Spotlight: Lani Hall - DOUBLE OR NOTHING (SP-4760)

[Captain Bacardi]

Lani Hall
DOUBLE OR NOTHING
A&M SP-4760

Released 1979

Format: Vinyl/8-Track/Cassette

Produced by Herb Alpert and Lani Hall
* Produced by David Kershenbaum and Lani Hall

Songs:

• 1. Nobody Gets This Close To Me (Steve Diamond) - 4:20*
  2. Shot In the Dark (Bill Quateman) - 3:38*
  3. Meni Devol (Rada/Fattoruso - English Traslation by Lani Hall) - 5:10
  4. To The Morning (Dan Fogelberg) - 3:57
  5. Sailing Without A Sail (B. LaBounty/R. Freeland) - 3:12
  6. Double Or Nothing (A. Willis/S. Scarborough) - 4:48*
  7. Sunshine After The Rain (E. Greenwich) - 4:42
  8. To Know (Buzz Feiten) - 4:25
  9. So Long (Lani Hall/Neil Larsen) - 2:57
  10. Magic Garden (Buzz Feiten) - 3:46*+
  
  Horns Arranged by Jerry Hey
  + Horns Arranged by Buzz Feiten

Musicians:
Lani Hall - Vocals
Neil Larsen - Keyboards
Buzz Feiten - Guitar, Synthesizer (6)
Chuck Domanico - Bass
Peter Donald - Drums
Manolo Badrena - Percussion
Jerry Knight - Bass*
Larry Tolbert - Drums & Percussion*
Paulinho da Costa - Percussion (4, 7)
Michel Colombier - Electric Piano & Synthesizer (8 )
Michael Boddicker - Synthesizer Programmer
Airto Moreira - Chanting and Percussion (3)
Ernie Watts - Saxophone Solo (7)
Tim May - Additional Guitar (4, 8 )
Horn Section: Jerry Hey, Ernie Watts, Larry Williams, Gary Grant, Bill Reichenbach
Background Vocals: Neil Larsen, Buzz Feiten and Lani Hall (7, 8, 10); Bill Champlin, Carmen Twillie and Venetta Gould (5); Bill Quateman (2); David Lasley, Arnold McCuller (1, 6)

Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood
* Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood; Britannia Recording Studios, Hollywood and Sunset Sound, Hollywood
Engineered by Don Hahn
Assistant Engineer: Derek Du Nann
* Engineered by Mark Smith
* Assistant Engineers: Skip Cottrell, A&M Studios, Raffaello Mazza, Sunset Sound
Mastered at A&M Studios, Hollywood by Bernie Grundman

Art Direction: Roland Young
Design: Amy Nagasawa
Photography: Brian Hagwara
Lettering: Vigon Nahas Vigon

Loving Thanks to my beautiful husband Herb Alpert
With Special Thanks to Neil Larsen and Buzz Feiten



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Captain Bacardi]

This album is quite a departure from Lani's first three albums. Here she is surrounded by a harder-edged pop sound on most tracks. She even dabbles into a dance mode with "Sunshine After The Rain". But that was the weakest track for me. My favorite is the opening tune "Nobody Gets This Close To Me", which has Lani in a bit of a "bad girl" image. My second fave is the lovely "To Know", which has vocal harmonies that reminds me of the Eagles' vocals. This album is buoyed by Neil Larsen and Buzz Feiten - and I hope everyone is aware of Neil Larsen's great albums on the revamped Horizon label! "To The Morning" has Lani in a more familiar mode from her first two albums.

I wouldn't consider this Lani's best album at all, but there's plenty of good things to enjoy.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Incidentally, the song "Double Or Nothing" was released on a 12" A&M Disco single, SP-12019.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Harry]

I seem to have a lot of vinyl associated with this album's release:

- 2 copies of the album itself, 1 is a white-label promo copy, the other a stock copy

- A&M's "FOREPLAY" #18 which contains "Nobody Gets This Close To Me"

- The A&M 12" Disco Single of "Double Or Nothing" mentioned above

- An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services album with Lani Hall on one side and Burt Bacharach on the other. The four tracks from Lani's album here are:
-- Nobody Gets This Close To Me
-- To The Morning
-- Double Or Nothing
-- Sunshine After The Rain

I'd venture to say that my favorite track on the album is "To Know" with "To The Morning" second. Those are two of the slower songs and more like the Lani we'd come to know from her first three albums.

The uptempo stuff can be quite good if you're in that sort of mood - but it can also be rather dated sounding, mired in that period of music history known as "disco".

A trivia question I once asked was to name an A&M album cover that featured an ad for a cigarette brand. The answer is this album, DOUBLE OR NOTHING. If you look at the back cover photo where Lani is in motion blur, crossing the same street as on the front cover but going the other way, there's a taxicab in the lower right, with a billboard on top for "Tareyton Lights".

