Harlequin Melodies

Harlequin Melodies
Studio album by Mickey Newbury
Released 1968
Recorded RCA Studio A, Nashville, Tennessee, 1968
Genre Country, Psychedelic rock, Soul, Blues
Label RCA
Producer Felton Jarvis
Mickey Newbury chronology
Harlequin Melodies
(1968)		 Looks Like Rain
(1969)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]

Harlequin Melodies is the 1968 debut album by singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury. At the time, Newbury was making an impact as an incredible and successful songwriter in Nashville, signed by Acuff-Rose Publishing. At one point he had four #1 hits on different charts for Eddy Arnold, Solomon Burke, The First Edition and Andy Williams, and he had written hits for several others. Produced by Elvis Presley producer Felton Jarvis, Harlequin Melodies concentrates on Newbury's versions of his hit songs; nearly every song on the album has been covered by other artists.

Sonically, the album is drastically different from anything else Newbury would record. The artist largely disowned the album, considering its successor Looks Like Rain his true debut. In contrast to the subtle expressiveness of Newbury's prime work, Harlequin Melodies is overproduced and packed with often distracting instrumental touches, shifting tempos, and strange production effects. As a result of his dissatisfaction with the album and recording sessions, Newbury ended his RCA contract. Some of the songs on Harlequin Melodies would be re-recorded by Newbury for later albums, with very marked differences. "How Many Times (Must The Piper Be Paid For His Song)" was a highlight of Frisco Mabel Joy, "Good Morning, Dear" and "Sweet Memories" were on Heaven Help the Child, "Here Comes The Rain Baby" on A Long Road Home, the last album Newbury released during his lifetime.

Seven of the songs on Harlequin Melodies were repackaged for Sings His Own where they would be joined by another oft-covered Newbury song "Sunshine" and two of his RCA singles "The Queen" and "Got Down On Saturday." Most CD versions add these songs as bonus tracks to the complete Harlequin Melodies album.

Background

By 1968, Newbury had become one of Nashville's top young songwriters for Acuff-Rose publishing; in February 1968 country crooner Eddy Arnold recorded his composition "Here Comes the Rain, Baby", taking it to the top of the country charts, and Kenny Rogers and the New Edition had a Top 5 smash with their psychedelic cover of Newbury's "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" the same year. During this time Newbury composed four songs that hit #1 over four different charts. On the strength of this success, Newbury recorded his own solo album for RCA.

Recording

Almost from the very start, Newbury was unhappy with how his debut album was recorded. For starters, Harlequin Melodies was recorded in RCA's recently completed Nashville Sound Big Studio, now called Studio A, located at 800 17th Avenue South, which Newbury recalled "looked like a basketball court....You could get lost in there. It was not comfortable."[2] It was also the first time the Texas songwriter had worked with musicians backing him up, and he admitted "I break time and everything you know, just from being use to workin' by myself."[2] Most disturbing, however, was the garish production employed on the album. In his book Crystal & Stone, Newbury biographer Joe Zeimer opines Harlequin Melodies "constitutes probably the biggest boondoggle in the history of commercially recorded music."[3] With the exception of the title track, which resembles the recordings the singer would make on his own, producer Felton Jarvis adorned Newbury's songs with elaborate arrangements by Tupper Saussy and Cam Mullins, ranging from the overwrought to the whimsical, that did not sit well with Newbury's unique compositions and soulful voice. Eugene Chadbourne of AllMusic notes, "...his producers went wild in the recording studio, baking in multiple layers that are likely to include any and all possible instruments, combined in a manner both audacious and typical of the anything-goes '60s." Newbury loathed the album for the most part, rerecording many of the songs in the years ahead. The confusion over how to present Newbury even extended to the album cover; the singer was dressed up in a Nehru shirt and told to stand in front of a barn wood wall. "So now I've got this funny lookin' shirt on with this big ol' amulet you know that's hangin' around my neck," Newbury later recalled. "I looked at myself and I thought 'That looks so ridiculous.' And everybody says, 'That looks great! That looks great!' And I said, 'Really?'"[4]

Composition

Harlequin Melodies includes many of Newbury's most famous songs, including "Sweet Memories," "Funny, Familiar Forgotten Feelings," and "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)". "Just Dropped In", which had been first covered by Jerry Lee Lewis on his 1967 LP Soul My Way, was inspired by an experience with LSD, but Newbury always maintained:

It was not a drug song advocating the use of drugs. It was a drug song telling people of the horrors that drugs will do to you...Some people jumped out of buildings...That song was about a country boy's attitude to a bad acid trip. There were so many pro-acid songs then, that I thought someone ought to show the other side.[5]

Newbury composed "Sweet Memories" and "Funny, Forgotten Feelings" (the latter first recorded by Don Gibson in 1966) in his car during his long commutes from Texas to Nashville.[6] "Sweet Memories" was originally covered by pop singer Andy Williams and reached #75 on the Billboard charts in 1968. One significant track on Harlequin Melodies is "Mister Can't You See," a paean to the power and beauty of nature that is one of only two songs written by Newbury with his friend Townes Van Zandt (the other song being "The Queen"). It was Newbury who convinced Van Zandt to go to Music City and, like Newbury, Van Zandt confounded Nashville with his poetic songs, and his first album, produced by Jack Clement, suffered the same heavy-handed treatment that Newbury's had. During this period, both songwriters usually wrote alone, with Van Zandt admitting, "To sit down and write with somebody, I've never even considered...I just never tried to write anything real serious with anybody."[7] Buffy Sainte Marie cut "Mister Can't You See" on her 1972 album Moonshot.

