The Jerry Wexler-Tom Dowd-Arif Mardin production team keeps getting better and better. Remember when they applied their magic touch to Dusty Springfield and came up with the stunning Dusty In Memphis? Now the recipient is the long underrated Jackie DeShannon and the result one of the most soul-satisfying slickies of the year. Again the sound is Memphis, a pop-country-soul blend that comes about as close as you can get to defining the mainstream in contemporary music. The wonder of it is that while Wexler-Dowd-Mardin keep expanding the scope of their musical base, adding instruments and refining textures, they never lose touch with the original sound that is their trademark: it simply becomes more listenable at more levels.

I've always liked Jackie DeShannon's singing – a gently throat catching but never maudlin style – though on record after record her talent seemed too often to be thrown away on inferior songs with schlock arrangements. [Giano's note: There are many valid arguments to be made to the contrary. See below.] Now for the first time the full range of her abilities is shown to maximum effect. It is unexpectedly impressive. She comes out sounding like a Dionne Warwick-Dusty Springfield-Tammy Wynette amalgam, but softer and more emotionally reticent than any of the three.

This doesn't mean that DeShannon is less compelling. On the contrary, what is so satisfying about her singing is the tension she accumulates by always just holding back the full wallop. It also makes the most musical sense for good songs, and the 12 songs here are excellent. Four are DeShannon originals – "Laid Back Days," "Vanilla Olay," "Peaceful in My Soul," and "Anna Karina." Of these the stand out is "Laid Back Days," a

six minute reminiscence that features DeShannon on acoustic, plus some fine lead guitar by Reggie Young, the blend spiced with congas and guila. The album's other highlight, "I Won't Try To Put Chains on Your Soul" (by Donna Weiss and Mary Unobsky), is an all stops pulled soul weeper a la "Sweet Inspiration" that ought to be a perennial bar favourite . The cut uses a great string arrangement and wailing background vocals (Cissy Houston, Deidre Tuck and Renelle Stafford) to create a sound of driving inevitability that has been a hallmark of Atlantic's classics since Aretha's "Natural Woman." Other songs that DeShannon does proud are John Prine's "Paradise," Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," and (especially)

Van Morrison's "I Wanna Roo You." It's a fair distance from the belting style of "Chains" to the subtleties of Morrison's delightful song, but DeShannon is equally at home with both.

Like Dusty Jackie managed to release a second album on Atlantic, also a high caliber production with the same personnel but a different production team.

Stephen Holden, currently a music and entertainment critic for the New York Times wrote the above article over thirty years ago. DeShannon was already an established artist. In 1964 she toured with the Beatles. She was the original singer for Sonny Bono's "Needle & Pins." She also had her first big hit with "What the World Needs Now Is Love," which lead to some fine recordings with Bacharach. She wrote "Every Time You Walk in the Room" which the Searchers recorded and turned into a hit.

"Put A Little Love in Your Heart" was written and recorded by Jackie. Holden's contention that her talent was too often thrown away is a bit overstated. She is a prolific songwriter most famously noted for "Bette Davis Eyes" which she originally recorded for her own album on Columbia, New Arrangement.

Jackie is definitely one of the best records you never heard. Some of the songs are on Rhino's CD The Best of Jackie DeShannon.

It is my fond hope that Jackie will soon be reissued again with more than a measly 2,500 copies along with her second album on Atlantic, Your Baby Is A Lady, Lulu's New Routes and Margie Joseph's self titled LP produced by Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler. Rhino Records, are you paying attention?

Return to Critiques