Have You Never Been Mellow review
WHEN I first heard Olivia Newton-John and her hit “Let Me Be There,” I liked her. I thought she had something musically different to offer.
But she didn’t live up to her initial promise, and her followup single “I Honestly Love You” pointed up her vocal weakness.
Now she sounds like she ought to be singing television commercial jingles because what she’s been releasing is trite and formula ridden.
I’d like to contrast her current LP, HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MELLOW (MCA-2133), to Lani Hall’s HELLO IT’S ME (A&M SP-4508).
Lani, besides being the wife of Herb Alpert and the former lead singer for Brasil ‘66, is the focus behind one of the most commercially overlooked albums of 1972, SUNDOWN LADY.
The two critical differences between Olivia and Lani concern background arrangement and emotional projection.
“Have You Never Been Mellow” is representative of the kind of songs Olivia has recently recorded. It has a slick “instant-appeal” ploy which may be initially attractive but which can’t sustain interest very long. And her voice is shallow, to the point where she can’t seem to drum up any real vocal tension. You also can hear this antiseptic approach in “Loving Arms” and “Lifestream,” songs done far more soulfully by Tom Jans and Rick Nelson respectively.
Lani is another story. She has just about everything going for her a commendable knack for picking just the right songs for her clean expressive voice, and Herb Alpert’s fantastic background arrangements. Those arrangements involve restraint instrument is used more than it is needed. The result is a series of 10 songs that you don’t ever get tired of listening to.
And maybe “staying power” is the real test of popular music: whether an album can withstand the test of time.
On that count, Lani Hall is one of the very best female recording artists, and it’s only a matter of time before she gets her due recognition.
By Don Weller