Tanya Tucker - TNT (1978)

“TNT” by Tanya Tucker (1978)

Release Date: November 1978
Produced by Jeff Goldstein
Genre: Country, Country Rock, Rock, Pop
Label: MCA

Chart Positions: #54 (US), #52 (Canada), #2 (US Country, Canada Country)
Certifications: Gold (US, Canada)
Awards: Nominated for the “Best Female Rock Performance” Grammy Award (Donna Summer won the award that year)

Singles and Chart Positions: “Texas (When I Die)” #3 (Canada Country), #5 (US Country), “I’m The Singer, You’re The Song #6 (Canada Country), #18 (US Country), #25 (Canada Adult Contemporary)
 Singles Certifications: N/A
Other Charting Tracks: “Not Fade Away” #70 (US)
Best Tracks: “Not Fade Away,” “Lover Goodbye,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Bown Eyed Handsome Man,” “Texas (When I Die)”

“TNT” by Tanya Tucker (Click Here)

“TNT” was Tanya Tucker’s 9th studio album and was her first to be certified Gold in both the US and Canada. The album also received a Grammy nomination in the category of "Best Female Rock Performance." This was Tanya's third of 10 Grammy nominations. She has yet to win a Grammy.

With “TNT” Tucker made a bold departure from her classic country music style to do a more rock-flavored album – but for good measure kept a slight hint of that country there for her longtime fans. The departure proved to be extremely successful for Tucker as the album is her second highest charting on the US Country chart and her highest charting on the Canadian Country chart. The album was also her highest charting on the US Billboard Top 200 albums chart reaching #54. Only 1991’s “What Do I Do With Me” and 1992’s “Can’t Run From Yourself” have charted higher reaching #48 and #51 respectively. IN Canada “TNT” is Tucker’s highest charting album on the pop charts reaching #52. It was also her first album to make it onto the Canadian Country charts.

Because of the success of “TNT” Tucker followed the album with 1979’s “Tear Me Apart,” another rock-influenced album but captured much less success and by 1980 returned to her country music roots.

Featuring a playful somewhat flirtatious exuberant attitude from Tanya, "TNT was in many ways her coming of age album. She had just turned 20 a month before it's release and was ready to prove she was more than just a cute country music sweetheart.

The album opens with Phil Everly’s synth drum rocker “Lover Goodbye” and sets the mood for the album. Her remake of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” is a beautiful southern rock ballad. Prine wrote and recorded this song for his 1971 debut album “John Prine.” Seals and Crofts helped on backing vocals on the ballad “The River and The Wind.”

The album’s first single “Texas (When I Die)” was the only true country number on the album. The song peaked at #5 on the US country chart and with time has become one of Tucker’s signature songs.

Tucker’s rendition of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” is a real scorching treat. The song was released as the b-side to “Texas (When I Die).” Receiving a fair amount of radio airplay and fan requests it ended up charting on Billboard’s Top 100 Singles chart reaching #70, making it the third highest charting pop single of her career.

Not Fade Away (1978)

Easily one of the album highlights is her rockin’ rendition of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” why they did not release this as a single is a mystery to me. Tucker puts in a flavorful rockabilly rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.” The song was originally released on Chuck Berry’s 1957 debut album “After School Session” and was used as the b-side to his 1956 single “Too Much Monkey Business.”

Often "TNT" sounds as if Tanya's aim was to crack the AOR radio format and would have done well alongside the queens of AOR such as Pat Benatar, Linda Ronstadt and Anne & Nancy Wilson (Heart).

Link to “TNT” (Click Here)

TANYA TUCKER (1978)

TANYA TUCKER

Sammy Johns by Sammy Johns (1973)

“Sammy Johns” by Sammy Johns (1973)

Release Date: 1973
Produced by Jay Senter, Jefferson Lee, Larry Knechtel
Genre: Country Rock, Folk, Pop
Label: General Recording

Chart Positions: #148 (US)
Certifications: N/A

Singles: “Rag Doll,” #52 (US), #34 (US Adult Contemporary), “Chevy Van” #5 (US), #2 (New Zealand), #8 (Canada), #80 (US Country), “America” (No Chart Data), “Early Morning Love” #68 (US), #79 (Canada), #19 (US Adult Contemporary), #79 (US Country), “Friends Of Mine” (No Chart Data)
Singles Certifications: “Chevy Van” (US Gold)

Other Charting Tracks: N/A
Best Tracks: “Early Morning Love,” “Chevy Van,” "Rag Doll," “Holy Mother, Aging Father”

“Sammy Johns” (Click Here)

Trivia: Sammy Johns was signed to his solo recording contract in 1973 to General Recording Corporation Records (also known as GRC). His first official recording was “Early Morning Love,” which was later released as a single in 1974, it was the fourth single release from his debut album “Sammy Johns.” Johns’ first single release “Rag Doll,” a country influenced ballad came and went without notice. “Chevy Van” was the second single which also came and went without notice. Two more singles were released (“America” and “Early Morning Love”) again no chart action. Finally 18 months after the album was released GRC recognized the hit potential of “Chevy Van” and re-released it as a single in 1975 and promoted the song. This time around it became a huge hit reaching #5 in the US and the top ten in New Zealand and Canada.  Due to the success of “Chevy Van” GRC re-released “Early Morning Love” and “Rag Doll” as singles and like "Chevy Van," both made it onto the charts. Much of the album has a country music character about it. Songs such as “We Will Shine” are reminiscent of John Denver while “Friends of Mine” begins with a twangin’ country music guitar.

