Search - Barbara Mandrell :: Midnight Oil / Treat Him Right

Absolutely essential for every fan of Barbara Mandrell

Bryon Burks | Wichita, KS | 11/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Two of Barbara's early albums with bonus tracks

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 09/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."