Jackie DeShannon Albums (9)
'You Know Me'
Release Date 9/26/2000
Tracks 14
Label Jag/Varese Sarabande
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
It takes a few spins to understand, and it is one of this prolific singer's many, many recordings, but when you spend some quality time with You Know Me, it starts unraveling its secrets in ways that only a truly great recording can. "Any Heart" is pure power, with the band weaving textures around Jackie DeShannon's distinctive vocal, the guitar relentless as it sustains the wall of sound. A true labor of love, few artists can produce a song this strong, and the fact that it follows three equally powerful compositions is evidence of the majesty that sweeps across all 14 tracks. "Steal the Thunder" opens the album with authority -- the resonating grandeur Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes" contained, with a better hook. DeShannon places everything in perfect order, the vocal gliding over a groove that is rock-solid. "Wing Ryder" changes the pace, and you get the idea that this major songwriter is building an album more complex than Carole King's Tapestry -- sheer art for art's sake. It ebbs and flows with an elegance younger musicians are too impetuous to seek out. The keyboards and guitars in "Wing Ryder" fuse styles that Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles were employing. And that's the secret here: DeShannon hasn't made another singer/songwriter album, she has shouldered a project akin to filming a major motion picture. "Somewhere in America" has a smart guitar riff and a wailing sax in the distance for one of the few ecology songs that isn't hampered by bulky words. "Song for Sandra Jeanne (Rites of Passage)" is for the singer's poet mom. It's just beautiful, the album changing moods like a photo album with pages turning before you on the silver screen. Each song is an episode, with the title track a defiant affirmation of someone who has been with listeners through the years, from "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" to "Bette Davis Eyes." While Lou Adler's sparse production on Tapestry allowed Carole King to bare her soul, DeShannon gives us a dense production, thick and rich, a wide range of sounds that could reinvent AAA radio if given the chance to be heard with the same presence as her best-known tunes. "Just How Right You Are" and "Red Montana Sky" are both driving and two of the more commercial tracks, with subtle hints of past work slipping into the lyrics. At close to 60 minutes, the 14 tracks are very much like a double LP. "There Goes the One" is a pensive recommitment, as graceful saxophone blends with the keyboards and the charming line, "I love the books that he reads." "Vanished in Time" is clear and measured, a youthful exuberance embracing the wisdom of years. This is a transformation for the veteran songwriter, and she seems to be driven more by her incredible instincts than by record company mandate. Where You're the Only Dancer, To Be Free, and earlier albums had an agenda most artists have to deal with, "Raze" is sound and performance, which shows real control. The drums drive the vocals and guitar backs DeShannon up with more dominance than maybe any album she's ever made. "Red Montana Sky" keeps surfacing as the tune that should be embraced by radio. "Here On" seems out of place, the reggae too dramatic a departure for all the elements that came before. It throws the listener for a loop and has a different character than all the other tracks on You Know Me, but that's either the luxury or the downside of artistic freedom, take your pick. Covering the Beach Boys' "Trader," however, is a perfect conclusion, and a perfect vehicle for Jackie DeShannon's timeless voice on an album that may take years before it is fully appreciated. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The first of two albums on Atlantic records for the singer with an immaculate voice, Jackie was produced by Arif Mardin, Tom Dowd, and Jerry Wexler, one less producer than her What the World Needs Now Is Love album had helping craft the sounds. The festivities start off with John Prine's song "Paradise," a folksy title, not to be confused with the Perry Botkin, Jr./Harry Nilsson/Gil Garfield tune that Bette Midler and the Ronettes covered as the Jackie album tends to stay in an interesting space that could be described as "adult contemporary folk." "Vanilla 'Olay" moves brightly, a rare spirited pop vocal which is one of four compositions by the singer/songwriter here, two-thirds of the 12 selections coming from a dizzying array of songwriters. John Hurley and Ron Wilkins' "Heavy Burdens Me Down" is a beautiful gospel number, and the version of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is one of the album's highlights. It certainly is interesting hearing someone with a traditional voice putting some polish on a Neil Young