Bradley's Buzz

bub109 Tanya Tucker – Should I Do It
December 11, 2007
Original Release: July 1981
MCA Records #5228

It was around 1981 that I decided I frickin’ loved Tanya Tucker – sure I had known of her for quite awhile having been forced to listen to country music for most of my young life, but by 1981 it was cool to like some country – after all Urban Cowboy was a huge frickin’ hit and suddenly every country star was all over the pop radio with poppy country tunes – Juice Newton hit it big, Rosanne Cash was crossing over with ease and of course there was always Dolly.

But Tanya helped pave that way as well having already done her pop and rock on previous records. With 1980’s Dreamlovers, our girl headed back to country but country was a little different and it certainly had the melody and themes of some pop songs, which is probably why I frickin’ love Should I Do It. I'm not sure how or why certain things capture masses and others don't - this album only hit #50 on the country charts making it her second album in a row not to hit the top 40, and neither of the singles entered the top 40 - though I have to say the album did hit #180 on the pop album charts - which is kind of cool but not cool enough cause this album really makes me smile... Why? you ask, let me tell you all about it....

Where Dreamlovers had good songs, there were still some that just seemed quickly put together and Tanya was still just toying around with her raunchy voice, but with her next album she totally owned it. This is where the real spirited “don’t screw with me” and the heartache “I’ll still go on but it won’t be easy” mentalities meshed together and helped forge her into what would be her ultimate hay day of the late 80’s and early 90’s, and I think it all began here with Should I Do It.

First of all, the first cut, first single and title cut all in one is of course "Should I Do It", so poppy and fun that the Pointer Sisters actually remade it and had a hit with as well, but to me it’s always been Tanya’s song. It’s snappy and fun and full of frickin’ Tanya – don’t believe me check it out down below.

Similar in tone is my second fav from the album, “I Oughta Let Go” – another song about not really wanting to commit to someone and realizing you should probably walk away cause the person isn’t so good for you but Tanya does it so brilliantly and with such a sly wink in her tone, you get the impression she’ll be okay no matter what she does. Plus this one has one of those great sing along choruses I love so.

“Halfway To Heaven” seems a fitting title for a song that feels like its halfway to heaven – a bit of a twang, a lot of sass and a whole lot of greatness – “Don’t take me halfway to heaven/ honey don’t you lead me on this way/ don’t take me halfway to heaven/ darlin’ I can’t stand another day/ If I don’t get to heaven/ you best believe there’s gonna be hell to pay….” I love it!

“Heartache No. 3” is another mid tempo country pop confection with another killer chorus and of course Tanya’s raspy sass – “Oh Lord help me here I go again/ I gotta admit this is sure more fun/ than just being friends/ I can’t help it baby you look so good to me/ It’s two down and on my way to heartache number 3…”

The ballads are all super cool as well including a stellar performance in “We’re Playing Games Again” and though the lyrics aren’t perfect or anything, her performance is and like I’ve said before, this woman could sing the phone book and you’d believe you just heard her whole life laid out in front of you while “Stormy Weather”, written by pop aficionados Leo Sayer and Tom Snow, is a pretty little melody about the tumultuous relationship of our lady – and perhaps even a bit on the biographical side.

A cover of Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” may seem a little ambitious but we aren’t talking about the typical country singer or a fly by night lounge singer and though Tanya doesn’t exactly emulate Dusty, she does take the song and turn into her own, and I like it just a little less than the original – but had I not known Dusty’s original this may have been my favorite version.

“Rodeo Girls” was the second single and also included on the soundtrack to the Kristy McNichol/Dennis Quaid film The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia – it’s actually a very pretty song and once again Tanya rips the shizz off those barn doors. All about the unlikely woman groupie falling for rodeo riders, we learn a lot about these crazy heartbroken ladies – “Cowboys tell them they love them/ then they’re gone by the dawn’s early light/ they come and they go/ but the pain never shows/ cause rodeo girls don’t cry…” Aww, it’s kind of heartbreaking and super cool. Unfortunately the song only hit #83 on the country charts but what can you do?

