Put a Little Love in Your Heart (Jackie DeShannon)

Jackie DeShannon's Put a Little Love in Your Heart was released in 1969. That album makes up the first twelve tracks of this CD. The title track, which opens the disc, was a big hit, and has also proved a durable one, as it's a staple of oldies radio and inspired a remake decades later by Al Green and Annie Lennox. The other fairly big hit from the album is "Love Will Find a Way," the most overlooked of DeShannon's three national top 40 singles. (The third is her earlier single "What the World Needs Now is Love.") These two songs are accompanied by some great album travks, including my favourite, "You Have a Way With Me." Tracks 13-20 are bonus tracks from the 1969-1970 period, all but one of which had been released as a single a-side or b-side. The one that wasn't is the previously unreleased "Try a Little Harder," which is a cool track in its own right. Two nifty forgotten a-sides here are a minor hit medley of remakes, "Medley: You Keep Me Hangin' On / Hurt So Bad" and DeShannon's late 60s holiday release, "Christmas."

The one blemish here is the latter's b-side, a remake of "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" The original is from the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service and was performed by a singer called Nina. That version is one for my "so bad it's good" file. This one, unfortunately, is just bad. Don't get me wrong. DeShannon's voice is good, but that's actually part of the problem. She attempts a sincere rendition of some pretty damn bad material, and it only highlights the track's shortcomings. The children's chorus here, therefore, comes off as highly annoying, whereas, on the Nina rendition, it just contributes to the "charm," if you will.

That b-side aside, this disc highlights a lot of what put DeShannon at her commercial peak and also shows how she had grown artistically, and would continue to do so.

Tracks:
1. Put a Little Love in Your Heart
2. You Are the Real Thing
3. River of Love
4. Keep Me in Mind
5. Mama's song
6. Movin'
7. You Can come to me
8. You Have a Way With Me
9. I Let Go Completely
10. Always Together
11. Love Will Find a Way
12. Live
13. Brighton Hill
14. It's So Nice
15. What Was Your Day Like
16. Medley: You Keep Me Hangin' On / Hurt So Bad
17. Mediterranean Sky
18. Try a Little Harder
19. Christmas
20. Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?