Wednesday 30 June 2021

Pop Singer Lani Hall from 1972 to 1980











This is very much in my wheelhouse, though admittedly for others not so much.  I'm not going to get into the usual comments on how songwriting reached an apogee that was never equaled back then starting in the sixties (with the Beatles!) and then into the seventies until first punk and reggae and then new wave tore it apart for some reason.

American singer and songwriter, born November 6, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Wife of Herb Alpert.

These then are her first 5 albums. The debut called Sundown lady is mostly if not all cover versions of some very well known songs.  In the Hello, It's Me (that's a Todd Rundgren composition, right?) sophomore LP she got a bit better with some really gorgeous pieces and that trend continued on in the next 2 until we screech to a halt at the 1980 album Blush.

From the first, the only salvageable track, called You:




Interestingly, a composition by Hall herself, note the little review of this album:

After achieving fame and success as the lead singer of Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Lani Hall finally left the bossa nova act to work on a solo career produced by Herb Alpert, who by 1972 was also the love of her life. Her first solo effort was Sun Down Lady, which features a collection of songs written by such musical icons as Elton John (“Tiny Dancer,” “Come Down in Time”), Paul Simon (“Wherever I May Find Him”), Cat Stevens (“How Can I Tell You”), Michel Colombier (“We Could Be Flying”), and even Hall herself (“You”).

When she gets too much into the jazz-singer-cliched musical singing style she really loses me.  Luckily there isn't too much of this, truly what was attempted here was a crossover between jazz and pop leaning heavily into the latter though without the customary AM radio pop cliches.  From the third album (1977) Sweet Bird, That's When Miracles Occur:   




Hopefully others will find stuff to enjoy here.

4 comments:


  1. https://www.sendspace.com/file/kn8k29
    https://www93.zippyshare.com/v/AaaNHaPC/file.html

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  2. Thank you for these. Looking forward to sampling.

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  3. Awesome! Thank You very much! Regards, Josko, Split

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  4. An A&R lady at A&M 1970's, employed by Lani's husband... curious to hear Risa Potter's 2 records...

    Risa Potters - Half Woman/Half Child, 1970
    Risa Potters - Take Me Away, 1972

    Bless...

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