Customer Reviews

The Signature Series, Volume 9: A Little Good News//Heart Over Mind

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

 

 

Anne's career waned a bit from 1981 to 1983, but she recovered nicely with the two albums on this CD. Anne had six consecutive singles miss the #1 spot on the country charts from March 1981 to September 1983, and the accompanying albums were some of her less distinguished recordings, in my opinion. But that all changed with "A Little Good News", when the lead single and title cut took her back to the top. As one reviewer noted, it's one of the very few political message songs that Anne recorded, and it was very well-received: she received the CMA Award for Single Of The Year for it. Strong song choices abound on "A Little Good News". I've always been fond of the second #1 from this album, "Just Another Woman In Love", and the Kenny Loggins-penned "The More We Try" is a beautiful sad song. The sound was varied slightly, and she sounded like she was having fun again. Her career reinvigorated, she then released "Heart Over Mind" in 1985 and scored yet another #1 country single with "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do". This album is poppier than some of her previous works - Anne was continuing to search for that elusive pop hit during this time. [She went full-out pop on her next album, "Something To Talk About", but still only managed a #92 pop hit with "Now And Forever (You And Me)"]. Interestingly, Whitney Houston recorded two of the same songs from "Heart Over Mind" on her debut CD that was out at the same time - "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" and "Take Good Care Of My Heart". Anne's versions are easily as good, and "Time Don't Run Out On Me" was a classic Carole King-Gerry Goffin song as well. All in all, these two albums are definite highlights of her '80s output and well-worth the purchase price.

Anne Murray is one of the greatest song stylists ever. I hadn't heard "Heart Over Mind' since I last played my turntable (never got it on tape or cd until today).....so glad I did..."HEART" is one of the best from Anne...she is loose, into the groove, mellow without pity and so much more I can't describe. I love this cd period..........and then there's "A Little Good News" which led to "HEART"...both are 2 of the best from one of the best Canadian imports ever!

The first album of this twofer, A little good news from 1983, yielded two number one country hits. The title track was something different from Anne. I'd never heard her do anything remotely political before. What I particularly like about this song is that it highlights problems without expressing an opinion on how they might be solved, only a wish for a solution. Nobody will work out anything about Anne's political opinions from this song.

The other number one was Just another woman is love - it is the kind of song I expect from Anne, and she sings it brilliantly. There were other singles from the album, but they didn't do much, which was a pity as this is a great album full of wonderful songs.

The second album, Heart over mind from 1984, makes a more conscious effort to win over pop fans, but ultimately it is still Anne's singing that counts. The two big hits here were Time don't run out on me and a duet with Dave Loggins, Nobody loves me like you do. Of the other songs, I first heard Our love on an album by Elkie Brooks, but I have no idea who recorded the song first. It is the last track and as such it makes a great way to end another excellent twofer in this long series.