Harry

 

[Mr Bill]

I'm torn between "Magic Garden" and "Sunshine After The Rain." I ended up going with "Magic Garden." Both are the catchiest tunes on the album (IMHO). I also enjoy "Meni Devol" and "To Know" for their haunting qualities...

--Mr. Bill

 

[Dave]

It was easy, for me, to pick "Sunshine After The Rain"... Like many other covers of songs Lani does give them her own unique touch & personal feel...

"Sunshine After The Rain", in this case was originally done by Elkie Brooks...

Sorry to say, I just don't care much for the later-Lani albums, although I like the way she resurrects Russ Ballard's "(Are You?) Cuckoo"... Just to me, seemed too assembly-lined, one after the other...

Otherwise, not much here seems very "traffic stopping", although I am intrigued by the "origin" of "Magic Garden", later covered instrumentally by Herb...



Dave

 

[Captain Bacardi]

although I am intrigued by the "origin" of "Magic Garden", later covered instrumentally by Herb...

No no no, Herb recorded "Secret Garden" on the Magic Man album.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[LPJim]

Since SP 4760 is discussed here, I will move forward with 4761 for the next AOTW. BTW, the new search engine is a great help.
JB

 

[Mr Bill]

My favorite of Lani's A&M albums. Granted there are tracks from the others I like better than what's presented here, but this one (to me) is the most satisfying of all in terms of overall terrific tracks. I'm obviously in the minority, given its lack of presence (aside from one track each) on both Collectibles and Classics Vol. 19!

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I would say this is my tied-for-second favorite of Lani's A&M albums. First place going to Sun Down Lady and this one tied with Hello It's Me for second. I don't really like the disco-ish stuff as much as I used to, but the ballads are great. "To Know" is a really good song, and "Meni Devol" has always been a favorite too -- that's the one that struck me first about this album. "To The Morning" is a good song too, but I think it was done better by its writer (Dan Fogelberg) on his debut album.

Of the fast songs, probably the title track and "Sunshine" are my favorites.

 

[Dave]

Double Or Nothing (A. Willis/S. Scarborough)

Wonder if it is the same song that ex-Kenny Rogers & The First Edition member Thelma Camacho did... I see her 1980 S/T album Online, w/ that song but no songwriting credits...


-- Dave

 

[toeknee4bz]

"Nobody" and "Magic Garden" have always been favorites for me. I am a huge fan of Dan Fogelberg, and Lani's reading of "To The Morning" is respectable as well. But as for a favorite, I have to say I'm biased to the original.

 

[Bobberman]

" to the morning" " to know" and " nobody gets this close" as well as the title track are my personal favorites i remember that double or nothing was used on american bandstands rate a record segement. While i saw the show that day i was so engrossed in the music i didnt pay attention to how they rated it. I also liked sailing without a sail. To me this album while more disco and contemporary than her previous albums she still shines from start to finish and always a pleasure to listen to.

 

[Harry]

Mr. Bill has told us the tales of his long return to vinyl, and that this album was his first choice to play. That said a lot to me, so today I've been listening to this often-overlooked album of Lani's.

I still really like "To Know" and "To The Morning", and some of the up-tempo stuff sounded really good today too. DOUBLE OR NOTHING was among the first albums that I ever dubbed from LP to CD-R, thinking that these Lani Hall albums were unlikely to ever make it to CD. I think I was right.

 

[Bobberman]

Mr. Bill has told us the tales of his long return to vinyl, and that this album was his first choice to play. That said a lot to me, so today I've been listening to this often-overlooked album of Lani's.

I still really like "To Know" and "To The Morning", and some of the up-tempo stuff sounded really good today too. DOUBLE OR NOTHING was among the first albums that I ever dubbed from LP to CD-R, thinking that these Lani Hall albums were unlikely to ever make it to CD. I think I was right.

I agree and this one among others hasn't appeared on digital either I still have my needledrop of mine too and seeing my 11 year old post on it my opinion remains the same.

 

[Rudy]

I'd have thought this might have made it to a digital release by now--costs are minimal to release it as a download and to streaming, compared to producing and distributing physical inventory. But, it probably won't happen while I'm still on this planet.

I'd go back to saying that A Brazileira needs a similar release. All I can find now are copies in Brazil, which cost a fortune to ship and are likely of dubious condition (I'm more concerned with groove burn than pops/clicks). The days of finding one of the last sealed copies on earth have long passed, I'm afraid.

 

[Harry]

Looking around YouTube, I spotted someone requesting "Meni Devol" so I uploaded it. Copyright check found nothing!

 

[Mr Bill]

Glad I was able to kick this one into the limelight! "Sunshine After The Rain" and "Magic Garden" still "do it" for me...

--Mr Bill
(and I notice my ages-old post from 2011 acknowledges that two tracks are indeed as Harry scolded me, on Volume 19, a fact I'd apparently forgotten in my "return to vinyl" post a few nights ago in the Moderator forum (which most of you can't see))...