Shadows of Love

Background

After signing with MCA Nashville in 1983, Larson crossed over into country music, where she released two albums ...Say When and Rose of My Heart in 1985 and 1986 respectively. Shadows of Love was recorded in Italy during 1987, at Studio Watermelon in Milan. It was released as Larson's final mainstream album in 1988, and the album would also become her second to last studio album following her death in 1997, after the 1994 album Sleep, Baby, Sleep - a collection of children's lullabys. The album was not a commercial success, and soon afterwards Larson began pursuing an acting career.

Consisting of eight new tracks from Larson, two of which she co-wrote, some discographies online and in books do not include this album due to it being largely unknown. The song "Love Hurts" was originally performed by The Everly Brothers in November 1960, written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The title track "Shadows of Love" was originally performed by 1980s pop rock group Wax, which was written by the members Andrew Gold and 10cc guitarist/bassist Graham Gouldman. American singer-songwriter Lauren Wood contributed two songs to the album "Work on It" and "Where Did I Get These Tears". The latter track was originally found on Wood's self-titled 1979 debut album (featuring Novi and Ernie), whilst "Work on It" was found on her following 1981 album Cat Trick. In 1979 Larson had also recorded another song from Wood's debut album; "Fallen", which appeared on the album In the Nick of Time.

The album's sole single was "Let Me Be the One" which was written by Larson and Mauro Paoluzzi. It was issued on both 7" and 12" vinyl via CGD in Europe. Co-produced by Paoluzzi, the single featured "Where Did I Get These Tears" as the B-Side. The 7" vinyl single featured an edit of the "Let Me Be the One", cutting the song by approximately one minute, whilst the 12" vinyl version used the full-length album version. The single, like the album, was not a commercial success. It was Larson's last single release. During 1988, Larson contributed to the soundtracks of the films Renegade and Twins. For Renegade, "Let Me Be the One" was used, and featured on the soundtrack release, which was issued via WEA in Germany that year. "Let Me Be the One" was the opening track to the album, whilst co-writer Paoluzzi contributed ten of his own tracks to the soundtrack and also composed and produced much of the material. As a result, the song is the most popular from the album, and has gained almost 250,000 views over three unofficial videos on YouTube.

Release

Shadows of Love was issued on vinyl and cassette only in Italy, and to date has never been re-issued or fully released digitally or on CD. Today the out-of-print vinyl is scarce and fetches high prices. During the year of the album's release, CGD (Compagnia Generale del Disco), like many other record companies, ran out of business. Warner Music Group acquired the label to form CGD East West and continued CGD's operations. In 2013, Pro Music issued a promotional slipcase CD of the album however in an extremely limited quantity.

Critical reception

On About.com, Steve Peake published an article in December 2010 based on "This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s" which was "Rebel in the Rain". In the article he stated "In general, the '80s weren't particularly kind to the era's best eclectic female pop singers, which is one reason I've had such a hard time settling on a Nicolette Larson song to showcase properly in this space. Known most for her hit 1978 version of Neil Young's sparkling composition, "Lotta Love," the late Larson is a criminally underrated singer-songwriter who effortlessly scaled genres from nearly every available nook of rock, R&B, country and pop. However, sadly, like fellow stunners Maria McKee and Karla Bonoff, Larson never enjoyed the mainstream success her voice so richly deserved. Ultimately I settle on 1987's "Rebel in the Rain" to showcase here, mainly because I was able to find a full length version of it online despite the rare nature of Larson's Italian album release, Shadows of Love, on which the track appeared. I reiterate that my main purpose is to shed light on Larson's obvious musical contributions. Seriously, I mean it."

Personnel