Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits of Melanie

Melanie is remembered as a kind of ultimate flower child, which is the image Buddah Records created to promote her. It's not that her hope and optimism were at odds with that image but as she notes in her perceptive comments in the booklet, "I was this bliss ninny, the penultimate flower child...But my whole reason for being was to be painfully real, and "flower child" wasn't quite getting that." I would hate to see Melanie fall victim to that manufactured image, something which could easily happen as time goes by.There was much more to Melanie than any label could contain. Sure, she often sang in a childlike voice and sang songs like Christopher Robin and Alexander Beetle, but her voice had a wide and flexible range. On Candles in the Rain she sings with the power of an elemental force. On songs like Leftover Wine and Tuning My Guitar (regrettably not included here), she could express serious anger. In a more playful mood she could talk-sing her way through a song like Ruby Tuesday and practically turn it into theater. Melanie had quite a range, which this disc shows. There was a real intensity to Melanie that "flower child" does not do justice to.The Melanie we know from recordings and performances was practically born at Woodstock. A 21 year old from a suburban part of Queens, she had been singing at coffeehouses in New Jersey and Greenwich Village when she met manager and future husband Peter Schekeryk who got her a record deal with Columbia. When they dropped her he got her signed to Buddha Records. Though her first album received little attention, she nevertheless got a spot on the first night ("Folk Night") at Woodstock right after Tim Hardin and Ravi Shankar and just before Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez. She sang only two songs; the later sets were cut short when early sets took too long. Guthrie had only three songs, Hardin two and Baez, a superstar, only five. It didn't matter. She was an instant sensation and when candles were passed out and lit on that rainy night it inspired one of her best songs. The rain was an important part of Woodstock. The crowd, facing adverse weather were bound together strongly in a way they might not have been on a warm, clear summer night. It was a powerful spiritual experience for Melanie and she came away from it transformed.After that she had a big career as a recording artist, frequently on tour and on the radio. She became a regular at outdoor rock concerts and festivals. But her relationship with Buddah Records was not a good one. Buddah (they spelled it that way) was spun out of Kama Sutra records and was being run by former MGM Records executive Neil Bogart. He later became the disco king with his Casablanca Records in the mid 70's. Though Bogart promoted Melanie with great energy, it was still a bad fit for her. Buddah was just coming off the high of Bubblegum Music in 1968 with acts like the Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Company. They saw Melanie as just another pop confection to get on the radio. To their credit at least they seemed to let her sing her own songs in her own way and didn't force heavy pop production on her. But she couldn't title her own albums, or have any say in their covers or any control over how they promoted her. When the contract was up she left and with Schekeryk formed indie label Neighborhood Records and promptly had the biggest hit in her career, Brand New Key, a Number One hit in late 1971.This collection is about as good a sampler of Melanie's songs as you could want on a single disc. There are a few songs I think should have been included but weren't but overall it's a good collection. The hits are all front-loaded and you get the full, electrifying 7:39 minute version of Candles In the Rain with the Edwin Hawkins Singers, a happening in itself. Her version of Look What They've Done To My Song (the other title is a label grammatical correction) is more cynical than the New Seekers (who almost sounded glad about it) and it has that European cafe feeling to it. Brand New Key had such a happy old-time sound to it and was sung so coyly that you might think it was a kid's song until you listened to the lyrics. Psychotherapy from her live album, Leftover Wine is a crowd sing-a-long and Ring the Living Bell gets into a roots music, old folk vein. All her Buddah albums are represented. Gather Me deserved more than Brand New Key (like maybe Wondrous Love) but it was on Neighborhood and this is a Buuhhha collection. A few later singles like Together Alone show how her songwriting continued to evolve and leaves you wishing her hit years had lasted longer. The sound is excellent and the booklet is much better than the usual and contains some contributions from Melanie herself.

I believe that buying a greatest hits package can be a good way to find out if you like an artist's work. When done well, such a collection will contain songs from different periods of time in the artist's career, and allow you to see how they grew and progressed."Beautiful People" is an excellent example. This CD contains 19 tracks from Melanie's career and includes most (if not all) of the songs you might remember hearing on the radio. One of the tracks, "Psychotherapy", is a live recording, plus there is a version of "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" that is not edited for length. If you liked the version of this song that was released as a single, then you will love this one. The interplay between Melanie and the choir is almost a religious experience. Also included in this compilation are pop songs like "Brand New Key", and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday", as well as folk songs like "Ring The Living Bell", and "Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma".If you are not familiar with this artist, Melanie was a singer who could move easily between the worlds of folk and pop music. Her voice could be small and sweet or big and bold depending on what best served the song she was singing. She was truly a versatile singer.Sadly, there aren't any liner notes with this package. No history of the song releases or biographical information on the artist. Still, I think this is a great collection of songs by a great artist. If you like Melanie, then you will want this CD for your collection.

Melanie was a true folk musician and when she actually got her own label was able to write and play some original pieces. She captured the Woodstock music festival well with Lay Down and Beautiful People. Her only number one hit was Brand new key, but the lyrics are whimsical and romantic in a teenager sort of way. Also with good humor!

Purchased remastered version CD hoping for good quality sound. Unfortunately, the sound quality is bad.

I already own most of Melanie's marvelous back catalog in a variety of forms, from original vinyl to CD reissues. But remastering credits for Robert Fripp and Dave Singleton brought out the King Crimson fan in me too, and it was worth it - this is not only the best sounding Melanie CD of them all, it's also the perfect introduction for anyone who wants to dig deeper into her music than the obvious hits.

I bought this cd mostly for "The Nickel Song" which I happen to think is a terrific view of life in any sort of business. I really didn't expect to like the other cuts, having stated I'm not a Melanie fan.But guess what - I did. I had forgotten how amazing "(Lay Down) Candles in The Rain" sounded, how the gospel singers and Melanies voice worked so well together. And I even sort of like "Brand New Key" now that they don't play it on the radio station every 20 minutes. My only complaint was "Lover's Cross" - I much prefer that by Jim Croce, but considering I didn't expect to like the rest of the cd except for "The Nickel Song", I was quite surprised.If you're a fan, buy this cd - the sound is wonderul and her voice is clear and pure on it. If you're a wishy washy fan as I was, buy it anyway and enjoy it - you'll probably be surprised how much you like Melanie's music. I know I was.