Melanie – Leftover Wine

DSCN4853 (800x794) (2)This was a dollar I believe.  I got it because I like the artist.

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Melanie Safka, known professionally as Melanie, is a American born singer-songwriter from Queens.  Bursting on to the scene in 1968, she was barely known outside of Greenwich Village ( and the Netherlands where she had a hit with “Beautiful People”) until she played Woodstock.  The phenomenon of raising lighters (now cell phones) perhaps started during her set and influenced her to write “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)”, which would become her first US Top Ten hit.  She also had success with “Brand New Key (The Roller Skate Song)” which was later used in Boogie Nights.  Melanie still plays live today.

Melanie’s Web Page

This album was her fourth, recorded live from Carnegie Hall in 1970 and released the same year.  Whereas her studio efforts were complex arrangements, this album was Melanie bare boned. The result is a beautiful and engaging live album.  It is stark, raw, and emotional (see, I can use adjectives other than good).  The album finishes off with a studio track, “Peace Will Come”.photo1

The album states on the cover, “Recorded Live At Margie’s Birthday”.  This is in reference to music journalist Margie English.  There is a version of “Happy Birthday” on this album as well.DSCN4854 (800x795) (2)

For a sample, I went with “Uptown and Down” which is about her native New York, played live in New York.  I was kind of leaning more towards “Leftover Wine” but it had a skip in it and I was too lazy to fix it.  “Uptown and Down”, however, is still a moving number.melanie-copy1

Satisfactory Record.