Customer Reviews

Hungry Again

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Through Dolly Parton's career, she's went through many changes with her image and her music. HUNGRY AGAIN is a return to her roots, as it's her most stripped back album since her early career. Much through the late 80s and 90s, she tried contemporary country with varied results, but ultimately there was no longer any room in their format for Dolly, which is ludacrous, but at least she took it in stride and has made this music. The album is very simple, but the lyrics pack an emotional punch. During the recording of this album, Dolly fasted and wrote the music during this period. This is a return to her original, traditional country sound. She was signed with Decca at the time, but a few months after the album was released, the label folded, and Dolly was left without a label. That is until she signed with the indie label Sugar Hill.

She released two singles from this album. The first was "Honky Tonk Songs", a song where she asks "Why don't more women sing honky tonk songs?" which is a nice statement to make. The second single was "The Salt In My Tears", a typical Dolly song that is just fun and tongue in cheek. "Blue Valley Songbird" was used for her TV movie of the same name. There's some really nice ballads here like "Paradise Road", which is a very autobiographical song for her, or the ballads "I Still Lost You", "I'll Never Say Goodbye", etc. The uptempo songs "The Camel's Heart" and "Time and Tears" are just fun and a light hearted look at heartbreak. There's some inspirational songs as well, in the form of "Shine On" and "When Jesus Comes Calling For Me". She has never sounded better, but she continues to get better. HUNGRY AGAIN is a truly remarkable album that should not go unnoticed.

I can't go on enough how much I love this CD. I love the story of how Dolly went back to shack she grew up in and fasted and
wrote songs like her next meal depended on them.
Every song on this CD is excellent. I can never get enough of
it. It is country music the way it used to be. the songs are
the way Dolly used to write. Her lyrics are so clever and the
band playing on the CD hits every beat. Buy this CD and you will fall in love with Dolly Parton's music all over again

I have been a fan of Dolly Parton for six or seven years now. This cd is an excellent authentic and a real soulful recording. Dolly is at her best when she sings roots music from the hills of Tennessee. Dolly Parton is one of the greatest songwriters of all times and she penned all of these songs herself.

Some of my favorite are the driving song "The Salt In My Tears," The high lonesome lullaby "Blue Valley Songbird," the poetic gospel song "When Jesus Comes Calling For Me, and "Paradise Road" and "Shine On." A few of the songs do not really stand out like "I Still Lost You" or "Honky Tonk Songs," but most of the album is wonderfully written and sung. Dolly Parton has a magical, unique, and soulful voice, there is no doubt about that. If you like country music and you like Dolly Parton this is a pretty dang good album to own. I love the honesty, simplicity, and depth of her words and voice. She is definitely a national treasure.

This album is truly wonderful....Dolly gets back to her country roots and makes the listener feel like he or she is right there in the Smokey Mountains with her as she sings one song after another. The first single from the album, "Honky Tonk Songs" asks a question that I always thought but never dared to ask..."Why don't more women sing honky tonk songs?" The ballad entitled "Blue Valley Songbird" is about a girl born in the Tennessee Hills who leaves the hills after abuse from her father and goes out to sing her story. As only Dolly can, she adds a couple of gospel flavored songs to the album. She sings with such feeling one would wonder if she isn't truly one of the angels in "When Jesus Comes Calling For Me" and "Shine On." Unlike some of the albums produced by artists today, every song on "Hungry Again" is written by Dolly. She makes it a family affair with her cousin producer Richie Owens as co-producer. Great idea! This album is very worth what it costs and will make you want to listen over and over again.

For some, Dolly's current credibility began with the outstanding Grass is blue album, but this album (the one before that) is the album which relaunched her career. It didn't sell well in America but was a huge success in Britain, giving Dolly the encouragement she needed to continue recording traditional music.

It was with this album that Dolly returned to her country roots, beginning with the excellent title track and continuing with a whole series of outstanding songs, all in a traditional country style with only a little contemporary flavor. Some have a touch of bluegrass, showing the direction her music would take next.

My particular favorite is Blue valley songbird, which was the inspiration for a movie of the same title, and which was about a struggling singer and songwriter.

At the time of it's release, this was the best Dolly solo album for 20 years, and it's also just as good as those that followed.

