Nicolette

Nicolette Larson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B00079V9YU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,810 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Nicolette Larson first came to public attention when she backed up Neil Young on his American Stars 'n Bars disc. She went on to duet with him on his much anticipated Comes a Time album, which was the genesis for Nicolette. Using an even wider-ranging style than friends Linda Ronstadt or Emmylou Harris, Larson hit it big right out of the starting gate with Young's "Lotta Love," a super Top Ten smash. From there, she broadens her approach to include a soulful "You Send Me," the Louvin Bros' "Angels Rejoiced," Motown's "Baby, Don't Do It," and a hard-rockin' "Can't Get Away From You." No matter which genre she aspired to, she seemed to have the chops to do a fine job. Nicolette was a surprise for many when it first came out and is still a pleasure to listen to today. After this, her first effort, the sky was the limit for Larson.-----------1. Lotta Love Young 3:12 2. Rhumba Girl Winchester 3:52 3. You Send Me Cooke 3:56 4. Can't Get Away from You 3:17 5. Mexican Divorce 3:53 6. Baby, Don't You Do It Dozier, Holland, Holland 3:42 7. Give a Little Payne, Payne 2:59 8. Angels Rejoiced Louvin, Louvin 2:28 9. French Waltz 4:22 10. Come Early Mornin' 2:42 11. Last in Love

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Versatility does not equal Identity Crisis!, June 29, 2005

By 

Aage Nielsen (Boise, Idaho United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nicolette (Audio CD)

Nicolette Larson was an artist that really connected with people.
The first time I heard "Lotta Love" I was smitten, but the tongue-in-cheek "Rhumba Girl" had me hooked for life. This was one of my favorite albums when I was in high school. I would never have admitted to liking country back then, but "Angels Rejoiced" is so engaging that it defies genre. Although I'm Danish-American, I am also a bit of a Francophile and had just begun studying French when this album came out, so I was thrilled that a pop/country singer would do a song in French! "French Waltz", therefore, has always been an album highlight for me.

Nicolette has been raked over the coals for her versatility. On this stellar solo debut, Nicolette sang pop like a pop singer, country like a country singer and rock like a rock singer.
...anyone heard of Linda Ronstadt or Buffy Sainte-Marie?
My point is that this debut should have come as a surprise to no one. By the time this album came out, Nicolette had extensive backing vocal credits on Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Neil Young albums, to name a few. Nicolette had already proven what a gifted and versatile vocalist she was and was known as a singer's singer. Her pure soprano voice had an accessible quality that few in the business could equal. The only ones that come to mind (with that quality) are Anne Dorthe Michelsen of Denmark and Patrice Rushen.

If your taste leans more to the pop side of Nicolette, (Lotta Love, You Send Me) you should also get my personal favorite, her second album "In the Nick of Time". If you really appreciate the variety on "Nicolette", you might also enjoy Buffy Sainte-Marie's album "She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina", which includes several tracks with Neil Young's band Crazy Horse and songs in French and Spanish.

Nicolette's CDs were long out of print, so get them while you can!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of 1978's Best Albums, March 7, 2005

By 

Cain Farmer (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nicolette (Audio CD)

Propelled by one of that year's biggest singles [the radio-omnipresent "Lotta Love"], Nicolette Larson's freshman LP, "Nicolette," not only went gold [over a half-million units "moved," in Billboard lingo], but also received a veritable standing ovation from critics of the day. The praise was well-deserved, and a wonderful new talent entered the music scene in a very big way ["Lotta Love" was a first single and a top-ten hit, and was one of 1978's most-played and most-bought singles [it ended up, I think, as the 38th most popular single of 1978]].

The trouble with "Nicolette," however, was that the album sufferred from an identity crisis. This identity crisis created a praise-worthy LP, for sure, but resulted in a fickle public that didn't appreciate the many musical shapes/genres presented in "Nicolette," which was to become apparent with the sales of Nicolette's three followup LPs on Warners [which, ironically enough, were all more consistent in voice and musical styles than "Nicolette"]. Pop music customers then, as now, were tempted to try out Nicolette's first LP based purely on how much they liked the album's monster first single, "Lotta Love." But where the critics absolutely loved the entire "Nicolette" presentation, consumers were very much confused listening to the LP's country tracks ["Angels Rejoiced," "Come Early Mornin'"] and rock-slanted tunes ["Can't Get Away from You," "Baby, Don't You Do It"]. Hoping to find "Lotta Love" in the LP's 10 other tracks, buyers were ultimately disappointed when they found country and rock instead of more of the same kind of pop sound that they enjoyed with "Lotta Love."

That consistency problem would be needlessly corrected on future Nicolette LPs, with most of the tracks on second effort "In the Nick of Time" and third-time-at-bat "Radioland" hailing more of a solid pop sound; but the absence of a runaway hit single coming out of those future efforts resulted in weak sales and critics who were unkind and asking, rightfully perhaps, "What's Happened to Nicolette Larson?"

"Nicolette" is a classic album, the best of any of Nicolette's four pop tries and even her two country stints ["...Say When" and "Rose of My Heart"]. Sadly, what made the album so damned good also probably resulted in Nicolette's decline: customers who bought "Nicolette" and only liked one or two tracks because the album strayed too far from the pop sensibilities of hit-single "Lotta Love," were not going to take a chance again on anything again from Nicolette, a reality made even more difficult from Warners' weak marketing on future Nicolette LPs, and single releases that barely made dents on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles.