My favorite (at the moment) of the ballads is “Lucky Enough For Two” which is just a simple little love song about two scorned lovers who find each other in a bar and tells the story all in the first verse – “you look so lonely sitting there/ table for two, one empty chair/ we’ve got a lot in common/ I’ve got the same problem as you/ you see I’m lonely too” and my favorite – “I didn’t come here just to think/ you didn’t come here just to drink/ what have we got to lose/ we both could sing the blues alone/ and then head on home” and a cool little refrain – “if you forget about her/ and I forget about him/ maybe we’ll lose these blues/ and get lucky enough/ lucky enough for two…”

The album ends with a duet once again performed by Tanya and Glen Campbell – “Shoulder To Shoulder” is a pretty song and again a bit better than some ballads – all about growing old and staying together it’s sentimental but not overly sweet, and actually the more I listed to it, the more I love it. Perhaps getting married a while ago has turned me into a sap.

The whole Should I Do It album combines just the right pop elements with a big heap of country twang that makes it come off like you just spent the night in a honkey tonk bar – and you know that means I frickin’ love it.

To add to those country bar nights we added a few bonus cuts including the theme song to the film The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia that our girl performed over the opening credits and actually appeared on the soundtrack album.

The most interesting thing about the song is its lyrics. The film is supposedly based on the original song sung by Vicki Lawrence but the lyrics to this version are completely different except for the title – it’s strange but it actually makes a little sense as the Tanya version talks about a brother/sister pair of singers instead of just the love affair gone horribly wrong in the original. Personally I like the lyrics of the original better but Tanya certainly kicks it on this version. (and extra thanks to all those nice TT fans who sent me copies of this song as my original was pretty crappy - luckily I also found a copy of the soundtrack on vinyl so all is now good.)

The final two cuts come from her next official MCA Records release Live, which came out in 1982. You can find the CD online with two different covers. Now I’m not a huge fan of live albums but this one did contain two new songs she hadn’t done studio versions for, a cover of “The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down” which is just fun and I’m sure any Southerner would take great pride in, while “Somebody Buy This Cowgirl A Beer” is an absolute riot and completely makes this album a honkey tonking drinking album.

Tanya Tucker – Should I Do It (bub109)
Track List:
01.Should I Do It 02. Stormy Weather 03. Halfway To Heaven 04. Heartache No. 3 05. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me 06. Rodeo Girls 07. I Oughta’ Let Go 08. Lucky Enough For Two 09. We’re Playing Games Again 10. Shoulder To Shoulder (with Glen Campbell)
Bonus Tracks:
11. The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia 12. Somebody Buy This Cowgirl A Beer (live) 13. The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down (live)

After the Live album in 1982 came a compilation The Best Of Tanya Tucker and then Tanya's MCA Records contract was over and kaput - but as anyone who knows anything of music will tell you Tanya was far from over.... but before she was able to crawl back from the trenches, she landed herself a one off album deal with Arista Records and that's where we'll be heading tomorrow so until then - here's a few little downloads from Should I Do It that I know you'll enjoy:

Download the entire album and artwork:

bub107 Tanya Tucker – Tear Me Apart
December 11, 2007
Original Release: November 1979
MCA Records #5106

First let me tell you that Bubbatunes actually did a reissue of this album back in 2004 (see bub39) and that was a very good reissue, it had new artwork, the great remastering-ish skills of my pal Luther and his pristine record player and even had some bonus tracks which were actually just the pop songs from Tanya’s 1978 highlight TNT. When I decided to do the Tanya Reissues I wasn’t going to redo this album but after thinking about it and realizing how I wanted to be able to listen to each and every Tanya album right in a row without having back tracking bonus tracks, I decided to do it. So I dumped the TNT songs since if you are listening to Tanya in succession then you have just listened to TNT and now it’s time for Tear Me Apart.

Tanya's rock album of 1979, Tear Me Apart is one of my all time favorite albums ever, and I'm not even kidding! When I figured out how to take my vinyl records and put them into the computer to make a CDR, Tear Me Apart was the very first album I had to do. Luckily, my pal Luther had a better stereo and a better system to do this and he did a little "remastering" and this classic, and oft overlooked little ditty is now available on CD!

