Lani Hall - Blush

I think a lot of fans would be happy with a re-release (and perhaps a re-titling) of her CLASSICS VOLUME 19.
  1. Send In The Clowns (2:21) – from SWEET BIRD
  2. Hello It’s Me (3:34) – from HELLO ITS ME
  3. Mister Blue (Misty Blue) (3:27) – from SWEET BIRD
  4. Happy Woman (Happy Man) (2:34) – from HELLO ITS ME
  5. I Don’t Want You To Go (4:42) – from BLUSH
  6. Vincent (5:56) – from SUN DOWN LADY
  7. We Could Be Flying (3:55) – from SUN DOWN LADY
  8. Love Song (2:55) – from SUN DOWN LADY
  9. Come What May (4:33) – from BLUSH
  10. Early Mornin’ Strangers (3:38) – from SWEET BIRD
  11. How Can I Tell You (2:57) – from SUN DOWN LADY
  12. So Long (2:55) – from DOUBLE OR NOTHING
  13. Midnight Lovers (3:28) – from COLLECTIBLES
  14. To Know (4:19) – from DOUBLE OR NOTHING
  15. The Moon Is All Alone (Like Me) (3:21) – from SWEET BIRD
  16. Never Say Never Again (3:09) – from COLLECTIBLES
That's four from SUN DOWN LADY, two from HELLO, IT'S ME, four from SWEET BIRD, two from DOUBLE OR NOTHING, two from BLUSH (including "Come What May"), and two from COLLECTIBLES. That leaves ALBANY PARK as unrepresented in her English-language releases.

Still, I'll grab whatever I can get if they're going to release anything digitally. I prefer CDs, but will settle for downloads if I have to.

What I'd really like is a true digital remaster of A BRAZILEIRA. That one came out on some pretty flawed vinyl.
 
I liked Classics, but I was disappointed with a few of the song picks. I assume they used "Vincent" and "How Can I Tell You" from Sun Down Lady because they are well-known songs, but I would have replaced them with "Ocean Song" and "Come Down in Time," or "Tiny Dancer." I'd have preferred the title song from Double Or Nothing, but I assume they left that out due to it being a "disco" song and having a pretty dated sound. And from Hello It's Me, they left out one of my favorite of all her recordings, "Banquet." That song got some radio play around here -- it reminds me a lot of Herb's "Jerusalem."
 
Hmmm, and what about Albany Park or Double or Nothing, anyhow? And A Brazilleira anyhow? I have Classics from its original CD release. Just would like the original "records". CD preferred. But if only available via digital, will take that.
 
Hmmm, and what about Albany Park or Double or Nothing, anyhow? And A Brazilleira anyhow? I have Classics from its original CD release. Just would like the original "records". CD preferred. But if only available via digital, will take that.
There are a few digital albums available they are
1.SUNDOWN LADY
2 HELLO IT'S ME
3.SWEET BIRD
4.COLLECTIBLES
Those I have seen available on Amazon but I might have left out one but to the best of my knowledge these are what I have seen so far I hope this will help you in your search Happy Hunting and Best Wishes.
 
I may be in the minority, but I always want the original album, rather than a compilation. I'm more interested in the artist's vision (assuming there was one) guiding that particular point in time in their career rather than just putting the hits (assuming there were some) all in one convenient package. So, while "Come What May" does exist outside BLUSH, I'd like to see BLUSH available.
 
Well I certainly do too. I'd much rather have a full album, but then again I'm a big fan of Lani, Herb, Sergio, etc., and as a completist, I would want the full albums. I'm also eager for Lani's Latin albums to get a digital release other than ES FACIL AMAR. The other two are exceptional as far as I'm concerned.

But looking at it practically, and from a record company standpoint, most of Lani's material was barely a blip on anyone's radar. I fear that the albums that WERE released digitally might not have done so well, which is why they've slowed again. Still, I can't understand why a music owner wouldn't want stuff out there for any possible public consumption.

As far as BLUSH and ALBANY PARK and any others go, I'll be OK if they never again see the light of day, since I've got my needledrops that serve nicely.
 
I must not be thinking clearly as I don't think I've yet made my earlier point clear. The only reason I suggested a re-release of CLASSICS 19 was simply that it might be the best option for those who know of Lani's work but DON'T need full albums - and I suspect there are far more of those than people like us who ARE familiar with her album material as well.
 
I must not be thinking clearly as I don't think I've yet made my earlier point clear. The only reason I suggested a re-release of CLASSICS 19 was simply that it might be the best option for those who know of Lani's work but DON'T need full albums - and I suspect there are far more of those than people like us who ARE familiar with her album material as well.
True. But I am a completist. Would like to have her full set. I own Sun Down Lady, Sweet Bird, and Hello, It's Me - all digitally. I have the orginal cd release of the A&M Classics series of hers. Have always to have Blush. I dont own it on vinyl so do not have that to draw upon.
 
