Search - Barbara Mandrell :: Morning Sun

Mellow album full of quality

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Following her upbeat album, I'll be your jukebox tonight, came this different but equally brilliant album of mellow songs drawn from a variety of sources. Sadly, this album yielded no significant hits - the first time for many years that a Barbara Mandrell album had met with such little interest. Some tracks, with prominent steel guitar, come close to being traditional country, while others are more pop sounding.The set begins with a cover of The nearness of you (a Glenn Miller classic) so brilliantly performed that we can only wonder at what Barbara could come up with had she followed Willie Nelson's and Linda Ronstadt's examples by recording a whole album of songs from that era.As a contrast to that, there are covers of I'm not your superwoman, originally performed by R+B singer Karyn White, and Crazy arms, a song originally performed by Ray Price who joins Barbara here for a brilliant duet version. You wouldn't know love is an old Hank Cochran song that Ray Price also recorded, though Ray does not join Barbara for this recording.The remaining songs may all be originals, although I believe that Pam Tillis has since covered Do you know where your man is. You've become the dream may have been the single released from this album. Like many of the songs here, it had hit potential but it seems that radio stations and a lot of the public had heard enough of Barbara. Well, I haven't.This is a brilliant album of mellow music that will appeal to Barbara's committed fans but should also appeal to anybody who enjoys easy listening pop-country music.TracksThe nearness of you
Do you know where your man is
I'm not your superwoman
Trying times
Crazy arms
You wouldn't know love
Baby I hate
It's over for the last time again
Why do bad things happen to good people
You've become the dream"