Released February 11, 1997 Unchained Melody The Early Years(1997) I Need You(2001) Release date 11 February 1997 | Length 32:36 | |
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Recorded 1994-1996, Norman Petty Studios (Clovis, N.M.) Rosewood Stuidios (Tyler Texas), Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee) Producer Greg Walker, Johnny Mulhair, Wilbur C. Rimes Nominations American Music Award for Favorite Country Album, Billboard Music Award for Top Country Album Similar LeAnn Rimes albums, Country music albums | ||
Unchained Melody: The Early Years or simply The Early Years is a compilation album by American country singer LeAnn Rimes, released in the United States on February 11, 1997 (see 1997 in music) by Curb Records. Due to high sales of her debut album, Blue, the album consists of tracks recorded previously to Blue (tracks one, two and five through nine were taken from Rimes' independent album, under Nor Va Jak label, All That (1994). "Unchained Melody" (originally by The Righteous Brothers) was released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album. The album contains cover versions of "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" by Patsy Montana, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe, "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton, "Yesterday" by The Beatles. The album has been certified 2× Platinum for shipments of two million copies in the United States.
Contents
Leann rimes i will always love you
Background
Due to high sales of Rimes' debut album, Blue, Curb Records used several tracks recorded from Rimes' commercial album, All That, all of which were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old. The only songs not recorded prior to Blue is Rimes' cover of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky and the song "River of Love". "Unchained Melody" was originally released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album. The compilation album was released on February 11, 1997 by Curb Records.
Despite LeAnn also being a country singer, her cover of Dolly Parton's "I will always love you" is done in the style of Whitney Houston's R&B cover.
Critical reception
Jose F. Promis of AllMusic gave the album two and a half out of five stars stating that it's "a tad bizarre" due to the album consisting of recordings released prior to Blue, that were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old, as a follow up to her debut album.
Personnel
Credits for Unchained Melody: The Early Years were adapted from liner notes of All That. Additional credits adapted from liner notes of the album.
Charts
Unchained Melody: The Early Years debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 with 166,000 copies sold in the week ending of March 1, 1997, it dropped to #2 in its second week with 133,500 copies sold.
Songs
1I Want to Be a Cowboys Sweetheart2:33
2I Will Always Love You4:40
3Blue Moon of Kentucky3:19