MELANIE: "GATHER ME"

Original Released as LP NEIGHBORHOOD RECORDS NRS 47001

(US 1971, December 1)

A1. Little Bit of Me 4:10
A2. Some Day I’ll Be a Farmer 2:51
A3. Steppin’ 3:27
A4. Brand New Key 2:25
A5. Ring Around the Moon 0:38
A6. Ring the Living Bell / Shine the Living Light 5:04

B1. Railroad 2:51
B2. Kansas 1:48
B3. Some Say (I Got Devil) 3:08
B4. Center of the Circle 4:43
B5. What Wondrous Love 3:53
B6. Baby Day 3:44
B7. Tell Me Why 1:29

TECHNICIANS:
Produced and Directed by Peter Schekeryk
Arranger: Roger Kellaway
Recorded at Allegro Sound Studios, N.Y.
Engineer: Bruce Staple
Packaging Director: Bill Levy
Label Design: Ron Levine
Photography: Maddy Miller
All Selections Written by Melanie Safka
Published by Neighborhood Music Publishing Corporation (ASCAP)

MUSICIANS:
Guitar: Melanie
Nylon and Electric Guitar: Sal DeTroia
Prepare Piano and Piano: Roger Kellaway
Conga Drum: Johnny Pacheco
Drummers: Donald MacDonald, Buddy Saltzman and Robert J. Gregg
Lead Harmonica: Jean (Toots) Thielemans
Chord Harmonica: Gilbert Chimes and Michael Chimes
Woodwinds: George Marge
Fender Bass: Don Payne
Contracter: Arthur Kaplan

It seemed that everyone, in the old days, was in love with Melanie. And once you've seen her you realised that she was the enigmatic image of the seventies. With an air of innocence, she was able to seduce the listener with her husky tones - perhaps Freud could put his finger on it. The main thing about Melanie's work - and something that comes through very clearly on this album - is that strange combination she brought musically that is part of the basic feel and simplicity of the early American music, criss-crossed with the mid-European patch of her vocal delivery. It was a voice that was both frantic and gently bawdy so that at times she used to sound vulnerable and at others challenging.

"Gather Me" is the album she was best pleased with, and it is certainly an album that takes a little longer to get into than her past efforts. On the surface you may not notice the difference especially on the opener "Little Bit Of Me" which harks back to the past material about her constant loss of identity, and on "Brand New Key" which has that fey lyrical quality she's also evoked the past with numbers like "Alexander Beetle", but for the rest the numbers are a little more complex lyrically with sudden clever twists and great dismal dives that weren't noticeable before. With "Candles In The Rain" (1970) and "The Good Book" (1971), "Gather Me" establish the holy trilogy of this wonderful singer from the early seventies.