Customer Reviews

Love Lifts Us Up: A Collection 1968-1983

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Back in the great musical 60's, Los Angeles production of the awesome Broadway Musical "Hair" was fortunate to have Jennifer in the lead and when this soulful singer came out & belted "Easy To Be Hard" with passionate and smoldering intensity, you knew "A Star Was Born" or at least the career of a brilliant singer had begun. Rushing out looking for Jennifer recordings was frustrating as the first Lp "I Can Remember Everything" didn't have anything equal to what audiences were hearing on stage in "Hair". "Chelesa Morning" and "Here There And Everywhere" from this debut album sound fine here but it was Jennifer's second Lp "See Me, Touch Me, Feel Me, Heal Me" that caught the brilliance represented here by the definitive "Easy To Be Hard" which becomes a stirring anthem for this great singer. Jennifer in great form throughout this eclectic album and should have become a huge Superstar upon release of this fine Lp but radio refused to play Jennifer for some strange reason & not for lack quality of the gem filled stellar "See Me, Touch Me, Feel Me, Heal Me" collection. Jennifer played various Los Angeles clubs always packed-out & this soulful singer was always incredible to experience live in concert! Next songs in this awesome collection are from 1972 Reprise Records masterpiece strangely not given any promotion and simply titled "Jennifer" produced brilliantly by John Cale. "Love Lifts Us Up" features five songs from "Jennifer" which sadly still has not been released on Compact Disc and this bizarre oversight needs to be corrected as each song is total perfection! "In The Morning" is a rich and glorious version of the Barry Gibb original while "Sand And Foam" is a totally mesmerizing vocal with an ethereal arrangement. Jimmy Webb composed "P.F. Sloan" is fascinating as his "All My Love's Laughter" featuring Jennifer at her soulful and passionate best and these were always amazing to experience in concert. Final gem from "Jennifer" is Jackson Brown classic "These Days", a great single that radio would not play yet clearly another stellar vocal performance that could have been a huge hit for Jennifer with radio exposure. Sadly missing from this wondrous collection from "Jennifer" is the haunting and mesmerizing "Be My Friend" building with smoldering intensity and one of the best ever songs from this soulful singer. Several years went by then her last name added with the release of "Jennifer Warnes" chart success finally came with "Right Time Of The Night" and several others but this was token considering Jennifer Warnes incredible talent and remarkable output. Stunning original "Daddy Don't Go" sadly not in this collection is a raw and soulful classic that show what is great about this gifted artist as does another Jennifer original happily contained in this collection the wistful "I'm Restless". Riveting gospel version of the Jagger/Richards "Shine A Light" is tremendous and Jennifer lets it rip to great effect. Love when Jennifer shows off her soulful vocal power like in an excellent remake of Dionne Warwick classic "Don't Make Me Over"...fine surprise showing Jennifer should cut loose like this more often...always enjoyed the powerful side of Jennifer's voice as it is a great contrast to her fine delicate tones. A magical and haunting "It Goes Like It Goes" from "Norma Rae" is a wonder and that classic duet with Joe Cocker "Up Where We Belong" show how great this singer is when she loosens up and lets go...wished for a Philly Soul set from Jennifer for a long time...Bravo Jennifer and thank you for sharing your wonderful gift all these years! Those who love a mesmerizing gorgeous voice don't miss this wondrous collection filled with great & highly unique songs by a magnificent singer...

Raven's "Love Lifts Us Up" is an excellent collection. It is nice to have clean digital versions of some of Jennifer Warnes' early work. Her voice has always been expressive and gorgeous. I became a fan from her appearances on TV with the Smothers Brothers and have followed her since. On this collection, her excellent rendition of early songs by Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb, Jackson Browne and Donovan come alive again. The liner notes are informative and give detail on Jennifer's career. On the Rolling Stones' "Shine a Light," Jennifer transforms the song and remakes it as a life-affirming anthem. She does an exquisite job on Randy Sharp's tune "Could It Be Love," a track that builds with a sexy swagger. The set closes with Tom Snow's "All the Right Moves." This is an excellent and much-needed retrospective that spans years and labels, but remains unified in the exquisite quality that is the hallmark of Jennifer Warnes' work. Wow!

My GOD what a beautiful voice! How, as music lovers, could we let this talented lady slip off into oblivion? Her rendition of Donovan's Sand and Foam paints incredibly beautiful pictures in my mind. How this track never got played on radio is something I will never comprehend. I have several of her vinyl LP's and had just about given up on trying to find any of her incredible work on CD. I just want a give a heart felt "Thank You" to Raven for bringing this amazing lady's talents to light again.

