Lost in the Feeling...once a Lost album...Long last re-issue
Jerry McDaniel | 08/25/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"26 years after it's original release in 1983, LOST IN THE FEELING several months ago, was issued on CD and resurrected from the lost album's pile. This particular album, for those not familiar with early '80s country music, is very much a product of the time period. This is not necessarily a slam, for those who may take it that way. Conway, like a few other country singers, possessed this amazing ability to deliver a song. He could convert songs and put his spin on them and that's one of the talents of a good song interpreter. When he sang a song like "You've Got a Good Love Coming", which is on this album, he put his stamp all over it and he made it sound like a Conway Twitty song. Why bring this up? Well, some historians and country music enthusiasts tend to trash talk the late '70s and early '80s period in country music...no matter who the artist's are/were...there's this unpopular stigma about that era in country music that rankles a lot of people. I like any of the music my favorite artist's sing...regardless of a song's origins or it's arrangement.
Several of the songs that Conway and company chose to put on this album feature a lot of early '80s country arrangements. The commercially accepted sound at the time can be heard on "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Heartache Tonight", "You've Got a Good Love Coming", "I Think I'm in Love", "Don't It Feel Good", and "First Things First". "You've Got a Good Love Coming" is more associated with Lee Greenwood, who had a hit with that song.
There were a couple of songs that traditionalists would prefer, "Lost in the Feeling" being the most obvious. It has a wonderful steel guitar by John Hughey heard throughout and he closes the song with a long steel guitar fade out. Ricky Skaggs provides the harmony...his voice is unmistakable. Another song traditional country fans may appreciate is "From A Stranger's Point of View" about a man whose been away from a woman and he realizes everything he's lost once he see's her as a stranger. "We're So Close" may win over traditional fans with it's prominent Dobro.
For me, though, I simply like to hear Conway sing...and in terms of power we have "Heartache Tonight" which features harmony vocals from the Osmond Brothers. Conway's vocals are very much up to the task at delivering an urgent rock-oriented performance. This was the album's second single but it created a fuss with country radio because it was a former pop hit for The Eagles. Previously Conway had released a couple of other former pop hits as country singles: "Slow Hand" and "The Rose", both from 1982. This "Heartache Tonight" being the third such cover song in a little over a year didn't sit too well with a lot of the more traditional country fans nor country radio...but not everyone. The stations that liked the song played it just as much as previous Conway songs and it reached the Top-5...but it's clearly one of those kinds of hits that's popular for awhile but then fades.
"First Things First" is another one of my favorites. It tells the story of a blind date and how amorous the woman happens to be. Usually it's the other way around and it's the man that can't wait to hop in bed...it's nice to hear a song that relates the unusual but not unheard of concept of the woman being so taken in that she can't wait to get the man alone. As I mentioned at the top of the review, the songs are very 'early '80s in their arrangements. "I Think I'm in Love" tells the story of a group of men in a bar and how a man see's a woman that he thinks he's in love with all because of her looks. It's a rowdy kind of song and it was sandwiched between two ballads, "From a Stranger's Point of View" and his cover of "Three Times a Lady".
Testing the waters once more, Conway issued "Three Times a Lady" as a single...his fourth cover song of a former pop hit. This time around the original artists were The Commodores. The single hit the Top-10 in early 1984 but it fell from the Top-10 just as quick...after this became a hit and the negative commentary that soon followed, Conway wouldn't release another cover version of a pop song for the rest of his career.
This 1983 lost album should be purchased while it's available. If it should ever go out of print, again, I doubt the material would ever re-surface for sale."
Conway Twitty CD
T. M. Moore | austell ga. usa | 02/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I Have The Album And Was Glad To Get It On CD
This Was One Of My Favorites"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1