Born To Be / Affectionately Melanie / Candles In The Rain / Leftover Wine

シンガーソングライター、メラニーが1968-1970年の間にブッダ・レコードに残した4作品を4on2CDリリース!!

この作品リリース期はフランスでのNo.1ヒット"Bobo's Party"、オランダでの"Beautiful People"のヒットなどヨーロッパでの成功を収めた時期。"Candles In The Rain"と"Leftover Wine"は、ともに世界各国のチャートでも大成功を収めている円熟期音源。

リマスター。

Britain's Edsel Records begins a series of two-fer CD reissues bringing back into print Melanie's late-'60s/early-'70s albums for Buddah Records with this combination of her debut LP, 1968's Born to Be, and its 1969 follow-up, Affectionately Melanie, discs released when she was in her early twenties. These are the albums the singer/songwriter made before her commercial breakthrough with the 1970 Top Ten hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," but they are in the same vein as her later work. The most immediate impression she makes, of course, is with her voice, which she uses in an idiosyncratic manner, veering abruptly between a husky, near-spoken tone with a breathy quaver and a strident, vibrato-laden wail reminiscent of Buffy Sainte-Marie. Possessing a pronounced Outer Borough New York accent (she was born and raised in Queens), she can be ingratiating one moment and grating the next. Similarly, the mostly original songs, set to folk-pop arrangements by her husband and producer Peter Schekeryk, are often childlike, including one that borrows from the Winnie the Pooh stories ("Christopher Robin [Is Saying His Prayers]") and a Christmas song, but also sometimes distinctly mature, such as the promiscuous woman's lament "I Really Loved Harold" and the kiss-off song "Any Guy." The most memorable track, of course, is her early signature song "Beautiful People," which mixes many of these musical and thematic elements. Affectionately Melanie grazed the bottom of the Billboard Top 200 LPs list in November 1969, but that was only the beginning for this appealing if quirky singer/songwriter. ~ William Ruhlmann