I may be in the minority, but I always want the original album, rather than a compilation. I'm more interested in the artist's vision (assuming there was one) guiding that particular point in time in their career rather than just putting the hits (assuming there were some) all in one convenient package. So, while "Come What May" does exist outside BLUSH, I'd like to see BLUSH available.
Completely agree!
 
Lani's career has always baffled me. She had the unwavering support of the label's founder and I know first-hand that A&M promotion was told that they needed to deliver on every one of the boss' wife's records. Yet, apart from "Never Say Never Again" (more of a near-miss than a hit), it never really happened, even on adult contemporary radio.
 
Lani's career has always baffled me. She had the unwavering support of the label's founder and I know first-hand that A&M promotion was told that they needed to deliver on every one of the boss' wife's records. Yet, apart from "Never Say Never Again" (more of a near-miss than a hit), it never really happened, even on adult contemporary radio.
I Agree with you. And it's So Unfortunate at least where I have lived Lani's music was played on some AC as well as Easy Listening Stations. Not many But Some.
 
In Philly, on any stations I worked for or listened to, the last Lani Hall single I ever heard on radio "We Could Be Flying" - essentially her first solo single. While SUN DOWN LADY was current, that station also featured the album for a week or so, so I heard some of the tracks from that album for that week only.

After that - nada. I never even knew she'd done much more than that one album. I think I found HELLO IT'S ME in a throwaway pile, and probably DOUBLE OR NOTHING. The others escaped my notice and I was surprised at the fact that there were 16 songs on CLASSICS and some more on COLLECTIBLES.

I do remember once hearing "Come What May" on a closed-circuit music system and really liking it. I also found that one on a 45. No two 45s, as there was a second one from COLLECTIBLES after the record was "adapted by Herb Alpert". What a surprise it was to find yet a third iteration on her Latin compilation, LO MEJOR DE LANI.
 
Wow you must be the most Lucky man alive I noticed you got many of your albums thru the THROWAWAY PILES where you worked. I'm sure that saved you a lot of time as well as A LOT OF MONEY.
 
Oh, it did...and I count myself as extremely fortunate in that regard.

Back then I was lucky enough to work at a soft station going hard, so they tossed all of their old MOR records from the 60s and early 70s.

Then I moved to another soft rock station that routinely tossed harder classic rock albums away.

Our AM nostalgia station was always trying to make room in their library by weeding out stuff they didn't think they'd ever play anymore, and I was always around for those events, too.

And when A&M Corner got started, and conversation turned to a Tamba 4 or some other obscure artist, I could usually count on finding something in that massive AM library and would ask the program director if I could "borrow the record on a long term basis."

Curiously though, many of my Lani Hall albums came from a member here back in the early days. This member actually had extra copies of some of these still sealed, and to return the favor, I made copies of every one if them on my newfangled CDR recorder as a small token of appreciation.

In those early Internet days, I too would share my "wealth" if good fortune by gifting extra copies that I'd accumulated to those that I could tell genuinely wanted them. I recall giving away extra copies of Richard Carpenter's TIME, and 45s of "Calling Occupants", and even taped copies of stuff in the days before CDR recorders.

One if the ultimate ironies is that in our soft rock days, our station used LPs on air, from turntables. They often provided cleaner sound than hissy tape cartridges.

But they also of course scratched easily and had to be replaced, so fairly often, the throaway piles would contain a bunch of these scratched airplay records. I'd welcome those too, and now, today, with modern software, can get rid of those scratches digitally. So, I have, for example, many Billy Joel albums used on air, that can now sound perfectly acceptable for my own use.

Yep. I'm a lucky guy.
 
I'm one of the lucky ones, too. For the ten years I was in radio the first time (1971-1981), the albums were free...duplicate copies (provided by the label) for the hits and throwaways for the stiffs that I liked. And for the three years prior to getting into radio at age 15, I was fortunate enough to find a record store in L.A. (Crane's---discussed in another thread here at the Corner) where $4.98 list price LPs were $2.49 and singles were 53 cents.

Back to Lani: We played "Where's Your Angel", "I Don't Want You To Go" and "Come What May" on the AC I was programming in Reno when BLUSH came out. But we were in a minority and the records really didn't go anywhere even locally.

There is something about Lani's voice. If you love it, you really, really love it. But she leaves a lot of people cold or worse. Too bad, and I'm glad she and Herb have found a way to work together and share this new burst of his success.
 
Oh, it did...and I count myself as extremely fortunate in that regard.

Back then I was lucky enough to work at a soft station going hard, so they tossed all of their old MOR records from the 60s and early 70s.

Then I moved to another soft rock station that routinely tossed harder classic rock albums away.

