More than a decade before the singer-songwriter era of the early 1970s, Jackie DeShannon was interpreting other writers’ songs and writing hit records of her own.
She came clearly into the public conscience after her recording of Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono’s Needles and Pins in 1963 and followed it with her own When You Walk In The Room. In 1964, both songs became hits for the English band The Searchers.
But DeShannon had been recording since the late 1950s and she would continue with a string of eclectic albums on Imperial, a subsidiary of Liberty Records, throughout the ’60s, which would include a couple of world-wide hits.
Running through all her changes in style was a pure, proficient and pleasing voice that held a tinge of country and gospel from her background and was perfectly suited for pop and rock music.
Collectors’ Choice Music has just released remastered versions of four of DeShannon’s albums spanning a period from her self-titled folk album of 1963, seeing its debut on CD, to 1968’s Me About You coupled with Set Me Free (1970) on a two-fer and on to 1975’s New Arrangement, which yielded the Grammy Hall of Fame song Bette Davis Eyes, a major hit for Kim Carnes six years later. Continue reading A Jackie DeShannon quartet
His voice had changed somewhat but the trademark quality that graced so many of The Band’s signature tunes was intact with a slightly raspier flavor.
His latest, the strong-selling Together Through Life, a further exploration of roots-rock calling on all his musical influences while in collaboration with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, succeeds in most aspects despite a few tracks that fall short of the high level of most of this album.
There is no lack of creative, roots-imbued songs with thought-provoking lyrics though. Channeling Americana as direct descendants of The Band, at its most sparse, and vocally reminiscent of Bob Dylan, the group from the Catskills of three brothers and two friends runs through 13 songs that at times hearken back to what sounds like music that may have been around during the time of the Civil War.