planted wisely near the album's end in order to break the music's sweet spell and put us back on our feet. For any Pat Boone doubters, this is the album.