Sunday, June 9, 2019

Rosanne Cash - What Kinda Girl - Non-Album Tracks (1979-1989)

I really like Rosanne Cash. I've said that before and I'll probably say it many times again. There's something about her singing voice that appeals to me, and I think she's an underrated songwriter.

Rosanne Cash grew up enveloped by music, because her father was none other than Johnny Cash. She was appearing at Johnny Cash concerts and even singing some on his albums at a young age. In 1981, after recording a couple of little known country albums, she hit it big with her original song "Seven Year Ache." It was a number one country hit in the US, and even a top 20 pop hit. For the rest of the 1980s she was a significant country star, with a total of 11 number one country hits. (Her record sales plummeted with her 1990 album "Interiors" and after, even though it was great music, because it didn't fit the country radio format.)

This album covers her time as a country star. Some of the songs here are country in style, but a lot of them are more rock and roll. She always had interests in many different kinds of music, and she was a Beatles fanatic from a young age (even heading a chapter of a Beatles fan club). This can be seen by two Beatles covers on this album. Perhaps, as her record company tried to position her as a country star, her less country efforts often wound up as non-album tracks.

Still, there's a lot of country here too, including a duet with Carl Perkins and two more duets with her dad, Johnny Cash. I'd especially like to point out the duet "Love Is a Gambler." I only came across this song recently, and I was shocked to find out it still is officially unreleased. I think it's a really fun song, and it could have been a big hit.

There are a lot of other really good songs here. Two, "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" and "It's Such a Small World," were number one country hits. Even if you're not much of a country fan, this is very accessible music. She even does a cover of a Motown song ("Come See about Me").

This album is 51 minutes long.

01 Not a Second Time (Rosanne Cash)
02 The Feeling (Rosanne Cash)
03 Come See about Me (Rosanne Cash)
04 I Don't Even Try (Rosanne Cash)
05 Nobody Sees Me like You Do (Rosanne Cash)
06 No Memories Hangin' Round (Johnny Cash & Rosanne Cash)
07 What Kinda Girl (Rosanne Cash)
08 Jackson (Carl Perkins & Rosanne Cash)
09 707 (Rosanne Cash)
10 You Ain't Woman Enough [To Take My Man] (Rosanne Cash & k. d. lang)
11 It's Such a Small World (Rosanne Cash & Rodney Crowell)
12 Love Is a Gambler (Johnny Cash & Rosanne Cash)
13 Black and White (Rosanne Cash)
14 I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (Rosanne Cash)
15 Look What Our Love Is Coming To (Rosanne Cash)
16 One Step Over the Line (Rosanne Cash, John Hiatt & the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15103721/RosanneC_1979-1989_WhatKindaGrl_atse.zip.html

For the album cover, I used a photo of Cash taken in 1982.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the 2 albums, I agree with you, she's a fine singer/song writer.

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