Customer Reviews

Language of Love

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When I bought the 45rpm single of "Norman" by Sue Thompson as a junior high kid, I noticed the song had been written by John Loudermilk. That didn't strike me as particularly unusual--Del Shannon and Paul Anka as singers who could write didn't really become a huge majority in pop until the British Invasion a few years later. And I hadn't known until reading another review here that Loudermilk also wrote Thompson's "Sad Movies". But the song that displays Loudermilk's ability to write with "attitude" is "Road Hog", a song that articulates most real people's wish that all motorists who seem to be as bent on annoying other drivers as they are to get where they're going would run afoul of an unmarked cop car. Especially in this, the "road rage" era, when the stigma is on those of us who don't like road hogs. Oh well, there's no such thing as jaywalking anymore either. Wake up, kiddies--Al Toffler's "future shock" is now the present.

John D. Loudermilk falls in that group of personalities who had immense success as a songwriter but little impact as a performer. Loudermilk's huge catalog of tunes, many of which were taken to heights by other artists, are far better known and appreciated than his own singing found here on this disc.

This CD is the "Language of Love" album with his three other pop-charting RCA tunes thrown in as bonus tracks. As such, the album becomes essentially a "greatest-hits" compilation minus his one chart entry on Colonial, the "Sittin' In The Balcony" as by Johnny Dee. His material that he chose to record himself was not always his best and since his performing abilities were secondary to his songwriting, this disc is more of a curiosity or a collector's piece.

The entire disc is presented in true stereo and reasonably decent sound quality. The liner notes are interesting, again more for his songwriting contributions than his performing.

As presented, this is of interest mainly for collectors. What would be hugely interesting would be a compilation of Loudermilk's tunes as performed by those who made them hits, a project that would fit into Ace's of England songwriter compilation series.

John D. Loudermilk falls in that group of personalities who had immense success as a songwriter but little impact as a performer. Loudermilk's huge catalog of tunes, many of which were taken to heights by other artists, are far better known and appreciated than his own singing found here on this disc.

This CD is the "Language of Love" album with his three other pop-charting RCA tunes thrown in as bonus tracks. As such, the album becomes essentially a "greatest-hits" compilation minus his one chart entry on Colonial, the "Sittin' In The Balcony" as by Johnny Dee. His material that he chose to record himself was not always his best and since his performing abilities were secondary to his songwriting, this disc is more of a curiosity or a collector's piece.

The entire disc is presented in true stereo and reasonably decent sound quality. The liner notes are interesting, again more for his songwriting contributions than his performing.

As presented, this is of interest mainly for collectors. What would be hugely interesting would be a compilation of Loudermilk's tunes as performed by those who made them hits, a project that would fit into Ace's of England songwriter compilation series.