Tear Me Apart has intrigued me ever since I was a little kid. The album was the follow up to 1978's TNT which had shown Miss T heading to a more pop/rock orientated style than the country she had been known for. It only made sense to me that she would go this route as she was only about 21 years old at the time and though she had made country records for the last 6 years, I could hear the rock voice in her just itching to come out. Around 1978/79 producer Mike Chapman approached our girl about producing a full on rock album for her, even (according to Tanya) offering not to charge her if the album wasn't successful.

Mike Chapman is one of my all time fav producers, having taken Blondie to brand new heights in 1978 and through to the end of the first incarnation of their career. He also produced parts of Pat Benatar's debut album that came out in October 1979. Rumor has it that Tanya Tucker was even in the recording booth during Blondie's Eat To The Beat sessions early in the summer of 1979. Anyway, Mike had also been responsible for Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In The City", The Knack's album (“My Sharona”), Smokie, Sweet ("Ballroom Blitz") and Suzi Quatro ("Happy Days" Leather Tuscadero).

So he opted to take our girl T into the valley and record what would become Tear Me Apart. I've always liked the album but due to bad vinyl copies, I was never able to fully appreciate it until now when it's all cleaned up and I have to say I love it, love it. In fact I can't stop listening to it.

Listening to it now, Tear Me Apart isn't as radical, or rock and roll for that matter, as it probably seemed upon its release. There are even twinges of country on some of the songs but in 1979 and with Mike Chapman at the helm, I'm sure the album was perceived as completely out there.

As for the music, Tanya sounds incredible - she is harsh, she is raw, she is fun! The album opens with the straight up in your face rock of "Blind Love". Tanya as the rock goddess is a very convincing thing once you hear this number, with its keyboards and drums. Of course the rock and roll reflected on Tear Me Apart is a little more subtle than say Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" but it is very much in the vein of Suzi Quatro and Sweet - the glam rock/southern rock hybrid Mike Chapman had been perfecting for years.

Mike even uses his own back catalog for Tanya's album with "Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone" and "Tear Me Apart" - both of which were done by his other female protégé Suzi Quatro. To me Tanya's raspiness really takes the songs to new levels, particularly “Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone.” The song was chosen as the first single and it should’ve been a huge hit if not in country (it has some twang to it) at least on the 1979 pop scene. It's an interesting note that Juice Newton known as one of the first to successfully blend pop and country recorded the song the same year only Juice’s was more country sounding… strange isn’t it?

Despite the album’s rock flavor, it’s the ballads that have really captured me. The first ballad we hear is "Somebody Must've Loved You Right Last Night" the story of an affair from the wounded woman's point of view set to a 1979 synthesized keyboard. The song contains such brazen delights as "I don't think that smile’s for me/ you didn't make it home till after 3" but it's the chorus and her delivery which grabs me.. " "Somebody must've loved you right last night cuz you're so faraway today/somebody turned your love light on in a different way." The second verse continues with “Don’t you get tired of using me,” a line which she growls so ferociously I get chills. “Am I just the fool you come home to/ after someone else has had the best of you?” The song shows the guts behind the glory that is Tanya Tucker. Sure, she’s being used and sure she’s sad but she’s not about to let you just walk in without her getting some things off her chest. I think it’s one of Tanya's best vocal performances and one of her best songs.
“San Francisco (Be Sure Wear Flowers In Your Hair)/I Left My Heart In San Francisco” always seemed to be such a strange selection. Particularly since this was the time in Tanya’s life where she was hitting the Hollywood scene with fervor. Perhaps she wanted to celebrate California life in general and found this song (s) to be the best way to do it. The song has some good guitar playing in it but it doesn’t particularly stand out as anything much more than filler, though the added change in the song to incorporate “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” (the only line of that song used here) is a fairly creative turn.

