BUY NOW FROM BARBARA MANDRELL SHOP
Barbara Mandrell wasn't yet 27 years old, but she had already spent a lifetime in music when she signed to ABC/Dot Records in 1975. The Houston native was born into a musical family, and was playing accordion by the age of five. By ten, the precocious talent had mastered the steel guitar, and one year later, she began appearing on the famed Town Hall Party television show. Throughout high school, she entertained military audiences as a member of The Mandrell Family. A subsequent, impromptu appearance on a Nashville club stage garnered the attention of producers Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton. In 1969, they signed her to Columbia Records, and three years later, she joined the Grand Ole Opry. At Columbia, Mandrell notched 25 Country hits (including eight Top 10 entries), but she hit her stride - often crossing over to Pop and Adult Contemporary - at ABC/Dot and its successor, MCA. She remained with MCA until 1986, scoring six Country chart-toppers. Now, she is revisiting that period and her remarkable legacy with After All These Years: A Collection, a new vinyl anthology due on July 10 at Cracker Barrel stores nationwide and online.
Mandrell helped curate After All These Years which opens with "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed." The Kye Fleming/Dennis Morgan song became her first No. 1 in November 1978. While the original hit version appears on the LP, Universal has just released a dance remix by Dave Audé (Bruno Mars, Rihanna) as an appetizer for the collection. All six of Barbara's No. 1s are on the collection, also including "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right," "Years," "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," "Till You're Gone," and "One of a Kind Pair of Fools." Other top five favorites such as "Standing Room Only," "Woman to Woman," and "Married But Not to Each Other" are also featured. Every song on this set was released as a single and recorded by Mandrell under the aegis of her longtime collaborator, producer Tom Collins.
Barbara retired from music in 1997, and After All These Years is her first vinyl release in years. "When I listen to the songs that were selected from different albums I recorded, I think about those of you that I recorded them for and those of you that are hearing them for the first time," she comments in the press release. "The greatest desire of my heart was to be an entertainer. My Heavenly Father -- and you -- gave me my 38-year career in show business. I'm deeply grateful and I hope that these selections from some of my albums entertain you."
This vinyl retrospective will be released in Cracker Barrel stores on July 10. It's also available for order online directly from Mandrell's new shop. (No CD has been announced.) You'll find the track listing and pre-order links below! It's also been reported in various outlets that Barbara's ABC/Dot/MCA albums discography will soon be arriving on download and streaming services to coincide with this release. Stay tuned for more news!
Barbara Mandrell, After All These Years: A Collection (UMe, 2020) (Barbara Mandrell Shop / Locate a Cracker Barrel)
Side One
- Sleeping Single in a Double Bed (ABC single AB-12403, 1978)
- Standing Room Only (ABC/Dot single DOA-17601, 1975)
- In Times Like These (MCA single MCA-52206, 1983)
- Married But Not to Each Other (ABC/Dot single DO-17688, 1977)
- Wish You Were Here (MCA single MCA-51171, 1981)
- Crackers (MCA single MCA-41263, 1980)
- If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right) (ABC single AB-12451, 1979)
Side Two
- I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool (MCA single MCA-51107, 1981)
- Woman to Woman (ABC/Dot single DO-17736, 1977)
- Till You're Gone (MCA single MCA-52038, 1982)
- One of a Kind Pair of Fools (MCA single MCA-52258, 1983)
- Happy Birthday Dear Heartache (MCA single MCA-52340, 1984)
- Fast Lanes and Country Roads (MCA single MCA-52737, 1985)
- Years (MCA single MCA-41162, 1979)
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No The Best of Strangers, how can it not be included, and where is There’s No Love in Tennessee. Will probably pick it up but would love a CD with those two as bonus tracks.
Barbara curated this collection - and I guess there was only a limited amount of space, so these are what we chose. I love that they are doing this. Her MCA catalog is hitting digital providers on the same date. Thank you MCA/UMe!
Thank you! Love Barbara Mandrell! Glad to See her getting some attention!
Of course, if this collection had been issued as a double CD set, there would be enough room to feature both tracks you wish were included- and still more music after that.
A single or double LP set will never come close to holding the number of tracks a single or double CD set can hold.
And, CD is a lot less expensive! PLUS, no skipping, surface noise, crackle, pops, etc.,!
In 1997 Razor and Tie issued a 2cd, 40 track Greatest Hits collection. Covers all of her major hits from “Treat Him Right” thru “Ten Pound Hammer”.
This new collection, is far from definitive, it’s just a nice update to her catalog. Hopefully if there’s enough interest, what we all really want will see a release.
Yeah, I think the intent was to release something exclusively thru Cracker Barrel. And they tend to favor limited vinyl releases. I'll take it though. That Razor and Tie set is awesome, though now out of print. You can still find copies out there
I hope this opens up the doors to more releases, namely a definitive box set covering her entire career from “Queen For A Day” thru “Ten Pound Hammer”. I know her MCA catalog is supposed to get a digital release, but would prefer CD reissues. Based on what’s been released you’d never know she had the career she did.
Agreed. I'm thrilled one of the most stellar careers in country music is finally getting the attention it deserves. Her UMG catalog should be on streaming platforms anytime now. Most of those albums were never on CD, and haven't been reissued since the 70s and 80s. All were produced by Tom Collins, and they hold up extremely well. Hopefully, physical reissues will be on the horizon, if not a full box set.
And...could we please see the same for Louise Mandrell and R.C. Bannon?
