Customer Reviews

Behind Closed Doors (Exp)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rich's 1973 countrypolitan masterpiece is a long way from his late 50s sides as a session pianist at Sun and his brief 1960 flirtation with chart success on "Lonely Weekend." By this point in his career, having released records on Phillips, Groove, Smash (where he had a minor hit with "Mohair Sam") and Hi, he'd released everything from rockabilly to straight country to jazz-inflected versions of standards. What he hadn't done was establish a truly identifiable sound or crack the upper reaches of the charts. Six years at Epic hadn't yet yielded a career-making breakthrough, either.

All that changed with this Billy Sherrill production, and his emergence as The Silver Fox. Though they'd been working together for six years, they didn't find true commercial success until the release of the soulful, "I Take it on Home" and this follow-up LP. The title track hit #1 on the country chart early in '73, and crossed over to the pop Top 20. The follow-up single from the LP, "The Most Beautiful Girl," also hit #1 country and crossed over, as well. Rich cleaned up at the subsequent CMA's, sweeping top single, top LP and top male vocalist, and nabbed the Grammy for best country vocalist, as well as 4 ACM awards.

Though Rich and Sherrill had been working on their sound for several years, the resulting albums were a hit-and-miss give-and-take between Rich's multi-genre leanings and Sherrill's pop sound. On "Behind Closed Doors," Rich more fully surrendered to the role of country-pop crooner, finding a level of comfort that allowed him to star amidst Sherrill's layered, complex productions. It was a balance that became the template for 70s country pop recordings. In addition to the seamlessness of their combined sounds, producer and artist found superb material, offering smooth country and politely bluesy tunes that showed off Rich's soulful side. No doubt the maturing audience for country was more receptive than ever to the softened countrypolitan sounds.

Country music purists sometimes dismiss Rich's breakthrough as a sellout. But his ability and desire to sing a country song with tinges of jazz or pop had been with him from early on. And if one considers music to be a language, then like a language, the vocabulary - the songs, the sounds, the productions - evolves with the times. Rich made the most of the country pop vocabulary of the 70s, and added the sort of soulfulness employed by Ray Charles in his own country efforts and Elvis in his latter-day ballads.

This reissue offers four bonus tracks dating from '71 and '72, fitting in both arrangement and sentiment with the LP at large. Only one, "I've Got Mine" was previously unreleased. Newly penned liner notes from Mavericks' vocalist Raul Malo and Billboard writer Chet Flippo round out the package.

I foundly remember hearing "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Women in the World" and wondering out loud sometimes "Why is my mom playing this?" Well soon I realized why...the Silver Fox was a damn good singer and his songs had a profound meaning. Living in South Central Los Angeles it was rare to hear this type of music playing or played, but my mom played it and she played it often enough that I would go to school singing "The Most Beautiful Women in the World". Now 20 odd years later I play this for my kids and they appreciate the music and his voice just like I did.

This album was Charlie Rich's breakthrough to
massive popularity after fifteen years of gigs
in venues of "lesser" status. Charlie Rich was really
a jazz pianist and blues, soul singer who gained
his worldwide fame through the more "sophisticated"
country sound developed by producer Billy Sherrill. "Behind Closed Doors" is the standout album of this genre.
"You Never Really Wanted Me" is the song that made
me a Charlie Rich fan. It is really a blues song in
my opinion and playing it late at night in the dark will
affect you too. The rest of the album contains material
that showcases not only Charlie's magnificent voice but
the genuine emotion that Charlie conveys to the listener.
The release of "I've Got Mine" on this "expanded" album
is welcome because "never before" released material by Charlie is rare and to have the sterling "Ruby, You're Warm" on CD is a treat. Buy this one and then explore the rest of this man's catalog - you will discover blues, soul, gospel, jazz, standards and rock and roll. I challenge you to find
any other singer who is his equal.

Listening to this album again, now in its remastered and expanded CD format, will probably unleash a great deal of early 70's nostalgia. Yet, pretty soon one realizes the songs haven't lost anything of their appeal and all initial arguments about the undoubtedly more commercial direction Charlie Rich was taking with "Behind Close Doors" are immediately silenced. Including the 1973 smash hits "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World", "Behind Closed Doors" and "I Take It On Home", alongside a string of great cuts ("'Til I Can't Take It Anymore", "Sunday Kind of Woman", and "If You Wouldn't Be My Lady", among others), superbly masterminded by Billy Sherrill and inimitably sung, this album deservedly earned Rich immortality.

