Customer Reviews

Midnight Oil / Treat Him Right

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I was SO glad to see these albums become available on CD. BUY THIS ALBUM WHILE YOU CAN...Barbara's material is going to be hard to come by soon since she is retired and out of the public eye.

At the time Barbara recorded these tracks in the early seventies (before she hit the big time), they didn't sound very country to a lot of people, yet now they sound fairly traditional. How times change.

It's not difficult to see what some people objected to - there were several covers of R+B classics, like Show me (Joe Tex), I've been loving you too long (Otis Redding), The letter (Box tops), Do right woman do right man (Aretha Franklin) and others. However, Barbara's versions had a strong country flavor, much more so than her later recordings for MCA, which also featured a lot of R+B covers.

There are also a fair number of covers of more recognisably country songs here, including We're gonna hold on (George and Tammy), The Jamestown ferry (Tanya Tucker), Break my mind (written by John D Loudermilk and recorded by a lot of country singers), Holdin' on to the love I got (Tammy Wynette) and Games people play (Joe South).

Barbara's biggest hits from this period included Tonight my baby's coming home, The midnight oil and After closing time, one of several duets she recorded with David Houston.

I love these early recordings, but I wish somebody would release some of her MCA albums on CD - all we ever seem to get from that period are hits collections. In the meantime, we can enjoy two of Barbara's great early albums.

As far as I'm concerned... THIS is the best OF Barbara Mandrell.
Her 80's up till present are good though, (the best of that being
"I Was Country (when it was'nt cool")

Listen to this CD and you'll see why THIS is the BEST of BARBARA.

Anyone who questions why Mandrell was named "Entertainer of the Year" at the CMA awards need only listen to this disc. Contained within are Barbara's early efforts for Columbia Records from 1970 and 1973. These 2 albums are just a glimpse at the brilliance of Mandrell's country vocals. Producer Billy Sherrill (who helped shape the careers of Tammy Wynette just several years before) gives Mandrell similar material. Covers of rhythm and blues tunes, a practice that would prove successful for Mandrell throughout her career, found their origin here. Mandrell always gave her all to her audiences on stage and record. This is just an early, wonderful example!