Search - Crystal Gayle :: Ain't Gonna Worry

Crystal returns to her seventies sound

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 08/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Crystal became famous in the seventies with a brand of pop-country music that yielded such classics as Somebody loves you, Talking in your sleep, When I dream and Don't it make my brown eyes blues. Those tracks were all recorded for United Artists with Allen Reynolds as producer. Crystal left United Artists for Columbia, later switching to Warner. She continued to have considerable success on the country charts until near the end of the eighties when her popularity waned. Meanwhile, United Artists became part of Capitol. In 1990 Crystal signed to Capitol in an attempt to recapture past glories. With Allen Reynolds once again as producer, this album (her first for Capitol) sounded like it could have been recorded in the seventies. It didn't get airplay on country radio but it certainly pleased Crystal's traditional fans - at least those who became aware of the album's existence.



The album includes three covers of songs that Crystal could have covered in the seventies but didn't - Everybody's reaching out for someone, Never ending song of love and Faithless love - along with a cover of Once in a very blue moon, a contemporary song written and first recorded by folk-country singer Nanci Griffith. Another song that you may have heard elsewhere is What he's doing now. Co-written by Garth Brooks, this is nevertheless the original version of the song that Garth later recorded as What she's doing now. Garth's version can be found on Roping the wind as well as Hits. The remaining songs (It ain't gonna worry my mind, Just like the blues, Just an old love, Whenever it comes to you, More than love) are, as far as I know, original songs.



If Crystal's music had still been fashionable, this album would have enhanced her reputation and yielded further major country hits. Sadly, the album went largely ignored as radio stations preferred younger artists. I like those younger artists, too, but this is classic Crystal at her vintage best."