Bobbie Gentry - Thunder in the Afternoon - Non-Album Tracks (1972-1978)

Bobbie Gentry has had a severely underestimated musical career. Most people probably think of her as a one hit wonder if they know of her at all, due to her 1967 number one smash "Ode to Billie Joe." But she had a lot more success than that, including another number one hit in Britain, and she wrote most of her own songs. That was highly unusual for a female single back in the 1960s (or for a long time after that).

I think a big reason she's underestimated is because what happened to her career after 1971. From 1967 to 1971, she released at least one album a year. But then she turn to producing and starring in her own Las Vegas stage shows for the rest of the 1970s, and almost entirely stopped writing or recording new music. Then, stranger still, in 1981 she quit show business entirely. She's lived in seclusion ever since, to the point that she hasn't even given a single interview since then!

In 2018, a big box set called "The Girl from Chickasaw County" was released. It's received a lot of praise and awards as the best archival release of the year, and it's caused many to take Gentry's career more seriously. But unfortunately, it includes most, but not all of her recorded output. The biggest problem is she switched record companies in 1972, and only recorded a little bit after that. So those post-1972 recordings aren't included.

That's what this album is for. I've included the A- and B-sides of a 1972 single that has been included on the box set, because those songs didn't come out on any albums otherwise. Then I have two songs recorded in 1974 and 1975 respectively. But the bulk of this album comes from an album session she had in 1978. It's generally known as the "Thunder in the Afternoon" session, which is why I gave this album that title. Unfortunately, only two songs were released at the time, as the A- and B-sides of a flop single. Three more were released on compilations many years later. Whatever else was recorded then has stayed in the vaults.

I wouldn't have bothered with this album if the songs were bad or only okay, but I think this is some of Gentry's best stuff! Some songs suffer a bit from dated late 1970s production values, but not too much, and the quality of the songs shine through.

01 The Girl from Cincinnati (Bobbie Gentry)
02 You and Me Together (Bobbie Gentry)
03 Another Place, Another Time (Bobbie Gentry)
04 Salome Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear (Bobbie Gentry)
05 Steal Away (Bobbie Gentry)
06 He Did Me Wrong, But He Did Right (Bobbie Gentry)
07 Slow Cookin' (Bobbie Gentry)
08 Sweet Country (Bobbie Gentry)
09 Thunder in the Afternoon (Bobbie Gentry)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15117961/BobbieGen_1972-1978_ThundrintheAfternoon_atse.zip.html

In putting this album together, I stumbled across the official Bobbie Gentry website (http://bobbiegentry.org.uk). I really liked the main background photo they used there, including a green coloring they added to it. So I decided to use that as the cover of this album. I even kept the coloring and font of her name.