"Tear Me Apart" and its next number "Crossfire Of Desire" are more rock in flavor than anything else on the album. “I’ve been seen in the back of a limousine/I may not own it but it’s bigger than you’ve ever seen/She’ll ride around and think she’s a star/if you please she’s a tease you won’t get far/Tear Me Apart/if you want to win my heart” growls the Texas Queen in the title track.

“Crossfire” is a pretty hilarious song in terms of its subject manner. The crossfire Tanya finds herself in is whether to cheat with a complete stranger or head home to her lover. Typical flavor for a country tune I think but the piano churning and the synthesized guitar riff coming through shines as Tanya says, “I know he would never understand if passion finds me in a one night stand/but I can’t let the pleasures so close at hand slip by.” What a slut, I love her.

“Crossfire Of Desire” has the additional delight of a killer sax solo and backup vocals whispering "crossfire" filling up the middle of the song before the guitars kick back in and Tanya finishes up the cut.

Both "Tear Me Apart" and "Crossfire Of Desire" are absolutely spectacular songs and wonderful vehicles for Tanya's voice, which can be very fairly argued is pretty much made for rock and roll (which is why she's so wonderful when she growls in her country tunes).

“Better Late Than Never” is a strange little song but one strange little song I can’t get enough of. The song opens with Tanya half singing/half talking; “The insults and the punches flew/just like they always have” and then she growls, “He knocked me down and left the room/but I came running back/and I said, “Hey look around/Hey look in the mirror/Lay your ego down/it will get so much clearer.” The song has by this time become a country rock hybrid with a twangy guitar pushing the drama through. The chorus is brilliant as Tanya delivers, “Put up the flag/lay down your weapon/this perpetual battle royal here is a long way from Heaven/Call it a mistake/or call it whatever/let’s just call it off/better late than never.”

The second verse continues the talk/sing part before breaking into some of my favorite lines ever, “So you keep the car/and all those passionate letters/it won’t get you that far/they won’t make you feel better…” The chorus comes up again and before we get another refrain Tanya crashes in singing, “I’m through with you, you son of a ….” And I fall off my chair every time I hear it! In fact, don’t be too surprised if you hear a Swivek rendition in the near future.

"I've Never Said No Before" is the ballad that is more in the Tanya vein people were probably used to in 1979. Ever since 1975's Tanya Tucker album, Tanya was moving slowly into a more pop attitude and would incorporate electric guitar, keyboards and the like into her ballads. “I’ve Never Said…” could have fit in on any of those country albums and a reworking today would no doubt work on country radio without any problems.

The song is typical Tanya rhetoric, opening with "I've never said no before/ I didn't know how/ I've never said that before now", moving into the verses where she growls and croons, "you need the peeerrrfeeect looooove, it's just not me.." before breaking into the song's crescendo of "It's easy to see what you're doing to me/you're stealing my heart/I've got to let goooo..." and quietly ending with, "I've never said no before/I didn't know how/for your sake I'm saying 'No' now."

I love songs like these. It’s a love song yet not really. It’s not a poor poor me type of song, instead it’s a song saying, “You better stay away from me because I could fuck you up,” and that’s sad, but brilliant.

"Shady Streets" is another one that could easily be re-recorded today - part ballad, part upbeat - it's very reminiscent of the pop flavorings offered on TNT. Again, it’s not much of a bombshell compared to the other tracks but the imagery is nice as Tanya hopes to find life on those elite shady streets while wearing shiny shoes, something that has apparently eluded her up to this point. Plus Tanya’s voice is so enchanting to me. The passion that comes through on even the most mundane lyric leaves me in a trance. Tanya from the age of only 13 has the power to make you believe she is feeling every single shred of emotion being described and I’m left rooting for her, hoping she finds those damn shiny shoes and her life works out.

Tear Me Apart ends with "By Day By Day" a jaunty run through pseudo rock that works almost as country as it is firmly based in the Southern rock mode. Piano jumping, drums and high hats thumping, gospel chorus crooning; it has it all. Tanya's "whoohs" add to the fun feeling coursing through the track, “Did you ever wake up sweating from a midnight dream…” is the song’s smoky opening line while Tanya continues, “You sit there smiling/ but if you could read my brain/you’d see yourself under the wheels of this runaway train/and you know that train keeps getting closer baby day by day/day by day now.” The song is pure Tanya Tucker declaring she’s “One part woman, one part wild, one part machine” and you better beware cuz that train known as Miss T keeps getting closer day by day now.