"Chevy Van" (1975)

"Chevy Van" was written by Sammy as were most of the songs from his album. The song epitomizes an era when hitchhiking was popular and picking up strangers for a one night stand was a lifestyle for many. The million selling "Chevy Van" struck a chord so much that van sales dramatically increased in the next year, making it one of the most popular vehicles of the time period. "Chevy Van" inspired the 1977 low budget teen film "The Van" in which Danny DeVitto was one of the stars and prominently featured Johns' epic tune.

Sammy's second biggest single "Rag Doll" was written by popular songwriter Steve Eaton. The melancholy song with its open feel and memorable harmony received a fair amount of airplay on some radio stations across the US but failed to reach the heights of "Chevy Van." Despite the song is one of Johns' best recordings and is well remembered by his fans. Songwriter Steve Eaton's songs have been recorded by many top rate artists such as Anne Murray's "Out On The Road," Lee Greenwood's "I'll Still Be Loving You" and probably his best known song "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" by the Carpenters. "Rag Doll" was first recorded by Sammy Johns but has since been recorded by Art Garfunkel and Glen Campbell.

Link to “Sammy Johns” (Click Here)

SAMMY JOHNS

Nicolette Larson - Nicolette (1978)

“Nicolette” by Nicolette Larson (1978)

Release Date: September 29, 1978
Produced by Ted Templeman
Genre: Soft-Rock, Country-rock, Pop-rock
Label: Warner Brothers
Chart Positions: #15 (US), #1 (Canada)
Certifications: Gold (US, Canada)
Singles:

“Lotta Love” #4 (France, Canada), #8 (US), #11 (Brazil), #22 (New Zealand), #61 (Japan), #1 (US Adult Contemporary)

“Rhumba Girl” #15 (Canada), #47 (US), #19 (US Adult Contemporary)

“Give A Little” #104 (US), #38 (US Adult Contemporary)

“Nicolette” is Nicolette Larson’s debut album and was released in September 1978 shortly after her 26th birthday.

Amazon link to “Nicolette” (Click Here)

Larson came to public attention singing backup for Neil Young on American Stars 'n Bars and Comes a Time. Her first charting single was Young's composition "Lotta Love" which reached #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

Eddie Van Halen appears uncredited on guitar on "Can't Get Away From You". Michael McDonald and Linda Ronstadt are both credited for providing backing vocals.

There were three singles released from the album, the first was her breakthrough, which to this day remains he biggest hit. “Lotta Love” was written by Neil Young and was first featured on Neil’s 1978 album “Comes A Time” which featured Nicolette Larson singing backing vocals. Nicolette’s version of the song was released shortly after Young’s version. Nicolette took Neil’s simple down home song and turned it into an upbeat sparkling song that contains this tone of optimism about it. A 12” single disco mix of the song was released to favorable response from dance club DJs and the song was played in clubs throughout North America. Having been a worldwide hit it looked as if Nicolette was well on her way to worldwide superstardom. Alas the following singles did not fare as well. She had a few subsequent minor hits but nothing that took storm, as did “Lotta Love.”

"Lotta Love"

The second single “Rhumba Girl” received minor airplay in the US and Canada but did not catch on like the former hit. “Rhumba Girl” was written by Jesse Winchester is a Canadian-American singer/songwriter he has had several hits in Canada including 1970’s “Yankee Lady” and 1981’s “Say What” which was a hit in both the US and Canada. The third single “Give A Little” came and went before anybody could notice it.

A soulful rendition of Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” is a true album highlight which should have been released as a single. Larson proves with this song that she was a gifted vocalist that could tackle most any genre of song.

 Nicolette Larson (1978)

Link to “Nicolette” (Click Here)

NICOLETTE LARSON

Neil Young - Harvest (1972)

“Harvest” by Neil Young (1972)

By the time Neil Young released “Harvest” he had already experienced a good amount of success with previous musical entities. In 1967 “For What It’s Worth” was a top ten hit for his band Buffalo Springfield. He joined Crosby, Stills and Nash to record the 1970 album “Déjà Vu” which spawned the hits “Woodstock” and “Teach Your Children.” Finally “Harvest” is released, his fourth studio album and it becomes a worldwide hit reaching #1 in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Norway and The Netherlands as well as making it to #4 in Germany and Denmark, #6 Japan, #12 in both Finland and Italy, #48 in New Zealand and #100 in France.

"Harvest" by Neil Young (Click Here)

Many of the songs on the album were dark in theme he tackled lost love, drug addiction and loneliness.  The album has an overall mood and an overall lyrical content. The mood is melancholic and personal and the songs mostly describe the longing for and fulfillment of new love. In the song “The Needle and the Damage Done” of a friend of his who died of heroin addiction. “Old Man” talks about loneliness and fleeting moments. Young is perhaps most explicit in his search for love on the controversial "A Man Needs a Maid," which is often condemned as sexist by people judging it on the basis of its title. In fact, the song contrasts the fears of committing to a relationship with simply living alone and hiring help, and it contains some of Young's most autobiographical writing.

There were two singles released from the album “Old Man,” the second single, made it to #31 US and #4 Canada. The first single release is the classic “Heart of Gold,” which has become Young’s biggest hit of his career. Young sings this song with a chilling yearning that digs deep into the soul. The song was a huge hit around the world making it to #1 in the US and Canada, #4 Norway, #6 Denmark, #8 The Netherlands, #10 UK, #28 Japan and #30 Belgium. James Taylor and a relatively unknown Linda Ronstadt sang backing vocals on the song.

James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt don't come in until the end of the song. Like Young, Taylor and Ronstadt were in town to appear on The Johnny Cash Show (Elliot Mazer, producer of “Heart of Gold,” had produced Ronstadt's 1970 Silk Purse album). Young convinced them to lend their voices to this track, and they came in on Sunday, February 8, 1971 and the next day the rest of the song was completed.

"Heart Of Gold"

Amazon link to"Harvest": CLICK HERE 




NEIL YOUNG