Anne Murray has recorded many excellent albums but, whenever asked to pick out her favorites, always includes this high on her list. At first glance, this seems surprising. There are no big hits here (so it didn't do much to help Anne's career) and few if any of the songs will be familiar to most people. There are covers of songs by Carole King (Beautiful) and Paul Anka (Everything's been changed) but the other songwriters are relatively unknown. Yet this album has a charm of its own and I can understand why Anne likes it so much. Maybe I wouldn't put it as high up the list of Anne's best albums as Anne does, but I certainly rate it more highly than some of her more famous albums.
The style of the album is typical of Anne's music of the early seventies, when Brian Ahern was her producer - it is an easy-listening blend of folk, country and pop music. From the opening Robbie's song for Jesus to the closing Paul Anka cover, this album oozes quality. As originally released, the front cover showed the smiling face of Anne as a young woman. The 1997 re-mastered version relegates this picture to the inside, showing Anne as a child in a brightly colored outfit surrounded by equally bright flowers and butterflies, yet looking a little sad. The new cover is certainly striking.
Because the track listing contains no obvious classics or familiar songs, it would be easy to overlook this album (except for the cover). Anne's fans should not ignore this album - it is an overlooked classic.
The first time I heard "You Can't Have A Hand On Me," I was touched beyond words. The rest, especially, "Robbie's Song for Jesus," "Drown Me" and "You Can't Go Back" (reminiscent of her 1974 Country hit, "Uproar") are just as affecting. It's Anne Murray in her early-70's, folky realm before she recorded "Danny's Song" a year later.
