Jennifer Warnes

Jennifer Warnes's fourth album was her Arista Records debut and the first LP on which she was billed under her full name. The album appears to be a classic case of commercial compromise: Eight of its ten tracks were produced by horn player Jim Price, who had been producing Joe Cocker lately. The other two, "Right Time of the Night" and "I'm Dreaming," were produced by country producer Jim Ed Norman, and both were released as singles. One can infer that Arista didn't hear a single in the Price songs and sent Warnes back into the studio, or that the label hoped the L.A.-based and -bred singer could cross over to country music with the right song. If the latter was the case, Arista was right: "Right Time" hit the Top 40 in the Country charts as well as the Top Ten in the pop charts and the top of the Easy Listening charts. ("I'm Dreaming" charted pop and hit the Easy Listening Top Ten.) The singles, while the most accessible tracks on the album, were also the least impressive. "Right Time," with its coy sexuality ("You and me, baby, we can think of something to do"), was one of those embarrassingly awkward erotic songs, almost on a par with the Starland Vocal Band's wretched "Afternoon Delight," which had been a hit the year before. On the other hand, the bulk of the album consisted of well-sung mediocre L.A. pop material, the highlights being covers of "Love Hurts" and the Rolling Stones' "Shine a Light." As her previous albums had demonstrated Warnes had a warm, inviting voice and a strong sense of phrasing. But she suffered from the basic disadvantage all interpretive singers faced in the 1970s: the paucity of good available songs. Minus its singles, Jennifer Warnes might have been a more consistent album, but it probably wouldn't have sold. And for the 29-year-old Warnes, her third record deal must have seemed like her last chance.