Customer Reviews

Here You Come Again

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the album that made Dolly Parton a superstar ... a household name. Reading the previous reviews, it's amazing that some 20 years after its release, it still evokes such strong reactions from country purists. Even more amazing is that the album has held up so well -- better than most of her earlier country albums. By 1977, Dolly got her act together, left the stifling constraints of Nashville, and began working with some serious top-notch talent. The song selection is excellent -- from Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil's opening title track to the end (Kenny Rogers' "Sweet Music Man"). Some may complain that the disc only has four original songs from Parton, but what they failed to realize is the quality of these songs -- 3 of the 4 have become Parton classics ("Two Doors Down", "Me and Little Andy", and "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right"). Her earlier pure country albums may have had more songs penned by Parton, but many of these were mediocre album fillers at best.

This album also focuses on Dolly the singer/song stylist. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the title track -- instead of forcing her to smooth out her vocals to appeal to the adult-oriented pop music of the day, producer Gary Klein lets Dolly's vibrato take center stage. For pop listeners (like myself) who were not familiar with Dolly's earlier work, this was indeed a bold move by an artist seeking commercial success. Throughout the disc, her vocals are warm, distinct, and direct.

It would have been nice if this disc had also included the original version of "Two Doors Down", which is more low-key and includes another verse. I suspect that the universal success of the "Here You Come Again" single had surprised everyone, and "Two Doors Down" was revamped to push the country/pop boundary even further. The revised version is jazzed-up and flat-out funky... and fun!

This is the album that turned me on to Dolly. She's written (and continues to write) some great songs -- both country and pop. Before "Here You Come Again" many of her albums tended to be disppointingly uneven -- a couple of gems mixed with predictable, bland filler. From "Here You Come Again" to "9 to 5 and Odd Jobs" in 1980, her pop albums were well-crafted, solid recordings that helped Dolly reach international superstardom. Her ability to adeptly cover so many musical genres should be applauded, not reviled.

The album that introduced Dolly to the world. She had long been a star in Nashville but this album let the world know about her awesome talent. I fell in love with Dolly's music when I first heard her sing "Here You Come Again on the CMA Awards. I was 13 years old and saved up my money for this album. It was well worth my allowances.

This was the first Dolly album that I bought when I started collecting records in 1977 and it certainly wasn't what I expected - but it was brilliant then, and still is. I remember thinking that it was as good as most singer's greatest hits, yet most of the songs for which Dolly was famous weren't even here. I immediately bought what I could of her other music, and she has been my favorite singer ever since.

The album begins with Here you come again, now regarded as something of a classic and rightly so - it was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, who also wrote You've lost that loving feeling (a song Dolly later recorded with Neil Diamond).

Baby come out tonight is a lovely song, but I've never seen it on any compilation, nor have I ever come across any covers, so you need this album to get this song.

It's all wrong but it's all right and Me and little Andy have become Dolly classics and both have been frequently re-issued.

Lovin' you is a brilliant cover of a sixties song by the Lovin' Spoonful.

Cowgirl and the dandy is a cover of Bobby Goldsboro's Cowboy and the lady with the words adapted - and it's wonderful. Brenda Lee also did a great cover of this song.

Two doors down is yet another Dolly classic. It was a country top ten hit for Zella Lehr (who never repeated that success) but a pop hit for Dolly, after she re-recorded the song. It is the re-recorded version which appears here - the only available source (so far) for the original is the triple CD Legendary (an Australian import).

God's coloring book is a gospel-flavored song which has been covered by bluegrass group The country gentlemen.

As soon as I touched him is a power song which, like Baby won't you come out tonight, is also only available here.

Sweet music man is a song written by Kenny Rogers, and which has been covered by several of the finest ladies in the history of country music. Dolly's version is brilliant and I also love Reba's more recent version, but my favorite version is by Tammy Wynette, who put in one of her best ever performances on this song. I think she probably related to the song because of her marriage to George Jones. Kenny may not have had George in mind when he wrote the song, but it could so easily have been about him.

If this album is out of print, it will surely not stay that way - it was a landmark in Dolly's career, and her best pop album. It is far superior to the follup-up Heartbreaker, which had some brilliant songs, but also some rubbish. There's no rubbish here - it's all wonderful. Buy it - if you can find it.

No, this is not the greatest Dolly Parton album ever recorded. But people who think she's an evil cross-over demon because of it are missing the point. The songs here have wit, they're well-produced, they're well-sung, and they're lively. Dolly is stretching her range, and that is, after all, what artists are supposed to do. I think it's silly to demand that someone with Parton's obvious talent and creativity be remanded to one thing.

Here, she presents some really great songs, like "It's All Wrong, But It's Alright" and "Lovin' You," a playful, funky ode-to-romance. She also raises the level of "Sweet Music Man" from maudlin weeper to genuine heartbreak. She runs the gamut from country to pop to disco, and it speaks volumes about her talent that this album never sounds schizophrenic.