The musical break in the middle of the song is filled with a piano/sax combo solo that keeps this little bluesy train love song chugging down the track until Tanya is left screaming, “By day by day by day by day” and a full on vocal choir ending. It’s really quite a little ditty and a great way to end what has fast become my ultimate favorite Tanya Tucker album.

When listening to this collection of songs I am always amazed at to why it didn’t score. Maybe people didn’t like change. Rock fans didn’t want some country star coming over to their territory; the country fans didn’t want their ‘little dynamo’ headed to the scary side of rock. Either way, this album isn’t much different than anything else released by a female rock singer. It’s not as hardcore as Pat Benatar’s release of the same year but it’s not all that different from Ellen Foley’s Night Out and it’s gutsier than Olivia Newton-John’s Totally Hot, which scored huge.

Either way I think the album is great and even my Alf who doesn’t care for much had a straight face when he said he didn’t know why it wasn’t a popular album either, and he lived in the rock teenaged world of 1979 so he knows what he’s talking about.

Due to the dismal reception Tear Me Apart received and the tabloids constantly busting her in rather compromising positions around Los Angeles, Tanya's father grabbed her and brought her back to her "senses" to which put her back to country records with 1980's Dreamlovers which is our very next topic on these 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker and even though the next albums were good, as every Enquiring mind knows it was her personal affairs that proved bigger selling points than her music. Eventually, she’d completely clean up though she still kept up with her Ms. Bad Ass…she busted up bars, she had two children out of wedlock refusing to name the father in public, she doesn’t give a rip what you think about her…

It's really Mike Chapman who was the loser in the whole situation because MCA Records got their money from Tanya in other albums, we as fans got a fabulous little look at what could've been and Tanya got to sing rock and roll. But Mike, he offered to do this pro bono if it wasn't a hit and I get the impression he may have had to dip into all that Blondie savings to pay his condo that month.

As for Tear Me Apart, it's my hope this album sees the light of day on CD - preferably with the artwork I created for it and, as I firmly believe it is the most overlooked album in Tanya's career but one that should definitely not be ignored. Thankfully, I learned how to work that damn computer.

And for an extra dose of 1979 Tanya, check out this performance on You Tube with Tanya singing "Crossfire Of Desire" - it's too die for. I swear.

Tanya Tucker - Tear Me Apart (bub107)
Track List:
01. Blind Love 02. Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone 03. Somebody Must Have Loved You Right Last Night 04. San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear A Flower In Your Hair)/I Left My Heart In San Francisco 05. Tear Me Apart 06. Crossfire Of Desire 07. Better Late Than Never 08. I've Never Said No Before 09. Shady Streets 10. By Day By Day

and because I love you all so and it is the season for giving - I'm not messing around with piddly little mp3 downloads - no my friends, today you get the rare opportunity to download the entire Tear Me Apart album including the bubbatunes artwork - so enjoy (this is for a limited time)

bub106 Tanya Tucker – Ridin’ Rainbows
December 4, 2007
Original Release: February 1977
MCA Records #2253

Of her first four albums for MCA Records this is by far my favorite. So what exactly makes Ridin’ Rainbows so much better than Tanya Tucker, Lovin & Learnin or Here’s Some Love – well let me tell you.

First and foremost the song selection is above and beyond what Tanya has chosen prior to this – also there’s a whole new image that is starting to emerge. By 1977 our girl was over 18 and it seems she was trying to spruce up her looks and her music.

Just look at the glamour shots on the front and the back of the album and you realize this isn’t the Delta Dawn era teenager. The songs reflect this new type of big city sophisticate as well – there’s still country leanings on a few songs but it’s a more upscale type of country – something that reflects big city Dallas than say the prairie towns of 300 reflected on some of her other songs. Most of the album is set in a contemporary pop mode than country and even the ballads aren’t of the sawdust and cheating wife variety – instead they’re laced with pop drums, guitars, strings and loads of emotion.

