Anne Murray

I think it's considered to be 1955 to the present, since "Rock Around The Clock" became a hit in 1955 and was the first really major Rock And Roll hit. Joel Whitburn's "Record Research" books use that year as a starting point (at least for the Pop Chart books) because of it.

 

Speaking of the "Record Research" books, here's a song of Anne's that I never knew existed until I started getting into the books. A low showing on the US charts (#81) but did much better in her homeland of Canada (#19). This is the only duet I can think of offhand in which each singer is singing about something completely different than the other while singing over each other's vocals.

By the way, this isn't really a "Video" - it's just a picture of the album while the song plays. It was the best audio I could find on the site.

 

Also interesting that each respective part of that duet is a song they had previously recorded individually. That album is a real curiosity.

 

Well, she's no Helen Reddy.



Actually, I'd say she was Canada's answer to Helen Reddy.

 

Grew up listening to her, thanks to my mom... A fair amount of schmaltz in her catalog, but some fine stuff as well. Great voice!

 

Or is she???

This is from that guardian of legitimately licensed audio recordings: itunes.

 

Did Anne record "I Say A Little Prayer" solo before the album with Glen Campbell? I looked at her discography on Wikipedia and couldn't find any information on that.

 

You are correct: I was thinking of another Bacharach/Dionne Warwick song she covered on her previous album: I'll Never Fall in Love Again

 

As a singer, few come better than Anne Murray, even if much of her material is saccharine. Her pitch is immaculate and phrasing is just incredible. If you have ears, you can't hate on her.

Ed

 

Yes, Anne Murray: The woman in the world you want the most to hate, until she opens her mouth.

 

David Foster produced the Canadian charity single "Tears are not Enough", featuring a pile of top Canadian singers. In an interview about the project, Foster claimed that she was the only performer whose take he used without any editing or pitch correction.

 

I heard it was Neil Young....LOL!!!

Ed

 

Anne Murray had her first major hit in 1970... Helen Reddy's first major hit was in 1973. It is the other way around.

 

In the documentary that aired on TV in Canada, there was a scene where Neil did his part, then Foster says from the booth "maybe we could try another take, went a little flat there" and Neil says "that's my style man"...

 

She played a show in the auditorium of an elementary school in my home town in 1969... She may have had her first (at least regional) hit by then. I went backstage to meet her and her band after the show ( still have all the autographs). She and her band were really friendly with everyone and seemed to be in no rush to leave. One year later, "Snowbird" hit and the rest is history.

 

Yep. I saw that part. David was not feeling Neil's vocal in the least bit. It's incredibly shaky.

Ed

 

This is about "par for the course" for her tune-wise. She sounds vocally sublime here:



Ed

 

BTW, she is a classy person as well as a gifted singer.

 

Helen's first hit was "I Don't Know How To Love Him" in 1971, which was Top 15 in the US. It did better on the charts than Yvonne Elliman's version, although Yvonne's seems to be more remembered.

 

I found this as a double CD with Greatest Hits on the other side. Played the hell out of it for a while. I should dig it out of mothballs again...

 

Very true indeed. When I lived in Canada, there were usually large quantities of her LPs in the thrift stores.

 

Her original greatest hits gets played every day in my house - keeps the baby happy!

If I recall correctly, she had a perm to end all perms when she appeared on the first season of SNL.

 

I just ran across this album at Goodwill today and grabbed it for 50 cents because I'd never seen it before and I like some of the songs (versions by others) on it. It's definitely NOT what I'd expected from Anne Murray at all. Sort of a hold over of the late 60s folky thing before she went all singer-songwriter sounding in the 70s.

Not sure if it's a counterfeit or not, but the cover is atrocious...looks like a bad photo copy. The vinyl sounds fine, nice and quiet (if a bit off center).

 

"Time Don't Run Out On Me" is one of my Anne favorites -- I like the gritty sound that came into her voice on occasion in later years (plus I'm a sucker for the 80's synthesized production)...