Mission Statement

Guilty Pleasures: The Music Edition is intended as a forum to review songs that were once considered out-of-favor. Readers are asked to rate the songs using a 10 point voting system (10=strong like, 1=strong dislike) and provide their comments.

The objective is to review the songs offered here with a fresh listen for things like intent (objective), structure, influences (to or from), production value, and performances, all within the context of its musical time frame and while trying to forget past reactions. Hopefully we can hear something different in a song we once thought was less-than-pleasing.

So remember, valid reactions include:

1) None of my friends ever liked this song, but I always did.

2) I never liked this song, but listening to it again after all this time now it makes me want to: (a) tap my foot, or (b) shove a pencil in my ear.

All legit.

-Ken

Friday, February 3, 2012

"Just When I Needed You Most" by Randy VanWarmer

By popular demand (thanks AKB..!),

Guilty Pleasures: The Music Edition is back.

Lets ease back into this, shall we?

When researching songs for this blog, I usually go to YouTube with a certain song in mind, but it seems that I always find something else that makes me go "Oh yeah, THAT one!' Then I listen to the song, have a few flash backs, sing-along with the great chorus, then immediately start thinking of which one of my musical associates should cover it. This song was no exception.

The Wikipedia page for Randy VanWarmer tells us that sometimes good guys do find success. Though thought of as a one hit wonder because of this song, VanWarmer was an accomplished and successful singer/song writer whose songs were covered by Dolly Parton, Alabama, Smokie Robinson,  The Oak Ridge Boys, and Charley Pride. And if that isn't enough to make you a fan, his last album was a tribute to the great song writer Stephen Foster! When VanWarmer passed at a young age of 48 due to leukemia, he had his ashes sent up in space. I think we would have liked this guy...

There are plenty of wonderfully crafted songs from the 70s that have been lost in the world of Adult Contemporary,  and none are more deserving of a second-chance listen than "Just When I Needed You Most" by Randy VanWarmer.

Regards,

KO

ps: Extremely high honorable mention goes to Dolly Parton for doing this song live on Jay Leno's show with Allison Krauss and band, with Dolly on autoharp!
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