Search - Pat Benatar, Dusty Springfield, Julie London :: Music For Lonely Housewives

Music For Lonely Housewives

L. St Laurent | United Kingdom | 07/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hal Lifson's "Music For Lonely Housewives" is a great little package.

I have all of Hal's compilations CD's to date (1966, Sex & The '60s), and what I love most about his cool selections is the fact that his CDs always introduce me to artists and songs that I may not have heard before.

And as is the case with his previous releases, there is always something that I like and leaves me hungry for more.



This new collection kicks-off with a great rocker from Pat Benatar "I Need A Lover". Pat also writes a nice introduction in the CD booklet.

Other tracks I really enjoyed (which will prompt me to search for more material from these artists), "Girl Talk" by Julie London, and "One Less Bell To Answer" by The Fifth Dimension.

The CD closes with "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, another fantastic song that perfectly fits the theme of this compilation. In fact, all songs are very well chosen for this release.



The CD booklet is fun. It's set out like a girls Diary. Each entry cleverly linking to the titles of each song on the CD.

Sound quality of all the songs is also excellent.

I highly recommend this CD, and not just to the lonely housewives out there but to anyone interested in Pop, R&B, Jazz, Rock and Blues."

Sympathetic music for desperate femms

Wesley Clark | Springfield, Virginia | 07/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Themed more or less upon Desperate, Lonely, Distraught or otherwise plain old unhappy Housewives (is the American Psychiatric Association aware of this epidemic?), Hal Lifson has put together a collection of twelve well-known and not so well known tunes. For instance, Cher's "You Better Sit Down Kids," wherein Cher tells some children that Mommy is on her way back and she's out. I never heard that one before! And what a bizarre arrangement. Where Lifson gets some of these, I wish I knew...



Also nice to hear again is "Mister Big Stuff," by Jean Knight. I really liked "One Less Bell to Answer" by the Fifth Dimension. (I was only used to the Cissy Houston version on the Burt Bacharach LP. The Fifth Dimension's version has a cool, 1960's pop music gloss.) My hands down favorite in this collection, however, is "Girl Talk" by the incomparable Julie London. For the past few years I've made it a habit to find tracks by this wonderful, smoky-toned songstress - Lifson found one I didn't have. My jazz friends, knowing my enthusiasm for Julie London, have exposed me to Karen Akers, Diana Krall and Tierney Sutton - but there's just no comparison to the original! Also included is Pat Benatar singing John Mellencamp's catchy "I Need A Lover." Like Lifson's previous collection - "Sex and the Sixties" - this is a wonderful assortment of tunes. Recommended!"

A Winner With Surprises

Charles Hardin Holley | 08/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The problem with many compilations is that they are so predictable. I want to be surprised, and this CD delivers. Hal Lifson, who has developed quite a deserved reputation as an author and producer of cd's based on the Sixties, delivers a surprising melange of known and obscure tunes based on the lonely housewife theme. There are the big hits, for example, "I Will Survive" and "I Need a Lover," but I'd never heard "It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion)", which is a hoot; "Girl Talk" is a classic I somehow missed until now. Hearing Dusty Springfield on "Just a Little Lovin' (Early in the Morning)," another song with which I was unfamiliar, got me in the mood to hear all of her stuff. Bottom line, this disc gives you the familiar and obscure, and works very nicely. When you've got Bill Zehme, the great writer, assisting with some liner notes, that's a truly outstanding endorsement."