Our AM nostalgia station was always trying to make room in their library by weeding out stuff they didn't think they'd ever play anymore, and I was always around for those events, too.

And when A&M Corner got started, and conversation turned to a Tamba 4 or some other obscure artist, I could usually count on finding something in that massive AM library and would ask the program director if I could "borrow the record on a long term basis."

Curiously though, many of my Lani Hall albums came from a member here back in the early days. This member actually had extra copies of some of these still sealed, and to return the favor, I made copies of every one if them on my newfangled CDR recorder as a small token of appreciation.

In those early Internet days, I too would share my "wealth" if good fortune by gifting extra copies that I'd accumulated to those that I could tell genuinely wanted them. I recall giving away extra copies of Richard Carpenter's TIME, and 45s of "Calling Occupants", and even taped copies of stuff in the days before CDR recorders.

One if the ultimate ironies is that in our soft rock days, our station used LPs on air, from turntables. They often provided cleaner sound than hissy tape cartridges.

But they also of course scratched easily and had to be replaced, so fairly often, the throaway piles would contain a bunch of these scratched airplay records. I'd welcome those too, and now, today, with modern software, can get rid of those scratches digitally. So, I have, for example, many Billy Joel albums used on air, that can now sound perfectly acceptable for my own use.

Yep. I'm a lucky guy.
May I also say Harry I too Have done Gifting and sharing my treasures over the years so I know the feeling Generosity Knows no bounds.
 
There is something about Lani's voice. If you love it, you really, really love it. But she leaves a lot of people cold or worse.
That's what is puzzling--I couldn't imagine her singing leaving anyone cold. Yet I'm sure it happens. Then again, the general public often likes similar sounding vocalists who tend to screech and wail at times. And today's "vocalists" are often run through Autotune on top of it.

Her voice was unique back then (as it is now, of course), and at least in Brasil '66, she was often immediately recognizable. She did get to expand more on the solo records, as there are a few tracks where she is outside her "familiar" range. And it all goes to prove that a lot of good music exists outside of the mainstream. I still remember hearing "Love Song" for the first time--it was a remarkable arrangement. And that was before I really knew Elton John's original version (which I also like).
 
That's what is puzzling--I couldn't imagine her singing leaving anyone cold. Yet I'm sure it happens. Then again, the general public often likes similar sounding vocalists who tend to screech and wail at times. And today's "vocalists" are often run through Autotune on top of it.

Her voice was unique back then (as it is now, of course), and at least in Brasil '66, she was often immediately recognizable. She did get to expand more on the solo records, as there are a few tracks where she is outside her "familiar" range. And it all goes to prove that a lot of good music exists outside of the mainstream. I still remember hearing "Love Song" for the first time--it was a remarkable arrangement. And that was before I really knew Elton John's original version (which I also like).

People are different. My wife is a musician. We generally have pretty similar tastes. Lani's okay, but nothing special in her book. And she finds her version of "Love Song" in particular tedious.

I, on the other hand, am (as umpteen posts here prove) a major fan.
 
Lani's career has always baffled me. She had the unwavering support of the label's founder and I know first-hand that A&M promotion was told that they needed to deliver on every one of the boss' wife's records. Yet, apart from "Never Say Never Again" (more of a near-miss than a hit), it never really happened, even on adult contemporary radio.

Imagine the pressure on the poor A&M employees. There is only so much that can be done if the songs (the material) aren't that strong and compelling and the backing arrangements and overall-sound/production are Middle-of-the-road (w.c.: "banal"?). I have in mind the bits that I've heard from her later 1970s albums. It's like in the case of John Lennon's Double Fantasy. Even the producer said that, upon hearing John's home demos, he couldn't really improve upon them (What would he add? he said). Some music reviewer/critic (Washington Post, October 9, 2010) described the backing on Lennon's last album as "treacle." I have in mind, particularly, the "cardboard box" drum sound of that era (late '70s, early '80s).

Obviously, the Sergio Mendes 1960s recordings had something special. Conversely/inversely, Sergio's later music didn't have the same impact that it had when Lani was his main singer. And Lani's post-Sergio output never had the impact that her Brasil '66 recordings did.

Part of me is happy to hear almost anything that is graced with Lani's singing - for her singing voice, alone. But without the right arrangements and sound, her potential was largely wasted. That's why she should have done songs like Steely Dan's "Aja", "From the Beginning" by Greg Lake, "Oh Well" by Peter Green, "Alive and Well and Living Within" and "Living in the Past" by Jethro Tull, "Don't Bother Me" by Beatles/George Harrison, "South Side of the Sky" by Yes, "Rock 'n Roll Woman" by Buffalo Springfield (Crosby and Stills). See other possibilities : Songs that Sergio should have arranged and Lani should have sung
 
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