Even Better Than I Remembered
I first bought this on vinyl in 1972. It was so unlike anything else I had ever heard, but it immediately became a favorite. Years passed, the record album long disappeared from my collection- turntable long ago sold or given away, I've been searching for this for years. I loved the addition of liner notes and photographs of Karen Dalton. As for the music, its even better than I remembered.

Hmmmmm.
Musically solid - vocally ? As I listen to it I picture Cheech and Chong trying to jump from a moving van as this hitch hiker tries to prove her star quality.

Slow Magic
Whenever I put on Karen Dalton for friends, reactions are always strong. I've had people say, "Wow! Sounds like a Folksy, Billie Holliday!". Or: " Turn that crap off, sounds like a drunken cat in heat!"

Love or hate it, Karen Dalton's cracked, nasal voice never fails to make an impression. But I've always appreciated idiosyncratic voices. Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young & Nina Simone--- to name a few. Yet, like Elvis, Johnny Cash or Lady Day, one listen to Dalton & you know immediately who it is. No mistaking. To me that is a mark of a fine singer.

I think a strong case can made for singers these days favoring style over actually trying to communicate something to the listener. Which is something Dalton never fails to acheive. True, she's no Joni Mitchell in the songwriting department. Dalton was exclusively an interpreter of other people's songs, but bet she would've done a killer version of, "Case Of You".

Alot of Dalton fans seem to prefer her 1st album. Fact is, many find this to be a misstep in an all-too-brief career. Mixed bag that the album is, I genuinely prefer In My Own Time to Love You The Best. One reason is the fact that she's playing with a full band that keeps her from getting too languid or self indulgent.

For me the only missteps are 2 tracks: "When A Man Loves A Woman" & "How Sweet It Is". Both have been covered to death & smack of record company commercial pandering.

Without a doubt my very favorite Karen Dalton song is "Katie Cruel". Harrowing and desolate. Much of the same can be said for the haunting, "Same Old Man". As for the songs featuring more studio backing, "Something On Your Mind" is just pure sugar to these ears. "Take Me" never fails to stop me in my tracks. "Are You Ready For The Country" ends the album on a yearning note.

Ultimately, its up to your personal taste whether you like Dalton or not. To me her voice is as earthy as its ethereal. Despite her documented substance abuse problems, her obscurity cannot wholly be attributed to that. According to popular report, she was a notoriously reluctant performer. Furthermore, as evidenced by "Sweet It Is" & "Man Loves A Woman", her voice was never one that could be easily molded into the popular market. She was first & foremost a Folk singer.

My advice? Start with her 1st album & then let this one work its slow magic on you and see if you don't come to appreciate it more.

Classic
If you know about music and you have heard it all before,
You need this cd .You will see why on the third time you play it.

Not the right setting for this diamond...
Please forgive the nay-saying, because I absolutely love Karen Dalton. I don't blame her for this misconceived effort, because it's clear that there was a production decision to give her the full Woodstock/LA 1970s pop funkmeister treatment. But one size most certainly does not fit all. The slick production doesn't work with her otherworldly voice. The production has a trivializing effect that taints about 3/4 of the tracks here, against which the sparser tracks like "Katie Cruel" and "Same Old Man" shine in comparison.

I don't think it's just hindsight that indicts this production; Joe Boyd produced records in the same era that (a) did the artists real justice, and (b) still hold up today. Sorry Harvey, but I wish we could have seen what Joe Boyd would do with Karen Dalton.

If you like Karen Dalton, go with her first album, "It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best." Or cherry-pick the best cuts from this one and leave the desecration of "How Sweet It Is" for James Taylor.