Ridin’ Rainbows opens with the piano and guitar pop/country hybrid “Dancin’ The Night Away” and it’s just uphill from there – the music falls away and our girl sings, “Standin’ beside the ocean lookin’ across the water/ everything is beautiful here but I still don’t feel like I oughtta…” for she remembers dancin’ the night away with her man. The song was released as a single and hit #16 on the country charts. It’s a really catchy song and our girl embraces this new urban cowboy persona perfectly.

Then we break into the best song on the album – “Love Me Like You Never Will Again”. Now I’ve never been a big fan of ballads – the songs that are supposed to be so heartfelt to people come off as cheesy to me. But not on Ridin’ Rainbows, as my all time favorite song on the album, “Love Me Like You Never Will Again” is a winding string laden sweep of raw passion and emotion – no doubt thanks to the excellent chops of our singer, but the lyrics are there to bring her to us and it doesn’t disappoint at all. As I’m sure you’ll agree once you hear it. It’s just fricking incredible from beginning to end – including a piano break that breaks into a drum/string/choir laden third verse. Just listen to Tanya sing, “Let my lips taste the sweetness of your skin and then love me like you never will again…” It’s pretty hot, and I’m certainly not of the persuasion to be turned on by a Tanya, but cripes it’s that good. (See our downloads below).

Then we get a one two kick with some fun with “Wait Til Daddy Finds Out” a cute little song about infidelity (I know huh?) But the song is catchy as hell and the bridge is fun as Tanya tells us, “Well Daddy’s been a hell of a father/ and daddy’s been working seven nights in a row/ Daddy let mama get a little bit lonely/ sitting home waitin’ for her sugar to show…” The bridge finds us cowering with Miss T when she hears a car coming up the drive – “I’m gonna run and find me a safe place to hide/ cause I know what’s gonna hit that fan/ Oh mama you better take a look outside….” But don’t worry about T, Daddy, Mama or the other man, cause by the end of the song ‘one man walked in the bedroom/ one man walked out of run and one woman’s shopping for a new nightgown…”

Then another favorite of mine comes up – “Let’s Keep It That Way” a song Anne Murray would do the following year and a version I was more familiar with. However, now I know what I was missing because Tanya totally makes this song.

Again, the sophisticated new lady of the 70’s has emerged and in the mid tempo “Let’s Keep It That Way” she’s contemplating having a hot and heavy affair but as she reminds her wine drinking partner, ‘we’re not cheaters yet/ let’s keep it that way…’ and the chorus always gets me singing along, “cause I don’t want to have to tell him a lie when I get back home/ cause it would tear apart his fairy tale world if I did him wrong…”

The formula of fast song then slow song continues as we break into the total pop of “White Rocket” which is a song I thought I wouldn’t particularly care for. This time the hero of the story is a homeless drunk though most of that story is told through the euphemism of the white rocket – ‘he’s on a white rocket through the night/ sailing on a white rocket/ every night he gets right back where he belongs/ and his white rocket keeps him smilin’ til it’s all gone…” But the song is actually really touching and a fairly interesting take on a social disease that has surely never played so seriously on a Tanya Tucker record. Plus it’s really a fun song – and did I mention it’s pop – I mean pure pop.

Our title track was the first single and I’m not really sure why. Not because it isn’t a good song, it’s just there’s so many other choices on here I think. I’ve kind of talked about “Ridin’ Rainbows” in previous posts as the theme to the song is Tanya being with a rodeo rider who’s always gone and to keep a part of him with her she wants to have a baby. “While you’re out there ridin’ rainbows/ I get awful lonely on the ground/ so I was thinkin’ maybe we could have a little baby/ that I could love when you’re not around….” For a long time I never really cared for it, but the years have softened me and I like it again. Of course being in the middle of this album certainly helps it, since by the time you get to the song you’re full into Tanya’s new world of greatness.

