Mickey Newbury - Harlequin Melodies (1968)

Mickey Newbury was a critically-acclaimed American singer-songwriter.

Mickey Newbury was born in Houston, Texas in 1940. As a teenager he performed with the moderately successful vocal group The Embers, but put his music career on hold when he joined the Air Force. After four years in the military, he moved to Nashville and began working as a songwriter. He found great success in this field, and in the late 60s his songs were recorded by artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Don Gibson, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, Solomon Burke, Eddy Arnold, Andy Williams, The Box Tops, The First Edition and Jerry Lee Lewis. Many of these artists took his songs to the Top 10.
In 1968 his debut album was released. Harlequin Melodies saw him performing his own versions of the songs that had brought him his success, and proved him to be an incredible singer as well.
However Newbury himself actually disowned this album, and considered 1969's Looks Like Rain to be his true debut. In comparison to his later work, Harlequin Melodies is perhaps a bit overblown and marred by its elaborate production. There's nothing wrong with it, but the sound Newbury found on his next album was simple so superior and distinctive that this debut will always remain in the shadows. One song in particular is notable for being nothing like his later work - the psychedelic rock song "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", which had been a #5 hit for The First Edition in 1967.
Nevertheless, it stands up fine on its own, with an orchestrated country sound full of innovative arrangements that complement his stately, poetic style well. More than anything, it was a hint of wonderful things to come...

|> Looks Like Rain (1969)
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