This is the second installment of Heaven is a Playlist — an occasional series about the songs that move me more than any other. Here’s the link to Track 1 and more details about the series. For a few years in the mid-90s, I was the music writer for the Charlotte Observer. Every day the mail would bring a stack of new CDs (and the occasional cassette, in their dying days). I tried to listen to a little bit of everything, hoping to fall in love, but most of it didn't stick.
Years ago I made a CD of mostly 50s music for my mother: "Stagger Lee," The Drifters, The Platters, etc. I had just heard "The Wallflower" for the first time and included it first. Mama called laughing and asked I'd found that song, "I haven't heard that in years!" she said. "The radio station banned it." (She had grown up in Wadesboro.)
The song has been on my playlist since then. It's a great song, but it also makes me think of Mama as a teenager dancing with girlfriends on somebody's sandy back porch.
I worked at a CD shop (google it, kids) in the early 1990s and I came across this promo CD in precisely the same manner the author did. Over the ensuing 30 years, I have whipped out this version of "Take It To The Limit" countless times and watched tongues wag in response. What an absolute joy to find this great article detailing the greatest track on the album. +1000 internet points to you for "...first-teamer on the Bobby Caldwell All-Stars..." Well done. Cheers.
From one music lover to another, WELL DONE!
Years ago I made a CD of mostly 50s music for my mother: "Stagger Lee," The Drifters, The Platters, etc. I had just heard "The Wallflower" for the first time and included it first. Mama called laughing and asked I'd found that song, "I haven't heard that in years!" she said. "The radio station banned it." (She had grown up in Wadesboro.)
The song has been on my playlist since then. It's a great song, but it also makes me think of Mama as a teenager dancing with girlfriends on somebody's sandy back porch.
That was awesome 😎 love the song and loved Etta’s version!
I worked at a CD shop (google it, kids) in the early 1990s and I came across this promo CD in precisely the same manner the author did. Over the ensuing 30 years, I have whipped out this version of "Take It To The Limit" countless times and watched tongues wag in response. What an absolute joy to find this great article detailing the greatest track on the album. +1000 internet points to you for "...first-teamer on the Bobby Caldwell All-Stars..." Well done. Cheers.