LeAnn Rimes Wiki

Unchained Melody: The Early Years or simply The Early Years[1][2][3][4], and sometimes refered to as Unchained Melody, is a compilation album by American country singer LeAnn Rimes, released in the United States on February 11, 1997 by Curb Records. Due to high sales of her debut album, Blue, the album consists of tracks recorded previously to Blue, tracks one, two and five through nine were taken from Rimes' independent album, under Nor Va Jak label, All That (1994). "Unchained Melody" (originally by The Righteous Brothers) was released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album. The album contains cover versions of "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" by Patsy Montana, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe, "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton, "Yesterday" by The Beatles. The album has been certified 2× Platinum for shipments of two million copies in the United States.

Background[]

Due to high sales of Rimes' debut album, Blue,[5] Curb Records used several tracks recorded from Rimes' commercial album, All That,[6][7] all of which were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old.[8][7] The only songs not recorded prior to Blue is Rimes' cover of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and the song "River of Love". "Unchained Melody" was originally released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album,[9][10] and as a B-side track to "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)". The compilation album was released on February 11, 1997 by Curb Records.[11]

Critical reception[]

Jose F. Promis of Allmusic gave the album two and a half out of five stars stating that it's "a tad bizarre" due to the album consisting of recordings released prior to Blue, that were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old, as a follow up to her debut album.[12]

Track listing[]

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Cowboy's Sweetheart"  Patsy Montana 2:32
2. "I Will Always Love You"  Dolly Parton 4:38
3. "Blue Moon of Kentucky"  Bill Monroe 3:17
4. "River of Love"  Buddy Blackmon, Vip Vipperman 3:19
5. "The Rest Is History"  Clay Blaker, Karen Staley 3:09
6. "Broken Wing"  David Nowlen 3:20
7. "Yesterday"  John Lennon, Paul McCartney 3:09
8. "Sure Thing"  Joyce Harrison 2:41
9. "Share My Love"  Rimes, Blake Vickers 2:40
10. "Unchained Melody"  Alex North, Hy Zaret 3:51

Personnel[]

Credits for Unchained Melody: The Early Years were adapted from liner notes of All That.[6] Additional credits adapted from liner notes of the album.[1]

  • Bob Smith — bass
  • Brad Billingsley — drums
  • Chuck Rippey — fiddle
  • Crista Carnes — background vocals
  • Curtis Randall — bass
  • Fred Gleber — drums
  • Gary Beevers — dobro, steel guitar
  • Gary Leach — assistant mixing, assistant recording
  • Glenn Meadows — mastering
  • Greg Hunt — mixing, recording
  • Greg Walker — assistant producer, assistant mixing, assistant recording
  • Jerry Matheny — electric guitar
  • Jimmy Kelly — keyboards
  • Johnny Mulhair — acoustic guitar, co-producer, electric guitar, engineer, lead guitar, mandolin, mixing, recording, steel guitar
  • Joy Mckay — background vocals
  • Kayla Powell — background vocals
  • Kelly Glenn — keyboards
  • Lisa Criss — background vocals
  • Mike Mclain — keyboards, recording
  • Milo Deering — steel guitar
  • Paul Goad — bass, keyboards, piano
  • Perry Coleman — background vocals
  • Ray Carl — harmonica
  • Whitney Mulhair — flute
  • Wilbur C. Rimes — producer, mixing

Charts[]

Unchained Melody: The Early Years debuted at number one on Billboard 200 with 166,000 copies sold in the week ending of March 1, 1997,[13] it dropped to number two in its second week with 133,500 copies sold.[14]

Peak Positions[]

Chart (1997) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[15] 4
Canadian RPM Top Albums[16] 19
Canadian RPM Country Albums[17] 1
US Billboard 200[16] 1
US Billboard Top Country Albums[16] 1

Year End-Chart[]

Chart (1997) Position
Australian Albums Chart[18] 71
Canadian RPM Country Albums 5
US Billboard 200[19] 21
US Billboard Top Country Albums[19] 3
Chart (1998) Position
US Billboard Top Country Albums[20] 31

Alternate covers[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Unchained Melody: The Early Years (CD). LeAnn Rimes. Curb Records. 1997. D2-77856. 
  2. Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart (CD single). LeAnn Rimes. Curb Records. 1996. PRCD-6945-2. 
  3. "Billboard - Google 도서". Books.google.co.kr. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=swkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25&dq=LeAnn+Rimes+The+Early+Years+1996+Billboard&hl=ko&sa=X&ei=Hs3KT4PqAqm16AHzut3qDw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=LeAnn%20Rimes%20The%20Early%20Years%201996%20Billboard&f=false. Retrieved 2012-06-09. 
  4. "Curb Catalog: Home". Artists.curb.com. http://artists.curb.com/curbcatalog/album.cfm?id=418. Retrieved 2012-06-09. 
  5. CMT Inside Fame: LeAnn Rimes CMT (2004-4-12) Retrieved 2011-10-8
  6. 6.0 6.1 All That (CD). LeAnn Rimes. Nor Va Jak. 1994. 98081-1234-2. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 "The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music - Paul Kingsbury, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Google 도서". Books.google.co.kr. 2004-12-16. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=v4GQDYx_RnkC&pg=PA446&dq=LeAnn+Rimes+All+That+1994+Nor+Va+Jak&hl=ko&sa=X&ei=jnfJT8-pKeLy0gHG1pBy&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=LeAnn%20Rimes%20All%20That%201994%20Nor%20Va%20Jak&f=false. Retrieved 2012-06-02. 
  8. "The Encyclopedia of Country Music - Google 도서". Books.google.co.kr. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=tLZz02EzmBYC&pg=PT1750&dq=LeAnn+Rimes+All+That+1994&hl=ko&sa=X&ei=5HbJT6rJEcf20gH-mMTKDg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=LeAnn%20Rimes%20All%20That%201994&f=false. Retrieved 2012-06-02. 
  9. "Amazon.com: Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart: LeAnn Rimes: Music". amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H7GY0G. Retrieved 8 August 2011. 
  10. "Billboard - Google 圖書". Books.google.co.kr. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=ugkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52&dq=LeAnn+Rimes+Unchained+Melody+Billboard&hl=zh-TW&sa=X&ei=HW_JT8GpOI-s0AGy6oiEAQ&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=LeAnn%20Rimes%20Unchained%20Melody%20Billboard&f=false. Retrieved 2012-06-02. 
  11. "Early Years: Unchained Melody: Leann Rimes: Music". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000000DGH. Retrieved 2011-10-29. 
  12. Promis, Jose F. (1997-02-11). "Unchained Melody: The Early Years - LeAnn Rimes". AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r246952/review. Retrieved 2011-10-28. 
  13. "Billboard - Google 도서". Books.google.co.kr. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=9g4EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&lr=&rview=1#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-10-07. 
  14. "Billboard - Google 圖書". Books.google.co.kr. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=qQ4EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=zh-TW#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2012-06-02. 
  15. Steffen Hung. "LeAnn Rimes - Unchained Melody - The Early Years". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=LeAnn+Rimes&titel=Unchained+Melody+%2D+The+Early+Years&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-07. 
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 [1]. billboard.com. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  17. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.3152&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=khshdrmucdbma4k8uctvlu14d0. Retrieved 2011-10-07. 
  18. "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Albums 1997". Aria.com.au. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-100-albums-1997.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-07. 
  19. 19.0 19.1 [2]. google.com. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  20. [3]. google.com. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
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LeAnn Rimes albums

Main article: LeAnn Rimes discography

Independent albums

Studio albums

Compilations

Extended Plays

Live albums