11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub102 You Are So Beautiful
Okay here we get veer a little more from convention and it’s all because of money hungry corporate record companies that we are forced to it too. Let’s explain a little – so in 1975 Tanya Tucker left Columbia Records and signed with MCA Records, but before she did this, she was still working on songs for Columbia and recorded a hand full of songs in January and February of 1975. Seeing as she owed Columbia a record, they decided to release little by little.In the summer of 1975 while also promoting the Columbia compilation Greatest Hits, the record company released the single “Spring” and then in October came “Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)” and its b-side “Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More.” Meanwhile, she was scoring hits on MCA Records at the same time from her self titled album which came out towards the middle of the year.
The main purpose of me making the Tanya Reissues was so I could listen to every single album in a row and listen to her progression of singing if I wanted to. With the You Are So Beautiful album it hits a snag as the actual album wasn’t released until 1977 in between Tanya’s MCA output of Ridin’ Rainbows and TNT, both very pop influenced.
Since the singles from her 1975 Columbia recordings were released two years before the actual album I thought it fit this spot nicely – right before we head into her 70’s MCA output which as I’ve said is a lot poppier than her Columbia output..
bub102 Tanya Tucker – You Are So Beautiful
December 4, 2007
Original Release: September 1977
Columbia/CBS Records #34733
So now that you’re exhausted here we are at You Are So Beautiful, our second of the 11 Tanya Tucker Reissues. For some reason I didn’t think I’d really care for this album. I mean it is essentially a collection of non released songs that were actually put on the public two years after recording but I was actually amazed at some of the songs.
The title track is exactly the song you are thinking of, I’m not sure what inclined Miss T to record it but she certainly rings the nuances out of it with her sassy spiky voice and even hits a rather strange high note at the end. The song was released as a single to go along with the album in 1977 and actually hit the country charts.
One of her better covers is the second track, the Eagles’ “The Best Of My Love” – her voice is supreme on this one and I have to admit I have a little soft spot for the 70’s Eagles. I really like their music and since they were (along with Linda Ronstadt) marking their territory on both pop and country charts, I’m sure Tanya wanted to be a part of that.
My favorite song on the whole album is our third track, “There Is A Place” – a sort of wispy waltz with some clever little lyrics about love, “There is a place/ where you can go/ where Marilyn still dances with Dimaggio/ and Juliet with Romeo/ and the name of the place is love…” I know it’s a little cheesy but once again Tanya sores above and beyond with her voice and I like the sentiment… as I believe the love affair of Marilyn and Joe is legend… almost like the Brad and the Leivas…
The rest of You Are So Beautiful falls in perfectly with the three previous albums Tanya had recorded – “Loving Arms”, “Can I Be Your Lady”, “Loving Arms”, “Almost Persuaded” and “Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More” all have the longing for love feeling firmly implemented though “Can I Be Your Lady” does have the best of the lyrics – “Would you walk with me across the bridges I forgot to burn/ will you face the future…”
It’s not too surprising that the lyrics are very adult and very intense as the song is written by David Allen Coe who also penned Tanya’s “Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)” from 1973 and the single “Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)” which is here as a bonus track since it was never actually included on the You Are So Beautiful album for some reason. It’s one of the best of Tanya’s one off little singles telling the tale of those sad days of losing your virginity to the bastard who runs off into the sunset – the worse part is Tanya is fully aware that her mother knows what she had been doing! Oh the horror.
David also shows up as writer on the album’s final cut “I Still Sing The Old Songs” which reminds me a lot of the song “I Believe The South Is Gonna Rise Again” which Tanya recorded a few years earlier. In this song, Tanya (as David I’m sure) is singing to her dead grandfather informing him that she still sings the songs he taught her, she even prays to Jesus every now and then and (important to a true Southerner apparently - ) the grandchildren have never crossed the Mason-Dixon line – does that thing really still exist?