Pure country makes its return in “It’s A Cowboy Lovin’ Night” that has the chorus ringing, “shuffle with me Houston stranger/ it’s a cowboy lovin’ night” as Tanya spends her time waiting for the dance at some “It’s been so long since Dallas/ many lonely nights have come and gone/ we may not last but a dance or two/ but it might last all long…” Normally I wouldn’t care for something so country but this is Tanya Tucker and the song just oozes cowboy loving – you can practically see the smoky bar and smell the beer. Yep it’s that good and was once again another top ten single hitting #7 on the country charts.

“It Was Always You” is another sweeping ballad and it’s almost as good as “Love Me…” I just love Tanya all emotional and adult and full of softness. I’m not sure where the voice came from she uses in some of the song, but it’s just superb. The song opens with the awesome line, “I’ve been loved before/ there’s no use pretending/ I have been around/ more than most I guess/ still each chance that came my way/ I turned around and walked away/ wondering why I never knew but now I know/ it was always you…” It’s very sweet but not in the icky way – just sweet, simple and great!

“Knee Deep In Loving You” is another fast country pop song that’s full of fire and fun. While the final cut on the original album is another sweeping ballad – “Wings” is something you really have to hear to believe – I mean she ends up singing in French by the end of it; and it’s not over done nor is it silly as it may sound – what it is, is a super cool song and the end to a super cool album – until now.

Sometime in 1977, Tanya recorded yet another single for her Japanese fans (Huh?) – this time out it’s a pop number called “Rock'n Roll Girl From Alaska” and it’s just as crazy and fun as it sounds – and of course it had to be part of our bonus tracks.

But there’s more where that came from because in the summer of 1978 Tanya ended up in Los Angeles and the world was about to see a whole new side of our girl – but first she recorded a lovely little song to help raise money and awareness about baby seals and the inhumane way they were/are being butchered for their fur. “Save Me” actually became a bit of a hit charting on both the country and the pop charts.

But the great surprise is, though I had heard “Save Me” before, I didn’t actually own the 7” until recently where I discovered there was a B-side that was never released on anything else. It was well worth the wait to hear it, “Slippin’ Away” is the pop side of Tanya as it’s a precursor to her work on her next album TNT, which would blow the lid off of Tanya-ologists.

Tanya Tucker – Ridin’ Rainbows (bub106)
Track List:
01. Dancing The Night Away 02. Love Me Like You Never Will Again 03. Wait Til Daddy Finds Out 04. Let’s Keep It That Way 05. White Rocket 06. Ridin’ Rainbows 07. It’s A Cowboy Lovin’ Night 08. It Was Always You 09. Knee Deep In Loving You 10. Wings
Bonus Tracks:
11. A Rock’n Roll Girl From Alaska 12. Save Me 13. Slippin’ Away

After Ridin’ Rainbows, MCA released Tanya Tucker’s Greatest Hits collecting songs from the four albums we’ve been discussing – Tanya Tucker, Lovin & Learnin, Here’s Some Love and Ridin’ Rainbows which you can sometimes find on CD at Amazon.

So we’ll skip our review of TNT for now and come back to talk about our next reissue that isn’t on official CD – 1979’s full on rock/pop album Tear Me Apart – and believe me it’s great so I have plenty to say about it.

bub104 Tanya Tucker – Lovin’ And Learnin’
December 4, 2007
Original Release: January 1976
MCA Records #2167

By the end of 1975 Tanya had scored two country #1’s with the singles from her MCA debut Tanya Tucker and had hit #1 again with the single “Don’t Believe My Heart Can Stand Another You” – a sassy and so excellent country ditty which started the whole Tanya as kind of a bad ass frontier that would stick with her to this day.

But the single was only the beginning to the greatness that would become her second MCA outing, Lovin’ And Learnin’ – where her previous record touched on pop elements Tanya kept moving further into that territory and though there are a few country moments on the album, most of the album could be 1976 contemporary pop.

