January 29, 2014

Musical Meringues: Crystal Gayle, Donny & Marie, Diana Ross

Fluffy, light, delicious, and impossible to partake just one. Everyone once in awhile, you just have to indulge! On my i-pod this week, a few bites of musical sugar went down so smoothly while I ran on the treadmill. Just to review a few:


Crystal Gayle, "Cry"- The country songstress sister of Loretta Lynn first hit the pop charts big with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". It only gave the slightest hint to what she could do, but it did win her many pop fans who would not have found her on country radio. I didn't buy every release, but when I did, I was rarely disappointed. Her stinging ballad "Cry" had it all- diva vocals pulled off effortlessly, a piercing arrangement, and very personalized lyrics by Keith Stegall and Dan Hill. So much fun!


Donny & Marie, "Deep Purple"- In the 70's, it was a pretty common pattern for the duo of Donny and Marie Osmond to record remakes of 60's pop songs. Taking on a popular recording of Nino Tempo and April Stevens, their rendition is faithful to the original and totally irresistible. Pop perfection.


Diana Ross, "The Boss" - Although this 1979 release was followed up by the better selling Nile Rogers' production, I've always found this title single much more fun than "Upside Down" and the singles from the latter disc. Diana is a modern legend, part of one of the most powerful girl groups ever.  When she moved on, she then assured her place in music history by an almost equally successful solo career. 

With pop fun such as this, my hour on the treadmill went by quickly. I had so much fun sharing about these ones, I'll just have to share some more musical meringues in future posts.

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