“You Know Just What I’d Do” is a song I just can’t quite figure out if I like it or not. It’s catchy as hell and the sentiment is nice and all, but the gist of the storyline is such – Tanya informs her lover that “if we lost all we had/ would I walk your rocky road or take a different path/ would I sell my pride for you/ If you’d ask me to walk the streets you know just what I’d do…” Umm okay, I mean it sounds nice and moody and all, and the idea of giving up one’s self for the man you love, sure I get it.. but it may be a tad too co-dependant for me. I mean if the Leivas asked me to hit the streets to hook would I? You frickin’ bet I would, but would I really be doing it for him? Mmmm?
All in all You Are So Beautiful is a catchy little collection of country songs, conveniently saved by the brilliance of “The Best Of My Love”, “There Is A Place” and “Greener Than The Grass” and though it’s not up to par to some of the albums we have coming up, I’m still quite surprised it was only a composite of throw away tracks for the most part, because it is still very Tanya Tucker.
Tanya Tucker – You Are So Beautiful (bubbatunes; bub102)
Track List:
01. You Are So Beautiful 02. The Best Of My Love 03. There Is A Place 04. Can I Be Your Lady 05. Loving Arms 06. You Know Just What I’d Do 07. Almost Persuaded 08. Spring 09. Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More 10. I Still Sing The Old Songs
Bonus Track:
11. Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)
To listen to a few cuts:
Tanya Tucker – There Is A Place
Tanya Tucker – The Best Of My Love
David also shows up as writer on the album’s final cut “I Still Sing The Old Songs” which reminds me a lot of the song “I Believe The South Is Gonna Rise Again” which Tanya recorded a few years earlier. In this song, Tanya (as David I’m sure) is singing to her dead grandfather informing him that she still sings the songs he taught her, she even prays to Jesus every now and then and (important to a true Southerner apparently - ) the grandchildren have never crossed the Mason-Dixon line – does that thing really still exist?
“You Know Just What I’d Do” is a song I just can’t quite figure out if I like it or not. It’s catchy as hell and the sentiment is nice and all, but the gist of the storyline is such – Tanya informs her lover that “if we lost all we had/ would I walk your rocky road or take a different path/ would I sell my pride for you/ If you’d ask me to walk the streets you know just what I’d do…” Umm okay, I mean it sounds nice and moody and all, and the idea of giving up one’s self for the man you love, sure I get it.. but it may be a tad too co-dependant for me. I mean if the Leivas asked me to hit the streets to hook would I? You frickin’ bet I would, but would I really be doing it for him? Mmmm?
All in all You Are So Beautiful is a catchy little collection of country songs, conveniently saved by the brilliance of “The Best Of My Love”, “There Is A Place” and “Greener Than The Grass” and though it’s not up to par to some of the albums we have coming up, I’m still quite surprised it was only a composite of throw away tracks for the most part, because it is still very Tanya Tucker.
Tanya Tucker – You Are So Beautiful (bubbatunes; bub102)
Track List:
01. You Are So Beautiful 02. The Best Of My Love 03. There Is A Place 04. Can I Be Your Lady 05. Loving Arms 06. You Know Just What I’d Do 07. Almost Persuaded 08. Spring 09. Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More 10. I Still Sing The Old Songs
Bonus Track:
11. Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)
To listen to a few cuts:
Tanya Tucker – There Is A Place
Tanya Tucker – The Best Of My Love
Download the entire album and artwork:
TANYA TUCKER - YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
Next up in our exciting Tanya Reissues series is Miss T's million dollar signing with MCA Records where she begins to veer into more pop territory so I know you'll want to stick around for that!
Next up in our exciting Tanya Reissues series is Miss T's million dollar signing with MCA Records where she begins to veer into more pop territory so I know you'll want to stick around for that!
Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, bub102, Bubbatunes, Tanya Tucker, You Are So Beautiful
posted by swivek @ 8:19 AM
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