But, identity crisis or not, "Nicolette" shines as one 1978's finest LPs, well-crafted through and through. It's hard to imagine a singer who can easily move from hillbilly country to pure pop to rock, and sound as if she wasn't a pop singer just trying her hand at country or rock, sound as if she was a native to country and rock music, as well as a talented pop musician, but Nicolette Larson was just that kind of singer. Her vocal talents were chameleon-like, and "Nicolette" made us clearly aware of those rich vocal talents. It's hard to tell in which genre Nicolette felt the most comfortable, because she nails all them so incredibly well.

Adding to the praise, adding to the customer confusion, surely, was Ted Templeman's production. One listening to "Angels Rejoiced" might very well think he was listening to a country album; one hearing "Can't Get Away from You" might well assume he's listening to a Pat-Benatar type. There was no tainting these non-pop tracks with any of the real trappings of pop music--the country tracks are country through and through, the rock tunes are rock through and through--and this fluidity of and strict adherence to the sounds of those other genres [rock and country] without even a nod toward pop music--created a mood, a sound, that defined the LP as kind of an outsider that got lucky to break through to the inside on the basis of one hit single. The same swaying mood, the same "you won't pigeon-hole me on the basis of 'Lotta Love'" feeling that imbued the LP with sheer wonder, however, turned off too many people, a too sad fact and cold truth of the music business. We don't seem to mind our pop artists covering country, rock and soul songs, as long as those covers are still largely grounded in all of the trappings of pop music [to wit, Juice Newton's original single release of "The Sweetest Thing [I've Ever Known] went nowhere for the artist who had just scored a top-ten with "Angel of the Morning"; the producers quickly wised up and took out the country-music trappings of "Sweetest Thing," namely the steel guitars, and the re-released, pop-sanctioned new single started climbing up the charts].

"Nicolette" was my favorite release from Nicolette, although I didn't buy it for "Lotta Love," unlike most people ["Lotta Love," in fact, was one of the most annoying songs on the radio at that time to me]. I heard one of the album's other tracks, the rocker "Baby, Don't You Do It," on an FM station in 1979, and it was on the basis of that song that I decided that I just had to have "Nicolette." I made a wise choice: the album doesn't have a single weak cut on it.

"Rhumba Girl" shines as the album's second single release should have, but, despite being a Billboard "Top Adds" single throughout the country in the first few weeks of its release, "Rhumba Girl" could only get to number 53 on the charts. Nicolette's cover of the Sam Cooke tune, "You Send Me," equally placed her alongside of her gal-pal Linda Ronstadt as an artist whose recording of a song was surely the definitive and best recording of that song. As a single, however, "You Send Me" failed to gain any notice.

The album's fourth single was around forever, it seemed, but still couldn't return Nicolette to the top 40: "Give A Little," its sweet sentiment and lush backing vocals aside [provided by Linda Ronstadt], may have been a radio favorite back in 1979, but heavy airplay didn't result in favorable sales, perhaps because most of the people who liked and would have bought the song as a single had already bought the album the song was on.

Other noteworthy songs here are the pop-friendly ballad "French Waltz," which surely also turned off American customers with its French-language chorus; "Mexican Divorce," a Burt Bacharach tune given a memorable treatment by Nicolette; and the album's closing tune, the J.D. Souther ballad "Last in Love." Nicolette's voice shines on all the tracks of the album, and there's real emotion that you can hear throughout the album: Nicolette's vocals turn sheer melancholic on "Last in Love"; "Baby, Don't You Do It" is delivered with all of the urgency of a lover angry enough to do something that would bring pain to an ex; and it's hard not to see the smirk on Nicolette's face when listening to the suggestive "Rhumba Girl."

So, if you haven't heard the album, but wondered what else Nicolette could do besides "Lotta Love," buy the album and be very surprised at not only all of the risk-taking that she and her producers took on the album, but also at one of pop music's most under-rated and under-noticed talents of the 20th century. And if you've heard the album, but failed to get it when Warners re-released it on CD back in 1997 or 1998,get it now while you can. It was a gem right out of the box, as they say.

"Nicolette" is a thoroughly enjoyable LP, identity crisis or not. Repeated listens will surely open the pop purist's heart to the appealing sounds of country and rock music. Repeated listens will surely convince anyone of the album's simple genius.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long-awaited CD re-issue, February 4, 2007

By 

Charles - Music Lover (Phoenix, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicolette (Audio CD)

Nicolette Larson was a talented, nuanced vocalist who is greatly missed. Her debut recording was a winner. Released in 1978, the album was an eclectic mix of songs from a diverse group of songwriters: Neil Young, Jesse Winchester, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Burt Bacharach, and Sam Cooke, among others. Out of all of Nicolette's albums, this was always the most accessible to me.

I always maintained that the mix of "Lotta Love" broadcast on AM radio during its chart run was different than the album and single releases (which are the same). I remember a slightly-slowered tempo on the radio mix. I never could substantiate this, though, but that's how I remember it.

My two favorite songs on the disc are Nicolette's interpretations of Adam Mitchell's "French Waltz," which is beautiful, and Bob McDill's "Come Early Morning," which foreshadowed her move to country music a decade later.