Juice Newton “Juice” 1981. The first, and only, country record I ever actively pursued, in this case when I was about 10 years old. As I’ve mentioned in a couple of other earlier posts, I’ve managed to hang onto almost all of my records but at some point, probably in the 1990′s, I did a mini-purge and Juice was one that got the ax so this particular LP is a replacement.

Juice was Newton’s third solo album and a massive hit, making it to #4 on the country chart and #22 on the mainstream Billboard chart with its blend of AM pop, smooth country and classic folk-rock. As I sit hear and listen to it in its entirety for the first time in decades I’m reminded why I don’t buy country music (turns out – I don’t like it!) and I probably never listened to the entire record back when I was 10 years old. The only reason I like(d) Juice was for its two crossover hits: “Angel of the Morning” and “Queen of Hearts.” (“The Sweetest Thing I’ve Ever Known” was also a hit, making it to #7 on the mainstream chart and #1 on the country chart, but I honestly don’t remember that one.) I loved those songs intensely and I still really do. “Angel of the Morning” was originally written by Chip Taylor and has been recorded many times over the years (including by Nina Simone, Olivia Newton-John, Chrissie Hynde and Bonnie Tyler); Newton’s version earned her a Grammy nomination, reached #4 on the Hot 100 chart and was the first country song played on MTV. “Queen of Hearts” was written by Hank DeVito and recorded first by Dave Edmunds. It made it #2 on the Hot 100 chart and was ranked as the top 14th song for the year of ‘81. I got some late-summer ‘81 flashbacks when reading about the chart history of “Queen of Hearts” – turns out the song that prevented it from hitting #1 was “Endless Love,” the hit song by Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie from the movie of the same name starring Brooke Shields that I was desperate to watch but totally not allowed to (it initially got an “X” rating for the sex scenes!).