staple. This album is as smooth and dreamy as Dusty Springfield's Cameo, though the three producers don't let the singer break out of the controlled mood they've set. DeShannon's original "Laid Back Days" tries to escape those confines, and "Vanilla 'Olay" actually does, John Stewart's xylophone bringing the latter to another level. Steve Goodman's "Would You Like to Learn to Dance" has ace Bee Gees co-producer Albhy Galuten adding a distinguished harpsichord -- it really is special, and what the album cries out for is one of those extraordinary songs that the Bee Gees gave to so many artists, from Samantha Sang to Dionne Warwick and Rare Earth. Galuten could have made this very good album even better had he contributed his production skills. Cissy Houston adds some magic to the Donna Weiss/Mary Unobsky composition "I Won't Try to Put Chains on Your Soul," more gospel-pop which is another notable track here. Weiss would of course go on to co-write "Bette Davis Eyes" with DeShannon when the singer moved on to Columbia records for the adult contemporary album New Arrangement. Unlike the string of albums on Imperial where this extraordinary talent got to try new things and get into a groove, this '70s period has work spread across multiple labels, and as the music changed hands the sounds took bigger leaps than they might have had all this activity progressed under a single record company umbrella. Van Morrison's "I Wanna Roo You" works, as do the two Jackie DeShannon originals that conclude the album, "Peaceful in My Soul" and "Anna Karina." DeShannon plays acoustic guitar on "Anna Karina," "Laid Back Days," "Vanilla 'Olay," and "I Wanna Roo You," adding her personality to the musical mix. Jackie is an interesting and worthwhile collection of 12 songs falling stylistically somewhere between her albums What the World Needs Now Is Love from the '60s and You Know Me from the '90s. Her voice is in great shape, and the music is created with loving care, making for a satisfying chapter in the singer's impressive body of work. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In the late 1960s, Jackie DeShannon had reestablished herself as a chart presence with the singles "What the World Needs Now" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," and impressed critics with her album Laurel Canyon, and 1970's To Be Free seems to have been intended to consolidate these successes. DeShannon wrote or co-wrote eight of the album's 11 songs, and the themes often reflect the guarded optimism of those singles as well as the hipster pastoralism that was a growing part of pop culture at the time, while the arrangements and production are at once glossy and tasteful, merging top-notch studio craft with just enough restraint to keep the musicians from overwhelming DeShannon's vocals. To Be Free is a superb showcase for DeShannon the singer; many of the tracks find her reaching back to her rhythm & blues influences, and though the music doesn't quite follow the same path, her best moments here are superb. blue-eyed soul, balancing sweetness and grit with the grace of an acrobat. As a songwriting showcase, the album isn't quite as impressive; the opener "Livin' on the Easy Side" is a bit too cloying, "Child of the Street"'s celebration of a homeless hippie gal sounds woefully naïve four decades later, and "What Was Your Day Like" may make DeShannon's life sound enviable, but ultimately it doesn't have much to say. But "Sooner or Later," "Francoise," and "When Morning Comes Again" display a literacy and emotional depth that ranks with her best work; the good stuff more than compensates for the relative misfires, and her cover of Leonard Cohen's " "Bird on a Wire" is splendid. To Be Free isn't the triumph DeShannon and her collaborators seem to have been reaching for, and that reach often seems to be its greatest failing, but there are far too many good things in this album for anyone who loves great pop music to ignore it. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Put a Little Love in Your Heart'
Release Date 1/1/1969
Tracks 20
Label Imperial
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What The Critics Say
DeShannon co-wrote her second Top Ten hit, the title track, with Jimmy Holiday and Randy Myers, and this album contains more of the fruit of their collaboration, including the follow-up, a Top 40 hit called "Love Will Find a Way." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Jackie DeShannon's Me About You was recorded during a transitional period in the talented singer/songwriter's career; in 1968, she was moving on from the bright, radio-friendly pop of "When You Walk in the Room," but it would be a while before the more mature tone of "What The World Needs Now" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" achieved commercial success. Me About You may not have made much of an impression on the charts, but it was a strong, ambitious, and beautifully crafted album that anticipated the emotionally honest and confessional tone that would come into vogue for female artists in the '70s. DeShannon only wrote three songs for Me About You, but "Nicole," "Splendor in the Grass," and "I Keep Wanting You" (the latter written in collaboration with Jack Nitzsche, who also arranged the recording) are all fine compositions which sound sophisticated without sinking into pretension, and elsewhere she graces songs by Jimmy Webb ("The Girls' Song"), Van Dyke Parks ("High Coin"), and Tim Hardin ("Baby Close Its Eyes") with her lovely voice and dramatic but intelligent phrasing. A product of the Golden Age of West Coast record production, Me About You's sound was conceived and executed on a grand scale, but the dynamics never compromise DeShannon's vocals, and the layers of instruments combine to create an aural tapestry that gives shape and color to the melodies rather than weighing them down. Me About You can be seen as a stylistic precursor to DeShannon's outstanding Laurel Canyon, which appeared later the same year, and if there's a bit more Brill Building gloss on this set, it reflects the same sort of intelligence and vision, and it's an overlooked jewel in DeShannon's catalog. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'What the World Needs Now Is Love'
Release Date 1/1/1965
Tracks 12
Label Imperial
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Jackie DeShannon's exquisite "What the World Needs Now Is Love" leads off this collection, and it's quickly followed by a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," as well as a version of "It's All in the Game," making for a very recognizable three songs in a row on this 1968 release featuring as its title her 1965 Top Ten hit, originally on the This Is Jackie DeShannon album. What THIS is, is another stellar set of vocal performances with DeShannon being produced and arranged by a dazzling array of industry names. "So Long Johnny" is a pop tune by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which sounds so much like their Dionne Warwick work it is interesting to hear another great singer in that setting. "Windows and Doors" follows the same formula, while "Changing My Mind" could have been straight from the session that produced Petula Clark's "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love." Bacharach tracked the hit on his own, while Calvin Carter, who produced the For You album, collaborates with Bacharach and David on a number of songs here. Dick Glasser's production of "Little Yellow Roses" is the only one of the dozen songs with his participation; the country ballad is a real departure from the rest of the album, even with the arrangement by Jack Nitzsche. There are five arrangers in all, and an interesting cover concept. Jackie DeShannon appears on the front barefoot against a tree, holding a bouquet, while on the back cover she holds the bouquet with two boys, a Caucasian and an African American. It wasn't something you saw often in the '60s, and truly held with the sentiment of the title track. Tony Hatch's "Call Me" ends the album, and you knew from "Changin' My Mind" that those involved here were listening to Hatch's work, his influence among the many in the grooves of this fine recording. The interesting thing here is that Arthur Wright's sweeping arrangement sounds less like the work of Tony Hatch than Clydie King's ideas on the previously mentioned "Changin' My Mind." This version of "Call Me" fades too fast, and has that big band sound DeShannon employed on the For You album. "A Lifetime of Loneliness" recalls the sounds on popular Gene Pitney records, while Bob Crewe's "Everything Under the Sun" is a perfect Phil Spector-style pop ballad. What the World Needs Now Is Love offers many moods and sounds from the '60s through the voice of DeShannon. Not only is the title track one of her most recognizable hits, this album is a precious look at more of DeShannon's interpretation of other songwriters. Her only composition here is "Where Does the Sun Go?," while Bacharach and David get five of the seven titles. Their "Too Wait for Love" is more of the laid-back West Coast pop that they did so well and is a nice addition to the DeShannon catalog. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Given Jackie DeShannon's estimable talents as a songwriter and her sure, confident command of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues as a vocalist, it seems curious that when she was given her first chance to make a full-length album in 1963, it was a folk music set without a single new song. DeShannon has said her original idea for the album was to record a dozen Bob Dylan songs, which would have been a bold move only a few months after the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, but her record company rejected the idea; instead, she covered three Dylan tunes along with a number of selections familiar to folks who followed the more commercial end of the '60s folk scene of the day, including "If I Had a Hammer," "500 Miles," "Puff the Magic Dragon," and "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" (the latter somewhat bowdlerized, though DeShannon's playful delivery compensates for the innuendo stripped from the lyrics). There's just enough grain in DeShannon's voice to cut the sweetness of some of the sappier numbers on this set (though she slightly overplays the pathos of "500 Miles"), and she handles the Dylan songs and "Jailer Bring Me Water" (written by Bobby Darin during his flirtation with folk music) with intelligence and maturity. The production is a bit too glossy to suit the material, especially with the frequent use of vocal choruses, but Jack Nitzsche's musical arrangements give the melodies strong, subtle support and the album boasts an emotional resonance that sets it apart from most of the singers that sought to take commercial advantage of the '60s folk scare before the arrival of the Beatles and Dylan's embrace of rock & roll thinned out the herd. Stylistically, Jackie DeShannon stands apart from the singer's later work, but it confirms she was a gifted interpretive singer who could handle the work of other songwriters as well as her own. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For You is Jackie DeShannon performing classy orchestrated adult contemporary pop songs in 1967, the same year Dusty Springfield tracked a similar collection entitled Where Am I Going. There is not a bad track on For You, and had DeShannon decided to follow Patti Page and continue creating music like this, she no doubt could have been very successful. Next to the rock & roll of the album she would release more than 30 years later, You Know Me, this is total culture shock, and goes to show the vast depth of DeShannon's artistry. The beautiful Carole King/Gerry Goffin tune, "No Easy Way Down," which Dusty Springfield cut as well, fits perfectly alongside Johnny Mercer classics like "Dream" and "Merry Go Round in the Rain." Calvin Carter (who would co-produce DeShannon with Burt Bacharach and Hal David on the What the World Needs Now Is Love album) handles all the production chores here. His work with the Impressions, Jerry Butler, and Gene Chandler gives this DeShannon outing R&B mixed with the big band sound, but not with the fanfare that Petula Clark and Linda Ronstadt had accompanying their moves into this prestigious arena. "Don't Dream of Anybody But Me" has Gerald Wilson arranging, providing lush instrumentation behind the '60s pop vocalist. Though it's the only tune he works on here, it adds to his impressive resumé of work with Bobby Darin, Dizzy Gillespie, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and adds a nice dimension to this mix. Most of the album's arrangements are by George Tipton, including the utterly fabulous Mercer track "Dream." Tipton's repertoire includes work for Harry Nilsson, Brian Hyland, the Monkees, and José Feliciano, and the collaboration with producer Calvin Carter is a very nice pairing. The remake of Tommy Edwards' "It's All in the Game" goes beyond the transistor radio boundary into the world where actressPia Zadora did a credible job in the '80s with her Pia & Phil and I Am What I Am albums. "Are We Dancing?" was originally in the Walt Disney film The Happiest Millionaire, while "When I Fall in Love" entertained fans of Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke. For a prolific songwriter like DeShannon to explore the rich sounds of these timeless compositions is all the more impressive years later. Sure, Roy Orbison cut "Dreams" (the Mercer tune, different from his own hit "In Dreams," which would have been a nice addition to this as well); James Ray hit with Rudy Clark's "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" (covered in a more rock & roll version by Peter Noone on his great One of the Glory Boys LP); and the Ronettes put their stamp on the Bob Crewe/G. Knight number "Everything Under the Sun," but Jackie DeShannon's renditions are removed from the world where she and her colleagues achieved their greatest notoriety: hit radio. The song selection is very impressive, jazz legend Neal Hefti (who later wrote the "Batman Theme" for television) is represented by the opening track, "Don't Dream of Anybody But Me," and it is exquisite, setting the stage for DeShannon's vocals to glide over all these lovely melodies. Richard Oliver pens a poem, "For You," for the back cover instead of his liner notes, but the album jacket looks like a regular Jackie DeShannon release. Looks can be deceiving. The disc bridges the gap between "What the World Needs Now Is Love," and the classy singers who reigned on the radio before rock & roll merged with pop. Few could do this and do it so well. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
