Customer Reviews

Gail Davies

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This is a superb offering from one of country music's 80's ladies. I'll never forget the first time I heard "Someone is Looking for Someone Like You" and "Grandma's Song". Absolutely haunting! Gail Davies never got the acclaim she should have because talent is nothing in the music industry. I'd rather have talent than looks anytime. Sorry, Reba, Faith, Shania, and Martina. Your work can't hold a candle to Gail Davies debut album. I'm so glad this is on CD!

Davies' landed several singles on the chart, including a string of four top-10s in 1980 and 1981. Her seamless mix of country, rock and folk bridged musical worlds at a time before Mary Chapin Carpenter and others had done so, and her evolution into a producer, including taking the chair for several of her own albums, was a first for women in country music.

This 1978 debut stirred some immediate chart interest, including Davies' own "Someone is Looking For Someone Like You" and covers of Mel Tillis' "No Love Have I" and Elmer Liard's "Poison Love" (the latter resurrected recently as the title track of a 1997 album from Buddy Miller).

Producer (and label head) Tommy West found both energetic abandon and tender vocal purity in Davies' delivery. The upbeat tunes, like "No Love Have I," resound with the crossover success of Linda Ronstadt, while emotional family portraits, such as "Grandma's Song," bring to mind the warmth of Karen Carpenter. More traditional mountain songs, including the Louvin Brothers' "Are You Teasing Me?" (an earlier hit for Carl Smith) and Davies' own "Bucket to the South" (a later hit for The Whites) are mindful of Crystal Gayle, and the pre-crossover solo work of Dolly Parton.

Davies' songwriting is touching and memorable, creating an album-autobiography through stories of family and relationships. Her grandmother, ("Grandma's Song") step-father ("Soft Spoken Man") and musician father ("Bucket to the South") all figure prominently, as does her then-boyfriend ("Need Your Lovin'") and the memory of past relationships ("What Can I Say?").

In addition to those who remember her original chart run, rock fans drawn to country through the work of Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles would certainly enjoy this debut album. Varese's reissue includes the original ten tracks (clocking in at just over 32-minutes), along with new liner notes that provide an overview of Davies' career.

3-3/4 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings.

From the opening sounds of Mel Tillis's rocking, "No Love Have I"(a #26 country single), this Varese Sarabande CD reissue features ten tracks which combine elements of country, folk, bluegrass, pop, and rock into a highly satisfying blend.
Originally released on LP on the Lifesong label in 1978, it showcased two other hit singles: a cover of Johnny and Jack's "Poison Love"(#27) and the self composed "Someone Is Looking for Someone Like You"(#11).
The folky cover of the Carl Smith/Louvin Brothers classic "Are You Teasing Me" has a quiet charm that lingers.
The originals are all quality works: the often covered "Bucket to The South"; the melancholy "What Can I Say"; and the Christine McVie homage "Need Your Lovin'".
Highlights include the moving autobiographical "Grandma's Song"; a reflective "Soft Spoken Man"; and a Patsy Cline flavored "It's No Wonder I Feel Blue".
This set works on so many musical levels and crosses so many genres that it will appeal to a wide variety of interests.

I ordered this CD for one song only even though I wasn't familiar with any of the other songs. However, I enjoy all the songs on the CD.

Although that pedal steel sounds a tiny bit dated and there is a very slight tendancy towards over-production on this ablum, this is still a fantastic offering.

This the first of many wonderful albums from Gail Davies and serves as a great introduction to her clear-as-air voice and unique vocal stylings. By far her best known song is Grandma's Song, a sweet tribute that begins with the sentimental low-production recording of her grandmother and mother singing "The Fox Hunting Song."

Someone is Looking for Someone, a sort of self-consolation, is beautiful and Poison Love, despite it's country-choral vocals, is thought-provolking and sweet without succoming to sacharine.

How Davies has managed to go so unnoticed for so long is a bafflement, but if you are discerning enough to have found this album to read about, I would suggest you seriously consider a purchase!

My Grandmother, who is 95 years old, had this album when I was a little girl. I recently heard one of Gail Davies' songs on Sirius radio, and it made me want to buy the CD. It is truly amazing. Her voice is one of the clearest ones around, and the songs are a mixture of gospel and country.