“Depend On You” shows Tanya’s growth in only a few years – her voice is so excellent on every song but it’s this type of song that she would continue to forge through out her career. A sad little love song that doesn’t so much have Tanya feeling sorry for herself as much as she is just stating the facts and proving some points - “I’ve always been the kind that didn’t count on much/ but I thought could depend on you…”

The opening cut is the pop/country hybrid “Pride Of Franklin County” which supplies her long time friends the essential country but pushes further into the pop side of things – a sort of “Lizzie & The Rainman” sound a like but much better in my opinion. In this story song the pride of Franklin County leaves his small town and hits the big city, of course things go from bad to worse as he ends up dying in a botched bank robbery but it’s a whole heck of a lot of fun until then, “Listen to the big bells ringin’ on the hillside/ hear the town choir singing so sweet and high/ Lady Luck’s got a heart of stone/ you’re the pride of Franklin County/ don’t forget your natural home…”

“Makin’ Love Don’t Always Make Love Grow” recaptures the theme of running around loose but really wanting to settle down and procreate that was presented on her previous album and will be addressed again on her next album. Of the three songs in the theme that come to mind – 1975’s “Love Of A Rolling Stone”, 1977’s “Ridin’ Rainbows” and this one I have to say “Makin’ Love…” is by far the best. The song tells the whole story as two lovers carouse the world while the woman invariably states, “don’t you feel the need to have some kids and settle down/ he said not while there’s still places left to go/ I’d like to love you in Alaska underneath the midnight sun/ I said makin’ love don’t always make love grow/ oh didn’t you know?”

By the end of the song our girl is mistaken by a little child who thinks she is the kid’s mother – the boyfriend laughs and our heroine almost cries deciding then and there that she is leaving him and the vagabond ways until he turns around and surprises her by saying he thinks it’s time they have some kids and settle down. It’s so nice and so well thought out – it’s really one of my new favorites by Miss T.

Tanya’s choice of covers is also better on Lovin’ And Learnin’ going again with an Eagles song – this time “After The Thrill Is Gone” and again completely making it her own. A surprise rocking version of “Ain’t That A Shame” also appears and makes her realize with her new found voice she can handle anything thrown at her. Her sweet and simple version of Dave Loggins’ “You’ve Got Me To Hold On To” ended up hitting #3 on the country charts as the second single from the album making it her fourth top 3 hit out of her four MCA singles. I’m sure they were happy they had shelled out that million for the girl.

The only real songs that don’t impress me so much are “Here We Are” and “Leave Him Alone” – both softer pop ballads that really don’t stand out as much as the other cuts. The first sounds almost filler-ish in its simple presentation while “Leave Him Alone” has some great elements – the lyrics reflecting some beatch who keeps messing with the man Tanya loves but it still falls just a little flat. That by no means is a reflection on Tanya the singer cause she rips it on both of them – they’re just not as brilliant as the other tracks.

The final track of Lovin’ And Learnin’ is about the only place country really fits into the album and even then it still is represented of the pop crossover style – “My Cowboy’s Getting Old” is a touching song about a woman who has recently reconciled with her aging father – the rodeo rider of long ago is now 64 and he’s not going to hold on forever. The sentiment is there and Tanya pulls it off wonderfully and with the knowledge of how close Tanya and her father Beau were right up until his death just a few years ago, it really touches you.

From the beginning of Tanya’s career with 1972’s Delta Dawn in all its country Goth to Lovin’ And Learnin’ with its pop front and center, our girl really came along way. For her foray into the pop world Lovin’ And Learnin’ was a real achievement and is now one of my favorite Tanya albums.

Tanya Tucker – Lovin & Learnin’ (bub104)
Track List:
01. Pride Of Franklin County 02. Depend On You 03. Ain’t That A Shame 04. Leave Him Alone 05. You’ve Got Me To Hold On To 06. Makin’ Love Doesn’t Always Make Love Grow 07. After The Thrill Is Gone 08. Don’t Believe My Heart Can Stand Another You 09. Here We Are 10. My Cowboy’s Getting Old

Listen to the burgeoning pop star:
Tanya Tucker – Depend On You
Tanya Tucker – Ain’t That A Shame

Download full album and artwork :