Ratings: the more stars, the sooner you ought to get it!
Born To Be (1968) **** Melanie's first album. In my opinion also one of her best. The opening track "In The Hour" sets the tone for this brilliant piece of work. The naviety of this album just does something to you. Only two missers on this album: "Christopher Robin" and "Merry Christmas" may be funny on first listen, but get annoying after a while.
Affectionately (1969) ***** Includes the well-known "Beautiful People", but a song like "Tuning My Guitar" is certainly no less! In this song she describes her first contact with the rough music business and it sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. A very varied album.
Candles In The Rain (1970) ***** Includes most of her other well-known songs ("Lay Down", "Ruby Tuesday", "What Have They Done To My Song Ma") and therefore one of the first albums to get. Problem is, you get the feeling it is sort of a 'best-of' album, and therefore loses something after a while.
Leftover Wine (1970) **** Melanie live is Melanie at her best. Even on record, you can just feel the atmosphere. Recorded live at Margie English's birthday party at Carnegie Hall, with the exception of the single "Peace Will Come". Already worth the money just for this song.
The Good Book (1971) *** Her last REAL album on Buddah. Clearly changing musical direction. Weird thing about this album is, is that almost all the songs are good, but for some reason it doesn't flow. Too many ballads I guess. Especially side 2 gets boring if you listen to it in one go.
Gather Me (1971) ***** First album on Neighborhood Records. Includes "Brand New Key". This time a very varied album again. Worth the money just for "Someday I'll Be A Farmer", "Baby Day" and the intro to "Ring The Living Bell".
Garden In The City (1971) *** Collection of songs recorded 1968-1971. Only giving it 3 stars because the album itself does not have much importance and is very short. I also believe Melanie never approved of this one being released. The songs are quite good though.
Stoneground Words (1972) *** Nice album, but in my opinion doesn't really stand out that much. Honourable mentions for Between The Road Signs, Do You Believe and Summer Weaving. Here I Am sees her exploring the world of jazz.
Melanie at Carnegie Hall (1973) **** Another live album, and again pretty brilliant. No other words to describe this one. Includes the beautiful It's Me Again and a version of Bitter Bad which is far superior to the studio version.
Please Love Me (1973) *** Collection of songs from the RPM and All The Right Noises soundtracks, plus one older track. Last album to be released on Buddah. Not an album of much importance, but there's some nice tunes on it. Too bad they cut the intro of "Stop! I Don't Wanna' Hear It Anymore" (otherwise I might have given it four stars :-).
Madrugada (1974) **** Some very nice cover tunes on this one: a to my opinion brilliant version of "Pretty Boy Floyd" and a very haunting version of the Stones' "Wild Horses". The originals on this album are pretty good too.
As I See It Now (1974) **** Very nice folk album, I like almost all the songs on this gem. The highlight must be "Chart Song", written for her daughter Leilah. Also very nice: Eyes Of Man, Yankee Man, You're Not A Bad Ghost, Sweet Misery, Record Machine.
Sunset And Other Beginnings (1975) ** I used to say this album wasn't for me, but I've grown to actually like it. Perceive It is still clearly the best song on the album, but songs like Loving My Children, Almost Like Being In Love and What Do I keep are pretty good as well. Nothing beats the European bonus track Ol' Man River though!
Photograph (1976) ***** Surprisingly good album, especially seeing that it was recorded in between two albums I don't really care all that much about. Highlights must be the "Cyclone", "Raindance", "Save Me" and "Friends & Co.", and the title track is quite good as well.
Phonogenic/Not Just Another Pretty Face (1978) ** The music on this album has nothing to with with folk anymore, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. Best song must be "Record People". Also includes a very entertaining version of "Knock On Wood".
Ballroom Streets (1979) ** I don't really know the reason behind this album, but I just can't seem to get into this one. Maybe it's too long, maybe most of the songs are heard too often already, but some of these re-recorded versions of old songs work, some don't. Phil Ochs' "Miranda" deserves a mention though.
Arabesque (1982) *** Moving more and more into 80's mainstream rock here, although for me the highlight must be the reggae tune "When We're Dead And Gone". Two beautiful ballads ("Imaginary Heroes" and "Chances") bring the album to a deserving final.
The 7th Wave (1983) ** Very versatile rock'n'roll album. Best songs: Apathy, Every Breath Of The Way and Didn't You Ever Love Somebody, also known as Somebody Love. The version of Nickel Song is the same as the one on Photograph though. Lovin' The Boy Next Door features a very young Leilah and Jeordie doing back-ups.
Am I Real Or What (1985) * Moving into 80s disco here. Some of the melodies are quite good, but most of the songs are ruined by the awful beats of a drum machine.
Melanie (1987) **** I like this one a lot. Pure rock'n'roll. Beautiful version of "Cyclone" on this one. On The Lamb From The Law, Rock'n'Roll Heart and Roadburn are pretty good as well. Only problem is, it was only released in Holland. Such a shame. It deserves more than that.
Cowabonga (1989) *** Some of these recordings are included on Melanie 1987 (On The Lamb From The Law, Window Pane, Another Lie and To Be A Star) and on Seventh Wave (Lovin' The Boy Next Door). Show You was either re-recorded on remixed. The new version of "Ruby Tuesday" is quite horrible, "Prematurely Grey" and "What Have They Done To The Rain" make this album worth having.
Precious Cargo (1991) *** Again, a lot of repetition of songs from earlier albums; only three new songs here (Undertow, Tonight's The Kind Of Night and Hard Rain), of which two are covers. At least "Rock And Roll Heart" was re-recorded and Window Pane remixed. All the overlap is not surprising though, seeing that all of the 1987-1993 albums were only available in some countries.
Freedom Knows My Name (1993) *** Nice. Cheryl Wheeler's Estate Sale is pretty funny. Fallen Angel is a beautiful song as well. Half of the tracks on this one can also be found on the Silver Anniversary album. "Hard Rain" and "Rock And Roll Heart" are the same versions as featured on Precious Cargo. The European version of the album (called "Silence Is King") features two more songs, of which "Undertow" is available on Precious Cargo as well.
Silver Anniversary (1993) **** I like most tracks on this one. Melanie's done a good job of re-recording some of her old material (with one exception; I can't stand the new version of Ruby Tuesday) and there's some very beautiful new tunes on it as well. Highly recommended to persuade other people into liking Melanie.
Old Bitch Warrior (1995) **** I was pleasantly surprised when hearing this for the first time. There's some very good songs on this one; especially Something Warm is very nice. One other song I like is probably a bit more controversial: Melanie's version of I Will Survive. First time I heard the new version of Beautiful People I was sortof tempted to destroy my new CD, but even this one sortof grew on me.
Unchained Melanie (1996) ***
Low Country (1997) **
Antlers (1997) ***