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Charlie Rich Album: “Very Special Love Songs”
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Very Special Love Songs |
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Release Date:1974-01-01
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Country, Vintage Country, Oldies
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Label:
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:074643253147
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Review - :
Making every effort to strike while the iron was hot, {@Epic} sent {$Charlie Rich} and {$Billy Sherrill} back into the studio to keep his profile in the public eye. What should have been a haphazard dash-off slab of re-dos and hastily chosen tracks instead turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of {$Rich}'s monumental run in the 1970s. {^Very Special Love Songs} is almost entirely comprised of cover versions and showcases the close, nearly symbiotic partnership {$Rich} and {$Sherrill} had developed. While more on the {\country} tip than many of his recordings from the period, it's still {\country} with a grand twist. The title track is layered with a huge string section and chorus that has {$Rich} crooning like {$Richard Harris} in {&"MacArthur Park."} {&"Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Love"} is more straight-ahead but has odd textures like {$Sherrill} bringing in a barely audible harpsichord to play beneath the acoustic guitars and {$Hargus Robbion}'s {\honky tonk} piano. The chorus is straight out of {$Mac Davis} and hits home hard. Other tracks, such as {&"Take Time to Love,"} {&"A Field of Yellow Daisies,"} and {&"Why, Oh Why,"} are offerings of such soulful vulnerability they transcend every {\country} music stereotype that existed at the time. Re-recordings of {&"He Follows in My Footsteps"} and {&"There Won't Be Anymore"} blow away the originals. {$Rich}'s voice is stronger, even if it is a bit more worn from cigarettes and whiskey, and it's so much more honest emotionally. Side one is the optimistic and hopefully side while the flip is a shade darker, sadder, more melancholy, but in true {$Rich} fashion, {&"Pretty People"} opens the glimmer of possibly, the barely glimpsed sliver of hope on the horizon that the sad times will end eventually and that the song's protagonist will be able to embrace that time with gratitude. The strings and piano carry the tune all the way out with the vocal ending barely a second before the track does, leaving its exhortations out in the ether hanging for the listener to take inside and contemplate. It's a wonderful release despite the rush. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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