Angel of the Morning

Merrilee Rush, Merrille Rush & the Turnabouts | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 29, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collector's Choice
• ASIN: B00069I74Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,636 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Songbird behind the one-hit wonder, April 2, 2005

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Angel of the Morning (Audio CD)

Like so many one-hit wonders, Merrilee Rush had a deeper music career than could be surmised from her brief intersection with popular taste. Though she had only one major chart hit and two albums (this one and a self-titled release in 1977), she's continued her involvement with music to this day with tour spots and regular gigs in her native Pacific Northwest.

In contrast to studio-manufactured artists who hurry an album to milk a freak hit single, Rush was a bona fide musician who'd spent time in a number of bands before finding chart success. Her good fortune to cross paths with Chip Taylor's enduring composition, "Angel of the Morning," gave her the chance to record an entire album for Bell Records, reproduced here with nine bonus tracks.

There's nothing here that matches the ephemeral radio-readiness of "Angel of the Morning," but there are plenty of songs that capture the same Summer of '68 vibe. There's still a helping of the previous summer's glowing optimism, but freckled by the blanched heart of growing social turmoil. Highlights include a waifish cover of "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)," the dramatic Poppy Family styled lost-love of "Sandcastles," and the quiet isolation of Chip Taylor's "Working Girl." The arrangements are sophisticated, with production by Chips Moman that deftly mixes rock, pop, country and folk.

This deluxe CD augments the original album with bonuses that include "Reap What You Sew" (the original B-side of "Angel of the Morning"), a towering Vanilla Fudge like cover of The Four Tops "Reach Out" (and its country-inflected flip, "Love Street"), and follow-on singles "Everyday Livin' Lives," "Sign on for the Good Times" and "Angel on My Shoulder," as well as their B-sides. Closing the disc is Rush's final recording for the Bell label, a Quincy Jones produced cover of "What the World Needs Now" that was featured on the soundtrack album for "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" in place of Jackie DeShannon's version.

If you love the hit single, you'll be overjoyed to find this album's worth of similarly toned material that holds to the same level of imagination and quality.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just call her Angel of the Morning..., January 11, 2005

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angel of the Morning (Audio CD)

Merrilee Rush's biggest hit "Angel Of The Morning" ironically describes her impact in popular music. Per the free love era, where the hippies slept with whomever without commitment, that song reached Billboard #7 and Cashbox #3 in 1967. The song was also covered by P.P. Arnold, Juice Newton, and Olivia Newton-John. There is a lilting gentle quality in Rush's version that reflects the quiet independence of "just touch my cheek before you leave, then slowly turn away from me." The song was nominated for but didn't win a Grammy for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance for 1969, losing to Dionne Warwick.

Coming as it does after her cover of Scott MacKenzie's "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)" this is a back-to-back treat. The gentle guitar and backing chorus make this soothing listening, no doubt making her one of those gentle people one might find were she to live there. My favourite track after "Angel."

Like all the tracks, the gentle 60's guitar and keyboards, muted chorus, and relaxing air characterize "Handy" of someone who is a "plaything to step on, to take it when you're down." Yes, handy is a better title than, say, doormat, but that's what the girl in the song is basically. That same theme is covered in "It's Worth It All," the girl being a plaything on the man's convenience, but she can't break away.

The organ and catchy rhythm of the summery psychedelic "Sandcastles" recall a Lovin' Spoonful-type number, while "Billy Sunshine" has a quick "Day Tripper"-type tempo and a Nancy Sinatra/Fifth Dimension-type sound. The followup single to "Angel," "That Kind of Woman," only got as high as #76 on the charts. With its summery orchestra strings and soul-type female backups, it seems a close cousin to Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice." A pity, as she sounds really great here.

Apart from "Angel," she does another Chip Taylor-penned tune. A more somber country-tinged tune, "Working Girl" details the hardship of a working girl, from getting up at eight, rushing off to work. "Here come the weekday blues," she sings, and waiting for someone to give her heart a home. The difficulties of harassment by the boss, who threatens her with dismissal if she doesn't play ball is also encountered.

"Observation From Flight 285" is a country-pop tune on the perspective of being on a plane. I originally heard Milli Vanilli do "Hush" on their remix album, but here's Merrilee doing it years before, although Deep Purple's rendition, done earlier that year, is probably the most famous. With a harmonica, piano, and organ, there's a poppy Doors or Lovin' Spoonful sound to it.