Whole-heartedly agree!!!!
I don't really do digital or vinyl. I agree, she needs a career box set on CD.
Exactly
While I am pleased to see this release, I would die for a career spanning complete collection by Bear Family. That would be a dream come true.
I'm glad that some of her albums are getting digital releases finally, but CDs would be much preferred. Especially for her fanbase.
Actually, UMG could do it easily. There was a great Ronnie Milsap box set from RCA/Legacy a few years ago. It was a small box with miniature versions of all of his albums, with complete artwork. That would be my ideal box set. I would also love to see reissues on 180 gram vinyl. I literally have 5 or 6 copies of Mandrell's vinyl albums, as I wear them out!
I'd love to get this collection for a dear friend of mine, who is in her 70s now and a big Mandrell fan. However, she has no use for vinyl, she does not even own a turntable. A CD option would have been nice. Glad to see some activity with her catalog though.
Finally Barbara Mandrell is back. She set the bar for the female stars of today. Truly a class act. She did more for country music than anybody. Amazing in concert where she could show off her many talents. Perfect example of what hard work and dedication will do for you. I miss her. I went to final concert and she didn't disappoint.
Pretty cool...I thought her UMG masters burned up in the 2008 vault fire...apparently not or there were backups...no Cracker Barrell near me but I'd be open for a career spanning boxset covering all labels...
How wonderful to see all of the love here for Barbara. It was a pleasure to work with her some years back on the LOST COLUMBIA MASTERS collection from Real Gone Music. She still has such a deep appreciation of her fans.
One important thing to remember about the vault fire: despite the tremendous losses, it wasn't an "all or nothing" situation. Our Second Disc Records/RGM reissue of Melissa Manchester's "Mathematics" was sourced from original master tapes of the album and its related singles (and even previously unreleased tracks). Similarly, Quartet Records' recent reissue of the soundtrack to John Carpenter's THE THING makes special mention that it was sourced from original MCA masters. These are just two recent examples. In all of the sometimes-breathless reporting about the fire, it's often forgotten that - thankfully and from my personal experience - not everything is gone.
Also, recent legislation transfers the rights to the masters back to the artist after 25 years, right? Despite the fire, she may have had the masters in her possession for years. Or Clint Higham, who is spearheading this renewed interest (Nathaniel, her son, works with Higham) - he may have been storing them as well. Whatever the situation, I'm happy we are where we are now with her catalog.
Yes, I thought all her masters were lost to the fire. Looking forward to the LP and will be on the lookout for digital releases! I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it.
As much as id love her back catelogue albums released on CD...its amazing we are getting this vinyl release. I think fans above need to understand vinyl is massive at the moment and outselling the CD format
Finally, Barbara Mandrell's catalogue is getting some of the respect it deserves. I've been a huge Mandrell enthusiast not through her years of prolific hits, but through my appreciation for very overlooked R&B chops. I think the polite sheen of her recorded material often made it too easy for her critics to ignore or deny the soulful weight of her entire approach. She is irrefutably one of the top blue-eyed soul vocalists to have recorded--authentic, nuanced, strong, dexterous & nimble. Her catalogue, no matter how saccharine it seem be on the surface, is evidence of all this. It's a pass on the vinyl for me & I'm a bit disappointed that her work is largely unavailable on CD, but I totally thrilled about its digital availability! My next wish would be Brenda Lee's 70s & 80s output getting same treatment--along with her shelved Elektra album!
The digital album releases will be out this Friday, July 10th!
Awesome!!!
Any idea why the link to the “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed” remix video says it is unavailable? Thanks!
It appears that the video was pulled and/or moved to a new URL at YouTube. We've uploaded the lyric video for the remix in its place. Thanks, Howard.
After listening to this album several times now, I can see why Mandrell considers these singles the cream of the crop. But as any Barbara Mandrell fan knows - and I'm talking about fans who bought her albums and followed her career, not just those who know her from radio or TV - on every album there are songs that were better than the singles released. I hope this album is successful enough that UMG and Cracker Barrel might consider more releases. I'd love to see another album curated by her that showcases her favorite album cuts that were never singles. We all certainly have ours. The liner notes on that would be very interesting.
And Joe...since nearly everything from the Columbia era has been released on CD or digitally..have you ever heard anything about "A Perfect Match," her duet album with David Houston (Epic Records)? After the remaining UMG albums are released later this year, that's the only album from her catalog missing..
Hi Jamie,
We're big fans here of Barbara's album with David. It's on our radar, and I've long thought it would make a stellar companion to the Real Gone "Lost Columbia Masters" CD for which I wrote the liner notes. Hopefully it will happen sometime down the road...all the best to you!
Thank you, Joe - that's great to hear.
What I don’t understand is why hasn’t Barbara’s label done a box set of all her albums expanded and remastered.
MCA seems to be really bad at this sort of thing. Reba McEntire, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn etc are all being short changed in this way.
One word: money. The record labels really don't view CDs as profitable as they once were. Box sets appeal to a niche market of the die-hard fans. Though I would love to see a one-shot set of all of these unreleased albums. Perhaps if there's enough interest in the digital releases UMG will consider it. Even if they release two-for-one CDs, I'd be happy with that.
This doesn’t seem to be an issue in Europe. Charley Prides entire RCA catalog got a four on two CDs reissue. Same with Tammy Wynette, her Epic catalog got a two-fer and three-fer reissue. Lots of other country artists as well. It COULD happen but most likely won’t happen in the U.S.