Customer Reviews

We'll Sing in the Sunshine

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3 star:		(2)
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when i was a little girl, the very first album i bought was 'We'll sing in the Sunshine'. I played that album until it just couldn't be played any longer! Maybe 25 years have passed, and I always think of my first album and how much I loved every word of every song. I must have scoured thru 1000 used record stores in search of that album. One day while visiting my son in Berkeley California (I live in Boston, Mass), I went into a record store. Thousands of used records and I couldn't find Gale Garnett anywhere. I turned to leave the store, and decided to turn back and take one last look, and wow, it was mean't to be! All the albums were the same height in the crates, then I saw this green album and my heart pounded, it was my Gale Garnett, 'We'll Sing in the Sunshine' album!!!! I jumped up and down in the record store, I had my favorite album of all time back again. I was so happy!!!! I have since listened to the album 1,000 times. I love each and every song! I just wish I knew whatever happened to Gale, so that I could thank her for the 30 years or so that I have enjoyed her music! Give this album the listen it truely deserves!!!!!

Gale Garnett is one of the most underappreciated artists of all time. Although this album is just wonderful and Gale's moody lyrics and vocals can tear your heart out - its a shame that most of Gale's songs remain unavailable unless you are able to hunt them down at old record stores. This CD basically contains the songs from Gale's first album (including her only major hit "We'll Sing In The Sunshine") with a few bonus tracks thrown in. Buy this album, and believe me when I tell you that if you like it, then you will absolutely love her other 7 albums that were released from the mid to late 60's. There was another CD compilation released on a very small label called "The Many Faces Of Gale Garnett" and although this is the title of one of her albums, the CD was a more genuine greatest hits collection than this, containing a few tracks from each of her first 6 albums. Many of Gale's lyrics are written by her and come from her life experiences - she sings in many different musical styles which is probably why she never stayed a radio-friendly artist. I actually discovered Gale from the Rankin/Bass puppet-animated movie "Mad Monster Party" in which she provided the voice for the most memorable character, the red-haired vixen Francesca. She sang two excellent songs for that movie which are available on the CD soundtrack. Gale uses her unmistakable husky voice to make you feel whatever she is singing about - I have never heard another vocalist who sings with such emotion and honesty.

Those of you who have been wondering where Gale Garnett is now... I have an answer for you. She's been fairly successful as a writer and an actress the past couple of years, as a matter of fact, she was in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" in 2002. She now lives and works chiefly in Canada, where she settled after leaving New Zealand. According to her bio on ubl.com, she's written essays, columns, and book reviews, and also written two one-woman plays titled "Life with Gale Garnett" and "Life After Latex." To the best of my knowledge, however, she is no longer recording music or performing, even though "We'll Sing In The Sunshine" won her a Grammy for best contemporary folk recording.

That said, "We'll Sing In The Sunshine" is one of my favorite "oldies" and one of my favorite "one-hit wonders."(The song hit #4 on the pop charts nationally and #1 in Detroit, on the chart published by Motown's leading top 40 station at the time, WKNR/Keener 13.) Radio in 1964 was saturated with the Beatles, and for an unknown folk singer from New Zealand as she was to make a breakthrough was probably quite remarkable, as short as her tenure on the charts turned out to be. (After "Lovin' Place" fell off the charts, she had one more single, "I'll Cry Alone," "bubble under" before fading away.) She had a very distinctive voice - not diva-esque soulful, but warm and rich, good to relax with.
Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I believe Gale Garnett also has the distinction of being the only artist from New Zealand to ever hit #1 on a Billboard chart ("We'll Sing..." was #1 on the AC charts for an impressive seven straight weeks).
Luv ya Gale, and there still are people out there who appreciate your music.

I share sentiments with most of the folks who have posted here. "We'll Sing In The Sunshine" was an important tune from my early teens (I still remember holding that tinny little transistor up to listen carefully). It's still a great song, and the whole album is great. I noticed a couple things on careful listening to the two versions of "Sunshine". The arrangements are quite similar, although the sound quality on the remake (which was on the original album) is better, the other one sounds like AM. More interesting is that the lyrics are a bit different. In the original, reference is to "I'll stay with you one year" and "I'll kiss you every night". On the album, it was "I'll live with you one year" and "I'll love you every night". Some things you just couldn't say on radio back then, I guess. Even for an album, this was more than a bit risque for the early 60s.

Another note -- the cheesy liner notes from the orignal "My Kind of Folk Songs" are here -- about how the family immigrated to the U.S. from new Zealand, and her father was a kind of itinerant carny. I know the U.S. part is wrong (they immigrated to Canada), and I suspect the father part might be made up, too.

I read columns by Gale (under the name Gale Zoe Garnett") in the Toronto papers from time to time, and am sorry I missed her recent, well-received, one-woman theatre performances.

Highly recommended!

I owned Gale's LP, "My Kind of Folk Songs" back many years ago. I probably played that album more that almost any I had. I had every song committed to memory. Since that time, I spent many hours searching the download sites looking for her music, but could never find anything other than We'll Sing in the Sunshine and The Prism Song. I was very excited when I found this re-make album. I was also totally amazed that after 40 years, I was still able to sing along with almost every song on the album.

This CD contains both the hit version and an earlier version of Gale Garnett's signature song, and it's interesting to compare the subtle differences, but Garnett was primarily a Blues singer and listening to this album can cause the impressionable to want to sit in a tub of warm water and open their wrists -- not because it's not great, but because it is. "The Prism Song" and "Sleep You Now" add a whole new dimension to bittersweet. And "Malaika," sung in Swahili, is a special treat. The worst song on the CD is good, and almost all are unique treasures.

Gale Garnett, a multi-talented individual, does a splendid job in most of the songs on this album albeit a few of the instrumental arrangements can be described as well..corny. The vocals are oustanding and it's unfortunate that not enough of her singing has ever been heard.

As with Eileen, this is a music from my early childhood and very special to me. My Mom listened to it when I was a kid and I had it probably memorized by the age of 3. Was always was looking for anything GG again and then found it'd come to CD format! Listening to the music again as an adult, I can appreciate her rich voice and moody lyrics even more than before.

A reviewer felt these were not the originals but they sound to me like they were recorded in a genuine early-mid 1960's studio atmosphere, which is one of the reasons I like them. Besides the great standard "Sunshine", I also like many of the other songs, like "I Know My Rider". So don't let any suspicion of these not being the originals dissuade you from buying this CD.

My mother had this album as I was growing up and I loved the singer. She was almost a 1 song wonder, but the other songs are folk music and great to hear after all these years. It's still as good as I remember!