The two albums paired here were recorded in the seventies for United Artists. The first of them (Look my way) is a country album recorded in Nashville. This should not come as a surprise to Rosie's fans, for although the Great American Songbook provided a large part of her repertoire, Rosie recorded many different types of song, and several of her early pop hits were originally written as country songs, including Half as much and This ole house.Look my way begins with a re-recording of Half as much, which is at least as good as her first recording of the song. Among the other songs are two by Jessi Colter (Storms never last and I'm not Lisa) and two by Don Gibson (When you got love and The very thought of losing you). Don wrote several songs (including I can't stop loving you, Sweet dreams, Oh lonesome me, Sea of heartbreak)which became famous, but Rosie ignored all those, instead choosing these two lovely but obscure songs. The album also includes When will I be loved (an Everly brothers song) and Singing the blues, originally a Marty Robbins song but best remembered via covers by Guy Mitchell and Tommy Steele. Rosie obviously loves Paul Simon's music as she included the obscure 'Twas a sunny day on Look my way, and two more of his songs (50 ways to leave your lover and My little town) on the second album here - Nice to be around. Nice to be around is an album of pop songs, including Send in the clowns (Judy Collins), All by myself (an Irving Berlin song from 1921 which became a 70's pop hit for Eric Carmen), The hungry years (Neil Sedaka) and I won't last a day without you (Carpenters). These are both excellent easy-listening albums which sit together well. Perhaps Rosie was out of fashion at the time they were recorded, but each album, in their way, show what a wonderful singer she was. |