Merrilee takes things to a moral dimension, calling for others to open their eyes on their suffering brothers on "Do Unto Others," on deeds that won't be recorded in the papers and will only have a brief moment.

The edition I have contains nine bonus tracks, including "Angel"'s B-side, "Reap What You Sow." She also does a great cover of the Four Tops' "Reach Out," Eddie Rabbitt's "Sign on for the Good Times," and Jackie DeShannon's "What The World Needs Now," featured in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.

Vocally a cousin to Nancy Sinatra and Jackie DeShannon, Merrilee Rush's brief glint was voluntary, as she felt she'd done all she could and only recorded sporadically in the 1970's. Still, this is a worthwhile mix of mostly mellow summery sixties sounds with a teensy bit of country mixed in.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Angel Soars, June 20, 2006

By 

Stuff And Company "Stuff and Company" (Lynnwood, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Angel of the Morning (Audio CD)

Note: While this Collector's Choice CD is apparently now out of print domestically, it is still in print and available on Rev-Ola records out of the UK at a very reasonable price. No need to pay the outrageous secondary marketplace prices.

This pop classic from 1968 finally gets the reissue treatment on CD and every track on this album is a gem. Merrilee had an innocence, and a toughness in her vocal interpretation of these songs. She plays the victim on tracks like That Kind Of Woman (an affair with a married man) and Working Girl (sexual harassment in the work place.) There are songs about being the proverbial doormat in Handy and It's Worth It All. Of course one has to include tracks about being a jilted lover and there are three very good ones here. They are Sandcastles and Billy Sunshine in which it is not made clear whether Billy was just afraid of commitment or he was an activist and /or 60s radical and was forced underground. Also the excellent screw you garage style rocker in Reap What You Sow (b-side to Angel) which was for some unknown reason left of the original album but is rightfully included in this reissue. Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders fame penned two songs, the dream like Observation From Flight 285 (in ¾ time) and Do Unto Others. Both tracks were also featured on Raiders albums previously and Merrilee does a fine job covering them on this album. Also included is a cover of the Joe South / Deep Purple classic Hush and a country/pop treasure titled Sunshine and Roses, about a girl fighting to keep her man from the clutches of another woman. Then there is the unforgettable, million selling, international hit Angel Of The Morning. This album was recorded at the famed American Recording Studio in Memphis and was produced by the legendary Chips Moman and the late Tommy Cogbill. The session players on this album were the very same musicians who played on Elvis Presley's legendary Memphis recordings.

Besides Mark Lindsay and Joe South, the album features songs written by Mark James (who wrote Willie Nelson's Always On My Mind, Hooked On A Feeling for BJ Thomas and Suspicious Minds for Elvis), Chips Moman, Donna Weiss (who co-wrote Bette Davis Eyes for Kim Carnes), and Chip Taylor (who wrote Merrilee's Angel Of The Morning and Wild Thing for the Troggs). There is also a very sweet version of the John Phillips' flower power anthem from the summer of love, San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair). Angel Of The Morning was featured in the hit films Jerry Maguire and Girl Interrupted as well as the cult classic Fingers starring Harvey Keitel. The songs on this CD are pure sunshine with a little country-pop flavor from the fabulous 1960's. Merrilee released several non-LP singles and B-sides after the release of this album including a very cool psychedelic version of The Four Tops' Reach Out (think Vanilla Fudge), as well as a cover of Jackie DeShannon's What The World Needs Now from the soundtrack album to the film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice produced by Quincy Jones. All nine of Merrilee's non-LP singles and b-sides are included in this CD reissue If you are a fan of the Memphis sound and albums recorded there by Dusty Springfield, The Box Tops, Petula Clark, Elvis, BJ Thomas, The Raiders and others then you will enjoy this CD.

Some fans have expressed a desire for the inclusion of the track Save Me and have been disappointed in it's exclusion from this Merrilee Rush reissue. This collection focused on Merrilee's Bell Records years. Save Me was released in 1976 on UA. Another Merrilee Rush project is being shopped to reissue labels as of this writing. The plan is for the Merrilee Rush self titled album from 1977 (which included Save Me) on the United Artists label to be reissued with a bunch of buried treasure bonus tracks. So stay tuned!