I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile

Its not an overstatement to say that the success Norma Tanega experienced with 1966s international hit "Walkin My Cat Named Dog" dramatically changed the course of her life. Promotional obligations took her to London, where she performed on the TV show Ready, Steady, Go! and met Dusty Springfield, who became her partner for six years. While living in London, Tanega wrote songs for Springfield and Blossom Dearie and recorded two albums of her own. Though the music from 1969s Snow Cycles didnt see the light of day until the release of 2022s excellent compilation Im the Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings 1964–1971, the wide-open, psychedelic love songs of 1971s I Dont Think It Will Hurt If You Smile offer a heartfelt expression of her London years and a highly individual take on the eras sounds and moods. Working with the Viscounts Don Paul and multi-instrumentalist Mike Moran, Tanega keeps up with trends on lushly layered hippie jams like "Now Is the Time" and "What More in This World Could Anyone Be Living For," both of which are more personal than the average peace-and-love anthem. Her growth as a singer and songwriter makes itself known on "Beautiful Things," an elegant call to live in the moment that approaches Springfield levels of smoky sophistication. Smooth saxophone and hand drums grace "Illusion," a bossa nova-tinged idyll that echoes Tanegas songwriting collaborations with Antonio Carlos Jobim. I Dont Think It Will Hurt If You Smiles forays into baroque pop are especially winning; on "Elephants Angels and Roses," Tanegas head-over-heels mood is buoyed by breezy harpsichords. Though the mood isnt quite as playful as it was on Walkin My Cat Named Dog, Tanegas whimsy resurfaces on instrumental doodles like "Cowfold," which combine the refined sounds of harpsichord and autoharp with melodies indebted to country and ragtime. The sardonic viewpoint that made "Youre Dead" a cult favorite years after its release is present only on the standout "Nothing Much Is Happening Today," the closest the album gets to a bad trip ("Everything begins and then its over all too soon/The people who will smile at you begin to frown at noon," Tanega sings over an elastic bass line and vertiginous strings). However, her unabashed sincerity is exactly what makes I Dont Think It Will Hurt If You Smile so special, whether on the beaming folk-pop of "Magic Day" or the hymnal "Stranger," where she notes, "I am a stranger to this time/My life has never been in rhyme." The albums failure to connect with listeners at the time of its release is a matter of timing rather than quality -- I Dont Think It Will Hurt If You Smile documents a charming chapter in the life of a singer/songwriter coming into her own. ~ Heather Phares

楽曲を提供したダスティ・スプリングフィールドとの長きにわたる関係でも知られ、66年のカルト・フォーク名盤『Walkin' My Cat Named Dog』の復刻でも再注目を集める個性的なシンガー・ソングライターの71年作がリイシュー。当時はセールス的にも不振で出回らなかったため一時はコレクターから高値で求められてきた、まさに知られざる名盤という言葉が相応しい作品だ。ルーツ音楽の素養とソウルフルな歌声を軸に、マニア人気の高い"Nothing Much Is Happening Today"やインスト小品の数々も交えた全16曲の滋味深い独特の世界!
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