Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

I find it hard to believe that I had never listened to either ANYTIME…ANYWHERE or LOVE ME AGAIN by Rita Coolidge all the way through until now. Originally released in 1977 and 1978, respectively, both projects had contained radio hits; I had been a nominal fan of Coolidge for a few years prior to that but my musical taste had, uh, moved on by the late 1970s to the Sex Pistols and The Records. My bad. These two Coolidge releases, now available on one CD, constitute a forgotten gem.

Coolidge, blessed with exotic good looks and a quiet grace equaled only by her not inconsiderable talent, was a bridesmaid, figuratively and literally, to several artists before making it on her own. She first gained national attention as part of the Delaney & Bonnie and Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen tours. Coolidge married Kris Kristofferson and joined him on a beery tour that planted the seeds for their divorce years later (Kristofferson’s wandering eye and alcohol addiction were not elements that lent themselves to marital bliss). It was not until ANYTIME…ANYWHERE, however, that Coolidge achieved proper recognition as a recording artist.

The song off of ANYTIME…ANYWHERE that effectively launched Coolidge’s career was “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher).” A cover of the immorta l Jackie Wilson hit, it includes all of the elements which Coolidge would incorporate into her distinctive package: an unhurried, thoughtful delivery, bell-toned vocal styling, and a quiet soulful ness that she would wrap around every song she did, making it her own. Similarly, she takes “Good Times,” a Sam Cooke classic, and almost makes you forget about the original, infusing the earthiness of the original version with a quiet, understated sensuality.

While LOVE ME AGAIN also has soulful elements, Coolidge dips heavily into country as well, most notably on the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” and, more significantly, “The Jealous Kind” by Johnny Rodriguez. Perhaps the biggest surprise off of LOVE ME AGAIN, however, is  the Christine McVie-penned “Songbird.” Fleetwood Mac was just beginning their rise to superstardom at that point, and were all over radio at that point, yet Coolidge takes this song and, while approaching it from a similar direction, takes it to new places. While the somewhat jarring guitar solo in the middle is arguably ill-advised, it is also mercifully short, and easily forgotten.

Booker T. Jones, a top musician in his own right (both on his own and as the leader of the house band for the Stax label) contributed both keyboard and production to the mix. One could easily slough off Jones’ presence on these discs to nepotism (Jones was married to Coolidge sister at the time) and, er, uh, one did at the time. In=2 0retrospect, however, Jones was the perfect counterpoint to Coolidge, tugging her toward, but not into, a sexy funkiness which played quite well with her soft, smooth vocals. While nothing on here really rocks out, there’s a sensual pull on each and every one of the twenty tracks that will keep you coming back to this collection again and again.