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:: We're Not Gonna Take It ::

:: Time Is On The Run ::

:: Weather's Better ::

:: Cajun Train ::

Jennifer Warnes got a lucky break early on in her singing career: Weekly national exposure on a hit variety TV show. Known simply as Jennifer, or Jennifer Warren, at the age of 20, she became a regular cast member of the Smothers Brothers Show, singing a Capella duets with Donovan, and charming viewers with her bespectacled good looks and an ability to sing everything from opera to country & western. Her next move was to opera (kinda) when she joined the original L.A. production of Hair. She recorded two albums for the Parrot label in the late 60s, "I Remember Everything" and this one, "See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me!", neither one of which sold very well. She moved to the Warner label in the early 70s and made an album with John Cale producing. That one didn't go anywhere either, so she became a background singer for Leonard Cohen. After a few years, she signed a deal with Arista and her career finally started to take off.

"Right Time of The Night" became a cross-over hit in 1977 on both the pop and country charts. In the 80s she became known as a singer of movie themes, the most famous of which being her duet with Joe Cocker on "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and A Gentleman.

So, although her greatest successes planted her firmly in the middle of the road, her affiliations with decidedly more edgy artists like Cale and Cohen have helped to lend her career credibility. In 1986, Warnes recorded her fine tribute to Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat, and she continues to perform and record with Cohen to this day.

Back to 1969, this album is not bad. Everything from opera to country is represented, and I'm not just talking about Tommy when it comes to opera. Actually her cover of "See Me, Feel Me..." is dern goofy, but who would want to cover that song? Apparently only someone with giant cajones like Jennifer Warnes, that's who.


Mike

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