This album is really one of her most playful (if one cannot tell from the photo of Dolly on the cover disco dancing in blue-jean bell-bottoms, platforms, and a Swiss dotted country shirt; I don't know if they changed the cover for the cd reissue, but if not, it should be your first clue to the album's attitude) and it should not be dismissed just because of that playfulness. Just because something is serious doesn't mean it's any good, and Dolly has always been tongue-in-cheek about herself. To miss that sense of humor is to miss an important part of Parton's work and persona. Like I said, it's not her best, but country music can sound just as plastic as disco can, and Dolly smartly avoids that plasticity with her natural, charming delivery and winning country-girl sincerity.

THIS WILL SHOW YOU THE RANGE OF DALLY'S VOICE AND THE RANGE OF HER MUSICAL ABILITIES. FROM COUNTRY TO POP TO DISCO, DOLLY DOES IT ALL WELL.

I am glad that this is finally in print on c.d. The sound quality is top notch. My only real complaint about this re-issue is that they used the rerecorded version of "Two Doors Down", not the original version from the lp. Other than that, it is fantastic. By the way, it would be nice if her other albums from this period were reissued on cd, but this will due for now.

Dolly Parton is the most successful female recording artist in Country music, yet so few of her original labums are available on CD. This 1977 album is, perhaps, her most definitive of her later 70s albums. Great songwriting and singing add up to a fun and heartbreaking album.

Wonderful CD. I love every song on it. My favorites are God's Coloring Book and Sweet Music Man.

Despite "Here You Come Again", being a hit album making #1 on the U.S. country music charts, the title song making #1 on the same chart and making the song #3 on the U.S. pop charts & including a Grammy Award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance", "Here You Come Again" is mostly overlooked by many critics and fans, who love her more pure country sound. The album is of course more polished with a pop sound, but like alot of people who wrote reviews on here saying that there is no country & that Dolly totally banned country music on here, is just plain dumb, in fact if they were listening to it, then they would notice the country influences on this album. The title song "Here You Come Again" is known mostly as a pop song, but really it's a country song with some pop sounds mixed in. "Me & Little Andy" is another perfect example of country music, "Lovin' You" is country, I mean don't you here the country guitars?, really don't you get what I'm saying?. This album is underrated because most fans of Dolly's pure country sound think that this album is pure pop, but it' not. For aging this album really does hold up, anyways most of songs on here are mostly on Dolly Parton compilations, so if they have compilations of hers, then they should be used to most of these.


1. Here You Come Again - is one of Dolly's biggest hits of her career, not to mention it wasn't written by Dolly, she won Grammy & numerous amount of awards in 1977-78 for this song. It's one of the many songs on here that appears alot on Dolly Parton compilations.

2. Baby Come Out Tonight - is a low key song, that has a sort of rhythm that makes listen to it.

3. It's All Wrong, But It's All Right - has a great sound, rhythm and lyrics. It's one of the many songs on here that appears alot on Dolly Parton compilations.

4. Me & Little Andy - is such a great, but sad song, it makes me cry everytime I hear it, also it gives me goosebumps, don't pass it up.

5. Lovin' You - is such a fun & playful song, it's contains a mixture of country and pop music.

6. Cowgirl & The Dandy - is about two people who came from two different backgrounds, one from Nashville, Tennessee and the other from Colorado, who liked taking trips in the summer to Paris, though they tryed to make their love work, they weren't compatible enough. It's a good, but sad song too.

7. Two Doors Down - is another really fun song, containing fun lyrics, also it has such a great rhythm too, it's a party song. It's one of the many songs on here that appears alot on Dolly Parton compilations.

8. God's Coloring Book - is so pretty, with of course a church sound, full of heart and meaning.

9. As Soon As I Touched Him - In this song Dolly shows off her young vocals, with pretty dramatic music, it's a really good song.

10. Sweet Music Man - is a cover song, famously sung & written by: Kenny Rogers. The music is pretty uplifting, but the lyrics are pretty depressing to me, Dolly's version is one of the best versions, I've ever heard.


P.S. - Better late, then never.

As one reviewer pointed out, this is the album that put Dolly in superstar boundaries. The success of the title track was enormous, its poignant Dolly, singing her heart out, and she sure sounds good. The vocals on this album could be described as warm and direct. Dolly wrote 4 of the 10 songs here, but she worked with some top notch songwriters. Her rendition of Kenny Rogers' "Sweet Music Man", which was written about Waylon Jennings, is remarkable, she handles it gracefully. Much better than the current version by Reba McEntire. "Me and Little Andy", "It's All Wrong But Its All Right" and "Two Doors Down", along with the title track are all now Dolly Parton classics. Dolly handles the crossover material well on this album, and future albums such as HEARTBREAKER and 9 TO 5 (AND OTHER ODD JOBS). Overall this is where the success started, and it ain't a bad place, great album overall.