“She’s Too Good to Be True”
Charley Pride
Written by Johnny Duncan
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
November 18 – December 2, 1972
This song is a fairly weak facsimile of “Kiss an Angel Good Morning,” regurgitating that song’s central theme and storyline with diminishing impact.
So this makes for a perfect time to bring attention to how Pride could elevate a so-so song into something better with his charismatic vocals and Jack Clement at the console.
Clement was a mentor to Garth Fundis, who would go on to produce most of the best work from Don Williams, Keith Whitley, and Trisha Yearwood. He was one of the first producers in Nashville to perfect what would eventually evolve into the new traditionalist sound that laid the foundation for country music going supernova in the 90s.
This record is muscular in its production without relying on the sweeping strings of the Nashville Sound to sound robust. That’s why it can go toe to toe with the pop and rock records of the day in a way that so much of this era’s producers were not able to deliver.
It helped to make Pride a gold-selling albums artist in an era where selling 100k got you a party on Music Row. This just sounds better than most of what’s on the radio at the time, even if the material isn’t quite up to Pride’s usual standard.
“She’s Too Good to Be True” gets a B.
Every No. 1 Single of the Seventies
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My thoughts exactly. A good but not great record from a great singer