This is a long overdue compilation of Jennifer Warnes'career. I love this new CD and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It includes tracks from her two albums on the Parrot label and several from her 1972 album, "Jennifer", on Reprise. While the compilation ends at 1983, Jennifer Warnes'career still continued with the amazing "Famous Blue Raincoat" and the shamefully neglected albums "The Hunter" and "The Well". I can only hope that there will be a CD of songs from films and collaborations with other artists. If America produced a singer in the league of Dusty Springfield, it would be Jennifer Warnes. This CD of her early career is a gem and should not be overlooked. It is marvelous and it proves that her earliest work was excellent. It is the voice this woman possesses that is a great instrument. Jennifer Warnes is so, so fine. Hear her and find out for yourself. She has magic in her voice. I can only hope that we will be hearing more Jennifer Warnes music. Another compilation and a new album from this gifted artist would be a blessing to behold. Sing Jennifer, Sing!

The duet with Steve Gillette ( track 18) is actually a recording of another friend of Steve Gillette's, not Jennifer Warnes . How tacky! How could RAVEN have missed that? I had to adjust the volume knob about five or six times. There is an odd "wow" falloff at the end of "These Days". Sounds like the engineer stopped the turntable manually.
Jennifer Warnes was obviously not involved in the creation of this compilation. Too uneven, badly mastered.

Some nights when I leave work for the day I look into the night and always feel so much better when I discover there is a full moon. I feel the same way about the music of Jennifer Warnes. I'm glad to know it's there. Jennifer and her beautiful voice has been such an inspiration to me over the years. I am truly glad that this collection includes her early work. Jennifer's music will stand the test of time, i.e. 20 or 30 years from now people will still be listening to the music of Jennifer Warnes. But you don't have to wait that long. Buy this great collection of songs and give your heart a treat! After all to quote a Jennifer Warnes song "all we have is here and now". So buy it!

A lot of times, great female singers slip underneath the public's radar. In our time, we have largely missed or ignored potentially great women because of the anodyne, squeaky-clean Carrie Underwood or the equally anodyne (and Autotuned) Taylor Swift. In the case of Jennifer Warnes, however, it was a case of being a great singer in an era, the late 1960s and 1970s, where there were so many of that kind of caliber. Fortunately, in 2004, the Australian import label Raven put together a hugely reasonable compilation of Jennifer's music spanning the period from her 1968 recordings of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" and the Beatles' "Here, There, And Everywhere" up to "All The Right Moves", her duet with Chris Thompson for the 1983 Tom Cruise film of the same name.

Born in Seattle but primarily bought up in Orange County here in Southern California, Jennifer first attracted notice in both a production of the ultimate counterculture musical "Hair" and then on the Smothers Brothers' TV variety show. Her earliest recordings were for the same label--Parrot Records--that counted Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck as labelmates. In the early 1970s, she attracted some notice for her covers of Jackson Browne's "These Days" and Jimmy Webb's "P.F. Sloan"; but it was really in early 1977 that she came into her own, when "Right Time Of The Night" hit #6 on the Hot 100; and in late 1979, "I Know A Heartache When I See One" hit a very respectable #19. Both of those big hits, due in no small part to Jennifer's vocal phrasing and the use of certain familiar L.A. musicians on them (Kenny Edwards; Andrew Gold), sometimes got her mistaken for Linda Ronstadt, at a time when Linda was the songstress that a lot of women, Jennifer included, admired to the hilt (indeed, both women were heard as backing vocalists together on the title track of Warren Zevon's 1978 album EXCITABLE BOY). Jennifer, however, has carved out a very distinguished career of her own, as can be gauged on this compilation, which includes more than a few movie themes, including her monster #1 hit duet with Joe Cocker, "Up Where We Belong", from the 1982 film AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, and "It Goes Like It Goes", the Oscar-winning song from the 1979 classic NORMA RAE, plus her version of Dionne Warwick's first big hit from 1962, "Don't Make Me Over.".

Since this compilation ends at 1983, it doesn't include her #1 DIRTY DANCING duet with Bill Medley, "I've Had The Time Of My Life." It does, however, include a lot of great stuff all the same from a singer who, like a lot of great female singers past and present, is not one of those so hugely well-known by the public because of her lack of an artificial image. Jennifer Warnes is a singer well worth revisiting, whether it's for her film songs, the early singer/songwriter material, or her late 70s solo hits.

Finally we get to hear Jennifer's late 60s and early 70s folky work. This collection is long overdue, it's great to have some of her soundtrack work (the songs from Norma Rae and All the Right Moves). But I still would like to see a definitive 2-CD set of her entire career which would include more of her soundtrack work. This is a great place to start, let's hear more from this hugely under-appreciated artist!

This is an essential collection of Jennifer Warnes early work (pre-Famous Blue Raincoat) for enthusiasts. It allows the listener to hear the evolution in Ms. Warnes abilities although the purity of her voice was there from the beginning.

Jennifer Warnes has always been a great recording artist and has made some fantastic titles songs for some of the greatest films in the past. She is timeless and this album is a great example of that.