If you like Dolly's more recent albums, or you enjoy her early seventies music, you will surely enjoy this one too.

I bought this cd on a whim as I had liked Dolly's earlier songs. I was blown away by this cd. I am a fan of most kinds of music, but this is almost another genre entirely. So moving, personal, and... charming. Buy without fear.

Should be put in the top ten cds of all time, with the Beatles, Nick Cave, Radiohead, etc. A triumph.

This is a great album that gives rebirth to her bluegrass roots.

The lyrics on this CD are very personal and pack an emotional punch, which is a clever contrast to the simple bluegrass arrangements. Don't let the term "bluegrass" scare you! It's basically a stripped down, bare-boned version of traditional country-and-western sound that is more organic. Very pure in it's sound, it compliments the honest lyrics that accompany it.

Dolly has roven her great voice to us and her great song writing too. Here she is back at her best once again!

Hungry Again is Dolly's first (and only) album on Decca, and it is one of her finest. To prepare for the album recording process Dolly went to her Tennessee mountain home, and fasted. She only drank water and juices, and wrote these songs, plus many others that will be held for other albums. The album is a return to Dolly's roots in country music. The songs convey brutal honesty, and are sung with passion, without overshadowing the beauty of the simplistic nature of the songs. In a way it was a chapter in a new beginning of her career. There is something for everyone here, from gospel to country, and everything in between. The two singles Salt In My Tears and Honky Tonk Songs are great songs, on Honky Tonk Songs where Dolly asks the retorical question "Why don't more women sing honky tonk songs?" Good question Dolly! Other highlights include Blue Valley Songbird, I'll Never Say Goodbye, The Camel's Heart, When Jesus Comes Calling For Me, Paradise Road, and more. The whole album is a treat for the ears!

Dolly Parton released "Hungry Again" in 1998 and the title really was an anecdote for the way Dolly was feeling during this particular time in her career. After spending decades as the #1 female country music vocalist with her albums selling in the millions and her songs going to #1 consistently, by the mid-'90's Dolly saw her career stalled. Country radio and the music-buying public chose to hear younger, more hip artists, and although Dolly would continue to always have her fan base, a million-selling album and #1 song would continue to elude her. What she attempted to do with "Hungry Again" was to aim this record to country radio with the hopes her career could be revived, but the attempt failed. "Hungry Again" was released on the now defunct Decca Label, the last big music giant that would release her albums for the remainder of her career as of 2011.

Critics and fans did like the album despite its poor sales (the album only peaked as high as #23 on the country charts and #167 on the pop side) and there are gems here that most ardent Dolly fans even forget about as Dolly doesn't perform any of the tracks in concert as none were hits. The two best tracks from the album are "The Salt In My Tears" and "Honky Tonk Songs", both radio flops, but still great country songs. "Blue Valley Songbird" was turned into a cable made-for-TV movie in 1999 co-starring Dolly and Billy Dean, and "Paradise Road" is beautiful. The real gem, though, here is the haunting "Shine On", the song Dolly performed at Tammy Wynette's memorial service that brought a tear to everyone's eye.

Dolly fasted for weeks while she wrote this entire album and it was recorded in her first-cousin's (Richie Owens) basement.

Since Dolly realized she couldn't make a dent in the country market by the late nineties after the lagging sales of this record Dolly revived her career and followed "Hungry Again" with three bluegrass records that not only sold extremely well, but brought her multiple Grammy Awards.

This is the album that kicked off Dolly's return to her roots. This spectacular collection of all Dolly written songs proves to be one of her best releases ever. All songs for the album were written by Dolly while she was fasting in her childhood home in the summer of 1997. The album features classic country and bluegrass tunes as well as a couple songs that were made to be radio friendly. Although the singles from the album "Honky Tonk Songs" and "The Salt In My Tears" didnt fare well on the charts, due to the thick-headed DJ's who refuse to play any artist over 40, the album is pure magic. "Paradise Road" an autobiographical song was used in a stage production of Dolly's life at her theme park DollyWood. STANDOUT TRACKS -- Hungry Again, I Still Lost You, I'll Never Say Goodbye, I Wanna Go Back There, When Jesus Comes Callin For Me, Paradise Road.