Juice Newton - Greatest Hits

Like an awful lot of people I know Juice Newton from "Angel of the Morning" and it was a catchy song, and bow howdy I do like bells in popular music.Then "Queen of Hearts" was all over the radio. I will admit I like the song a fair too but buying the album never even crossed my mind.

Ever.

With the passage of time I learned my girlfriend, now my wife, had her '81 album Juice and she was partial to the big songs. So when I found an excellent copy of her Greatest Hits I was pretty stoked and her response wasn't as enthusiastic, but to be fair I think her reaction was due in part to the other dozen or so records in the pile of stuff I'd proudly brought home. To me I felt like a king bearing gifts, to her I was a cat who'd just dropped another dead mouse on the carpet.

I'm always perplexed when labels interchangeably market best of collections as greatest hits. I know for sure there were hits on this album, a couple of really big ones, and maybe there were others too, but they flew below the radar. Given that all of the songs, and even the album's closer have been really good. So I'm going with this is a best of album. 

By 1984 Juice had released a half dozen albums through Capitol records but this collection primarily pulls all of the songs but one, from her 1981 and 1982 releases Juice and Quiet Lies and one song from 1983's Dirty Looks which I suppose is sort of the way things go.

Given my late to the party nature with a lot of albums and artists this one actually benefits from my newfound appreciation of Linda Ronstadt's back catalogue and by extension Karla Bonoff. "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" is right out of the Andrew Gold playbook, and he played guitar and sang on the song as well. It's a great song. Oddly enough, I don't really remember this one - although I'm sure I'd heard it. It was nominated for a Grammy, and the corresponding video (which I'll be looking up shortly) was up for video of the year back in '82. Not from MTV, but something called the American Video Association.

In addition, Kenny Edwards who was a member of The Stone Poneys with Linda Ronstadt, and also worked on many of her solo records sang background  vocals along with Andrew Gold on the songs from Juice. 

This was a really solid album and plays along delightfully right down the middle of the road, but they're a lot of fun with a little cheeky sass in Juice's delivery. The only song that really didn't fit was the album's closer "Tell Her No" from her '83 album Dirty Looks where she embraced her inner rocker. Even though it was a remake of the old Zombies song by Rod Argent, it was a jarring left turn - although with repeated plays its not bad, just different than the rest. I guess with Bonnie Tyler abandoning her country roots and going full Jim Steinman, there was a chance she could embrace the '80s in all of it's synthesized goofiness and make the transition into the next decade. However to be fair, "I'm Gonna Be Strong" was a pretty over the top song.

Well, whatever the case I'll admit that I enjoyed with more than I expected to, and would go so far as to say if I find more of her albums I won't hesitate to add them to my collection.

The video by the way is pure gold, and likely would never be made now. She had a sense of humour.