Greatest Hits

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Juice Newton

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Let's go back in time, two decades before the likes Shania Twain and Faith Hill put their brand of pop-country on the charts. Juice Newton's style of music straddled the pop and country spectrums, although given some of her cover songs, belied an influence of 60's pop like Joan Jett.

However, she first made her mark by covering Bonnie Tyler's "It's A Heartache" the same year Tyler hit #3 on the charts. Newton's cover did reached an abysmal #86, and her version has more of a slicker pop production than the original. But the country inflections can still be felt, especially on the similar sounding "Laying Back In The Arms of Someone." Others seem closer to country, in the case of "Break It To Me Gently," a slow-dancing number that peaked at #11 and topped the adult contemporary charts for two weeks.

Her real moment came from two singles from her Juice album. A cover of Merrilee Rush's tender "Angel In The Morning" bettered the original by three places, reaching #4 in 1981 as well as 3 weeks at #1 on the adult contemporary charts. Juice's version is punctuated by short bursts of guitar and accompanying drums and a strong rock guitar and wall of strings presence throughout. It's difficult to decide between the soft original and this one belonging to my pop culture home page. Her biggest hit was the #2 hit "Queen of Hearts" also from Juice, which is an upbeat perfect blend of country with pop sensibilities and minus steel guitar, and a memorable hit, as it is ranked 25th of 1981's singles.

Chartwise though, her ballad "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)", which she originally recorded in 1975, made it to #1 on the country and adult contemporary charts in 1981, as well as #7 on the pop charts. This is another number strings and rock guitar replacing steel guitar in what would've been a country ballad, but it also showcases her vibrant vocals, never better than here.

"So Many Ways" belongs squarely in late 70's style rock with a hint of 80's vixen rock, maybe because of the squealing Boston-like guitars at the opening, and the later hard-driving snarls, not surprising as it came from her Well Kept Secret (1978) album and others like Boston and Bob Seger were also making it big with that sound.

Her latter hits showed her going more in the hard-rocking Laura Branigan/Pat Benatar direction, with some notable synth pounding in her #7 hit "Love's Been A Little Hard On Me." A very 80's sounding song, as was the Journey-like "Heart of the Night," where her voice really resembled Branigan. Her cover of the Zombies' #6 hit "Tell Her No" was her last Top 40 hit, reaching #27, and sounded like something out of the Flashdance soundtrack with the Giorgio Moroder-like synths and some reggae keyboards thrown in for good measure. And the title track of her 1983 album "Dirty Looks," was Blondie's "Call Me" meets Laura Branigan. This should've been a Top Ten hit at least.

More pop (and later hard rock) than country, Juice Newton's 15 minutes was in 1981, and this collection serves up all her Top 40 hits and some that should've been.