Play Me Out
Studio album by
Helen Reddy
Released1981
Recorded1981
StudioDevonshire Sound Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Genre
Length33:33
LabelMCA
ProducerJoel Diamond
Helen Reddy chronology
Take What You Find
(1980) 		Play Me Out
(1981) 		Imagination
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
People(negative)[2]

Play Me Out is the thirteenth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy that was released in 1981 by MCA Records. Having recorded 12 studio albums at Capitol Records over a 10-year period, she felt the move was "'long overdue... For the last three years I didn't feel I was getting the support from them.'"[3] Whatever support she received from the new label was not enough to get the album onto Billboard magazine's Top LPs & Tape chart.[4]

Single

The album includes the song that was her last to reach Billboard's Hot 100[5] and Adult Contemporary charts.[6] "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" made its pop chart debut in the issue of the magazine dated May 23, 1981, and peaked at number 88 during its three weeks there.[5] That same issue also marked its first appearance on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it spent four weeks and got as high as number 42.[6] It also reached number 43 on the UK singles chart.[7]

The album's producer, Joel Diamond, had helmed a recording of "Save Me" by Donna McDaniel in 1977[8] that got as high as number 90 on the Hot 100,[9] but MCA did not release Reddy's cover from this album as a single. Country artist Louise Mandrell did, however, have a number six Country hit with it two years after the release of this album, in 1983.[10]

Track listing

Side 1

  1. "Optimism Blues" (Allen Toussaint) – 3:10
  2. "Do It Like You Done It When You Meant It" (Howard Greenfield, Neil Sedaka) – 3:28
  3. "I Can't Say Goodbye to You" (Becky Hobbs) – 3:46
  4. "Save Me" (Guy Fletcher, Doug Flett) – 3:10
  5. "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" (Pino Donaggio, Simon Napier-Bell, Vicki Wickham) – 2:43

Side 2

  1. "The Stars Fell on California" (Johnny Bristol) – 3:54
  2. "I Don't Know Why (I Love That Guy)" (Becky Hobbs) – 2:35
  3. "When I Dream" (Sandy Mason) – 3:54
  4. "Let's Just Stay Home Tonight" (Lotti Golden, Richard Scher) – 3:09
  5. "Play Me Out" (Lesley Gore, Carol Hall) – 3:07

Personnel

Rhythm Players

Notes

  1. ^ "Play Me Out - Helen Reddy". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Picks and Pans Review: Play Me Out". People. 29 June 1981.
  3. ^ "Helen Reddy Moving to TV Via Sitcom". Billboard. 19 September 1981. p. 42.
  4. ^ Whitburn 2010, p. 646.
  5. ^ a b Whitburn 2009, p. 805.
  6. ^ a b Whitburn 2007, p. 227.
  7. ^ "Helen Reddy". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  8. ^ (1977) "Save Me/I Must Be Doing Something Right" by Donna McDaniel [7-inch single]. New York: RCA Records MB-11005.
  9. ^ Whitburn 2009, p. 638.
  10. ^ Whitburn 2002, p. 211.

References

  • Whitburn, Joel (2002), Joel Whitburn's Top Country Singles, 1944-2001, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-151-9
  • Whitburn, Joel (2007), Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006, Record Research Inc., ISBN 978-0-89820-169-7
  • Whitburn, Joel (2009), Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955-2008, Record Research Inc., ISBN 978-0-89820-180-2
  • Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 978-0-89820-183-3
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