Play Me Out (Helen Reddy album)

Play Me Out
Studio album by Helen Reddy
Released 1981
Recorded 1981 at
Devonshire Sound Studios
Los Angeles, CA
Genre Vocal
Pop/Rock[1]
Length 33:33
Label MCA
Producer Joel Diamond
Helen Reddy chronology
Take What You Find
(1980)		 Play Me Out
(1981)		 Imagination
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
People(negative)[2]

Play Me Out is an album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy that was released in 1981 by her new label, MCA Records. Having recorded 12 studio albums at Capitol Records over a 10-year period, she felt the move was "'long overdue... For the last three years I didn't feel I was getting the support from them.'"[3] Whatever support she received from the new label was not enough to get the album onto Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart.[4]

Single

The album includes the song that has been her last, thus far, to reach Billboard's Hot 100[5] and Adult Contemporary charts.[6] "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" made its pop chart debut in the issue of the magazine dated May 23, 1981, and peaked at number 88 during its three weeks there.[5] That same issue also marked its first appearance on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it spent four weeks and got as high as number 42.[6] It also reached number 43 on the UK singles chart.[7]

The album's producer, Joel Diamond, had helmed a recording of "Save Me" by Donna McDaniel in 1977[8] that got as high as number 90 on the Hot 100,[9] but MCA did not release Reddy's cover from this album as a single. Country artist Louise Mandrell did, however, have a number six Country hit with it two years after the release of this album, in 1983.[10]

Track listing

Side 1

  1. "Optimism Blues" (Allen Toussaint) – 3:10
  2. "Do It Like You Done It When You Meant It" (Howard Greenfield, Neil Sedaka) – 3:28
  3. "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" (Becky Hobbs) – 3:46
  4. "Save Me" (Guy Fletcher, Doug Flett) – 3:10
  5. "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" (Pino Donaggio, Simon Napier-Bell, Vicki Wickham) – 2:43

Side 2

  1. "The Stars Fell on California" (Johnny Bristol) – 3:54
  2. "I Don't Know Why (I Love That Guy)" (Becky Hobbs) – 2:35
  3. "When I Dream" (Sandy Mason) – 3:54
  4. "Let's Just Stay Home Tonight" (Lotti Golden, Richard Scher) – 3:09
  5. "Play Me Out" (Lesley Gore, Carol Hall) – 3:07

Personnel

Rhythm Players
  • John Barnes – keyboards
  • Ron Fever – keyboards
  • Eddie "Bongo" Brown – conga and bongos
  • Jim Horn – sax solo ("Let's Just Stay Home Tonight")
  • Ernie Watts – sax solo ("The Stars Fell on California")
  • Rick Baptist – trumpet solo ("Play Me Out")
  • Helen Reddy and Rhythm Section – tambourine and hand claps ("Play Me Out")

Notes

  1. ↑ "Play Me Out - Helen Reddy". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "Picks and Pans Review: Play Me Out". People. June 29, 1981.
  3. ↑ "Helen Reddy Moving to TV Via Sitcom". Billboard. 1981-09-19. p. 42.
  4. ↑ Whitburn 2010, p. 646.
  5. 1 2 Whitburn 2009, p. 805.
  6. 1 2 Whitburn 2007, p. 227.
  7. ↑ "Helen Reddy". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  8. ↑ (1977) "Save Me/I Must Be Doing Something Right" by Donna McDaniel [7-inch single]. New York: RCA Records MB-11005.
  9. ↑ Whitburn 2009, p. 638.
  10. ↑ Whitburn 2002, p. 211.

References

  • Whitburn, Joel (2002), Joel Whitburn's Top Country Singles, 1944-2001, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-151-9 
  • Whitburn, Joel (2007), Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-169-1 
  • Whitburn, Joel (2009), Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955-2008, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-180-2 
  • Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-183-7 
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