Reception

Harlequin Melodies was not a commercial success and did not make the country Billboard albums chart. Billboard did praise the LP in its August 17, 1968 review, stating "Mickey Newbury makes an auspicious debut here. He's extremely effective as a vocalist and the songs, which are of his own composition, blend words and music with striking impact." With the benefit of hindsight, however - and in light of the groundbreaking albums Newbury would soon start recording - Harlequin Melodies is viewed as a missed opportunity, with Newbury biographer Joe Zeimer lamenting, "Billboard was way too kind. Most of the songs feature middle-of-the-not-sure-which-road arrangement and sound muddy, as if they were hit with a double dose of Dolby...RCA had the opportunity to make him a star...and failed." Although many critics have cited the production as the album's major flaw, Newbury's versatile voice and stunning songs have been widely praised, with AllMusic stating, "The sadness of the songs is deep, at times hard to take. 'Here Comes the Rain, Baby' is a gorgeous bit of tragedy."

Cover Versions

Despite yielding no hits for Newbury, the songs on Harlequin Melodies have been recorded by over 300 artists, including Ray Charles, Joan Baez, Jerry Reed, Rosanne Cash, Lulu, Merle Haggard, Linda Ronstadt, B.B. King, Solomon Burke, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, and many others. According to Newbury's official website:

Track listing

All tracks composed by Mickey Newbury; except where indicted

  1. "Sweet Memories" – 3:19
  2. "Here Comes The Rain, Baby" – 2:27
  3. "Mister Can't You See" (Mickey Newbury, Townes Van Zandt) – 5:45
  4. "How Many Times (Must The Piper Be Paid For His Song)" – 3:13
  5. "Are My Thoughts With You" – 3:06
  6. "Harlequin Melodies" – 2:53
  7. "Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings" – 2:58
  8. "Time Is A Thief" – 3:02
  9. "Good Morning, Dear" – 2:52
  10. "Weeping Annaleah" – 2:34
  11. "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" – 2:52

Sings His Own bonus tracks

Most CD issues of Harlequin Melodies combine the intact album running order with the three tracks substituted on 1968's Sings His Own.

  1. "The Queen" (Mickey Newbury, Townes Van Zandt) – 3:08
  2. "Sunshine" – 2:43
  3. "Got Down On Saturday" – 2:48

Raven Records edition bonus tracks

A 2003 Raven Records edition combined Harlequin Melodies, the three tracks from Sings His Own with a b-side and seven tracks from his Elektra and Mercury recordings selected from the 1985 compilation Sweet Memories.

  1. "Organised Noise" – 3:05
  2. "Remember The Good" – 2:58
  3. "The Future's Not What It Used To Be" – 4:10
  4. "How I Love Them Old Songs" – 3:44
  5. "If You Ever Get To Houston" – 3:41
  6. "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye" (Mickey Newbury, Doug Gilmore) – 3:57
  7. "Dizzy Lizzy" – 3:58
  8. "An American Trilogy" (Mickey Newbury/Traditional) – 4:48

Personnel

Selected cover recordings

"Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings" was Newbury's first songwriting hit, released by Don Gibson in 1966. The song was also a hit for Tom Jones in 1967. The song has also been recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck, Floyd Cramer, Vikki Carr, The New Christy Minstrels, and Dottie West among others.

"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" was originally cut by Jerry Lee Lewis his version initially released on his 1967 Soul My Way LP; it then became a huge psychedelic hit for The First Edition. While the version on Harlequin Melodies is very much psychedelia colored, Newbury's later versions are slower and far more menacing. Especially notable is his 1991 medley of "Just Dropped In" and his 1978 song "Wish I Was." Other cover versions include recordings by Nick Cave, Children of Bodom, and Supergrass.

"Mister Can't You See" became Buffy Sainte-Marie's only top 75 hit in 1972.

The original album notes refer to "Sweet Memories" as a signature song. It has been recorded by over 70 different artists including Andy Williams who had the original hit, Brenda Lee, Ray Charles, The Everly Brothers, Brook Benton; recently by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price on the 2007 album Last of the Breed and by The Time Jumpers for which they received a Grammy nomination in 2008. Newbury recorded a new version of the song on his 1973 album Heaven Help the Child.

"Weeping Annaleah" was included on The Box Tops' album Cry Like a Baby; it was recorded as "Sleeping Annaleah" by Nick Cave on his 1986 album Kicking Against the Pricks.

"Here Comes The Rain, Baby" was a country hit for Eddy Arnold prior to the album's release. It has also recorded by Roy Orbison, Sammi Smith and Don Gibson.

"Time Is A Thief" was recorded by Solomon Burke and B.B. King.

"Good Morning Dear" has been recorded by Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, The Box Tops, Ray Charles, as well as Pat Boone, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Frank Ifield. Like "Sweet Memories" it was rerecorded in a superior version on 1973's Heaven Help The Child.

"Are My Thoughts With You" was recorded by Linda Ronstadt on her second solo album Silk Purse as well as Earl Scruggs and Etta James. It was initially a failed single for The First Edition in 1968.

References

  1. ↑ Harlequin Melodies at AllMusic
  2. 1 2 Zeimer 2015, p. 95.
  3. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 99.
  4. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 97.
  5. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 96.
  6. ↑ Zeimer 2015, p. 70.
  7. ↑ Kruth 2007, p. 64.
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