Betty Buckley 1967: The CD that shoulda been an LP

Before CATS and Eight is Enough!

I have to admit it, my first exposure to Betty Buckley was not on the Broadway stage, but during my TV viewing of her as "Abby" in Eight is Enough (along with Dick Van Patten as Tom Bradford). I loved that show, and I remember what a tough job she had trying to fit in with that family. It wasn't until much later that I realized that the amazing voice singing "Memories" was in fact, "Abby" from Eight is Enough! Speaking of Eight is Enough, did you know that Mark Hamill played the older son, David Bradford in the show's pilot? He was replaced by Grant Goodeve for the remainder of the show. I guess the tv force wasn't with him…but I digress…

This CD was recorded in 1967 when Betty Lynn Buckley was 19.

From the liner notes:

"I remember the time frame. I remember I was a junior in college. It was the end of my year as Miss Fort Worth. I was a cheerleader at TCU, I sang in the local jazz club, Casa Del Sol with the musicians present on the album. I was doing my first paid gigs. I thought my voice sounded too pure. I would go yell at the football games and make my voice as hoarse and husky as possible so that I'd sound older and sexy on my late night club gigs."

 "We made this recording as an archive and because my mom felt we needed it. We went to T Bone Burnett. His was the only recording studio in town. His mom, Hazel Vernon and my mom were friends. Fortunately I didn't have a husky voice that day and T Bone, as I recall, told me to trust my light voice. It is remarkable how deftly he engineered this recording. The dynamic spread of my voice wasn't even an issue. Also I marvel at the fact that we, the trio of musicians and I just walked in and recorded this straight down without a problem, without second takes and overdubs."

I really love this CD. Betty sounds so joyful and full of life. And it is so nice to hear someone singing a song, not over singing it. I love the clean, jazzy accompaniments, not over produced at all (since it was sort of like a demo). My favorite tracks are "One Boy", "Call Me", "C'est Magnifique" and "Who Can I Turn To", although all the tracks are glorious.

And according to an article in Playbill  (http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112216.html) the CD made it onto the   Billboard charts!

Only one criticism -- Playbilll records didn't bother to properly label the tracks, so when you import it into iTunes, they come up as Track1, Track 2, Track 3, etc. instead of the song titles. Jeebus guys -- the Web is 13 years old now...