I bought this CD for 2 songs, The Most Beautiful Girl and Behind Closed Doors. As I listened, I quickly realized that this CD is a masterpiece!!! As a normal fan of Heavy Metal, I remember Charlie Rich from my early childhood, I remember liking those 2 songs, so I bought the CD. Now, I think I like the other songs better, like Peace on You (truly superb) and You Never Really Wanted Me (haunting vocals). Charlie uses his voice as an instrument, not letting it get drowned out by sound effects like todays "vocalists". Let me tell ya, this is pure genius. Charlie, I hope you are reading this, because this album reflects your talent, and your voice has propelled you to one of the greatest vocalists of all time. This album will blow you away. SUPERB!!!! Charlie, You truly are da man!!!!!!

I enjoyed this album so much in the '70s. I was afraid the CD wouldn't be enhanced, but the quality of the sound is terrific. I enjoy it just as much now as I did 30 years ago.

i was way too young to appreciate 'behind closed doors' when it came out, and sort of re-discovered charlie rich this year while hearing a country classics collection. his bluesy, gospel-tinged piano adds a warm edginess to this CD. including the bonus tracks, the best songs are oddly... the odd-numbered ones, especially the title track, "take it on home", "nothing in this world", and "i've got mine". what a voice - contemplative and robust at the same time.

it was cool seeing "behind closed doors" near the top of cmt's top 100 all-time country songs. he sang about regret, temptation, and love in non-corny but provocative ways... a lesson in being a classy performer, imho.

Charlie Rich was a hugely talented singer-pianist who, for whatever reason, never really fulfilled his potential. His career began in the fifties on Sun records in the early days of rock'n'roll. Charlie also recorded jazz and I suspect that he really wanted to sing but it was in country music that Charlie became successful for a brief period in the seventies.

This album, as originally released in 1973, spawned two major international pop hits - Behind close doors and The most beautiful girl. It also included other classic songs such as We lover each other (a minor UK pop hit), I take it on home (his first significant hit on the country charts, preceding the big two), Peace on you, Sunday kind of woman, Till I can't take it anymore and If you wouldn't be my lady.

Although Charlie recorded some other good songs and had further success on the country charts, he was never comfortable with country music and he never came close to matching this album for its overall quality and eventually faded into obscurity, eventually dying in 1995 of complications caused by a blood clot in one of his lungs..

This album, now re-mastered with extra but unnecessary tracks, remains the ultimate Charlie Rich album and shows just what a great singer he was at his best.

I have been a fan of Charlie Rich for 14 years and have the original album. This CD is a must for any CD collection. Great songs that will cheer you up.

When the original LP Behind Closed Doors (tracks 1 to 11) came out in 1973 on Epic 32247 it rose to # 8 on album charts and soon received Gold certification, eventually reaching Platinum in November 1986 as sales remained steady throughout the years. This CD version, which was released in 2001, added four bonus tracks, with excellent sound reproduction, the original album sleeve notes written by Bob Tubert, a new introductory note written by Raul Malo in July 2000, and three new background pages from Chet Flippo, written in October 2000.

This is one of those gems that graced the musical library of just about every Charlie Rich fan 35 years ago, and should be a welcome addition to anyone's collection, whether a fan of Country or not because, if there was one thing they could never do with The Silver Fox was pigeon-hole him in any one category.

On the Billboard Pop Hot 100 charts his music appeared 13 times from 1960 to 1976, including the # 1 The Most Beautiful Girl in the fall of 1973, which also just happened to hit # 1 on both the Adult Contemporary (AC) AND the Country charts. The AC charts are dotted with 16 more of his songs, including three more # 1 hits - A Very Special Love Song, I Love My Friend, and Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High). As for the Country listings, there he registered 45 hits from 1968 to 1981, including NINE # 1's, seven more Top 10's and another ten Top 30s. Then, of course, there are the many fine albums.

On his induction into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1993, Willie Nelson quipped "I always thought you had to die to get in here." Well, here we are some 13 years after Charlie's untimely death at age 62 on July 25, 1995, STILL waiting for him to be honoured by those supercilious twits.