The song "Before The Next Teardrop Falls," the hit that finally gave Fender a national audience after years (his first chart single was in 1960 on Imperial!) of him working mainly in RnB and Rockabilly grooves, its arrangement, and Fender's tender, yet passionate expression of love for his "one that got away", strikes a chord in me that can literally render me speechless, I'm so moved. So finding a decent recording of this masterpiece is an endless quest. Enjoy!

Note: This beautiful, Near Mint copy comes in a vintage ABC Records factory sleeve. The labels grade very close to Mint (their only notable flaw is some faint wear on the B label). The vinyl also grades Near Mint, as it has a few very light scuffs indicative of storage wear. The audio is splendidly pristine!

I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do! Speaking of which, I find it inexplicable that neither Dave Marsh nor the Rolling Stone folks thought this song deserved inclusion in their respective lists of top songs/45s. In my opinion, this recording is essential listening for an understanding of the wide range of Country music that influenced future generations, and its crossover success (it topped both the Country and Pop charts) points to a hit deserving the top attention. That's why I give it a 2-star recommendation (our highest).

As I think about the song and Fender's sudden Country Music career (this was his first Country hit ever), it's interesting to speculate that Charlie Rich's similarly (but much longer) successful transition from RnB/Soul/Rockabilly artist to the Country market starting with his work with Billy Sherrill in the late 1960s and culminating in the 1973 cross-over smash "Behind Closed Doors" may have helped pave the way for legendary Rock/Rockabilly/RnB producer Texan Huey P. Meaux to begin to see the Country market as a logical progression for his client, fellow Texan Freddy Fender. The genius of pairing this singer with this song, and the simple elegance of the arrangement make for a magical moment in the history of Popular Music, whatever the genre. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Meaux got some of the idea from listening to Rich's extra-special 1974 hit "There Won't Be Anymore," which was actually recorded in 1965 but wasn't of interest to the Country market at that time. This Freddy Fender single has a lot in common with that Charlie Rich song, even thematically as they both deal with love lost, though Rich takes the opposite approach ("Don't Ever Come Near Me Again If You Leave Me Now"), whereas Fender is willing to wait forever for the chance to win her back.

* I have written extensively on styrene vs. vinyl elsewhere; in a nutshell, pristine styrene provides superior audio fidelity and dynamic range compared with (normal quality) vinyl, but vinyl is more durable; styrene is easily degraded with inferior playback equipment as was so often used for 45 records in the 1950s-70s).