Ray Pennington - Memories (CD)

All Music Guide

This is a solid countrypop album, featuring Pennington's pleasing vocals in elegant surroundings, supported by Buddy Emmons, Dave Kirby, Dale Sellers, Gene Chrisman, Bunky Keels, Tommy Cogbill and Steve Chapman. The 1983 album opens with the romantic yet never overly sentimental "The Memories That Last", and Pennington delivers 11 more originals five in a similar vein on the original album's side one, generally about lost love, while the original side two featured in Christian ballads ("You Saved Me From Me"), cautionary tales ("The Devil's Den") and a handful of uptempo numbers ("Nothing's Changed, Nothing's New", "Nothing To Go On"), most of a decidedly more humorous nature concerning romantic mishaps. The sound on the CD is clean and the playing is excellent, and Pennington changes mood and tempo sufficiently to make this a consistently entertaining country album.

- Bruce Eder, All Music Guide