Great Britain's
Beat Goes On Records features country singer and songwriter
Jessi Colter's first three
Capitol albums,
I'm Jessi Colter (1975),
Jessi (1976), and
Diamond in the Rough (1976), in a remastered double-disc set. These three albums were all produced by
Ken Mansfield and
Waylon Jennings and feature a who's who collection of session players from both Nashville and Los Angeles. They each contain country chart singles. "I'm Not Lisa" from the completely self-penned contents of
I'm Jessi Colter topped the country singles chart and hit the Top Five in the
Billboard pop chart. Two more singles, "You Ain't Never Been Loved (Like I'm Gonna Love You)" and "What's Happened to Blue Eyes," also placed in the country chart's Top Five; the album stayed in the
Billboard Top 50 for six months.
Jessi enjoyed chart success inside the Top 100 for a couple of months and lesser charting singles. As an album,
Jessi is an even more consistent album than its predecessor, and even more progressive in terms of its embrace of rhythm & blues and the emergent outlaw country -- she was the only woman in that brand's original ranks. The album is basically divided into uptempo tracks such as "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," "Rounder," "One Woman Man," and "It's Morning (And I Still Love You)" on side one, and stellar ballads, all of which are on its second side.
Diamond in the Rough was released only six months after
Jessi. In terms of production, it's a more stripped-down affair. It contains covers: a country-funk take on
the Beatles' "Get Back" (perhaps at
Mansfield's suggestion, since he worked on later
Beatles recordings and was employed by
Apple), the sultry jazzy soul of
Spooner Oldham and
Donnie Fritts' title track, and
Marshall Chapman's classic "A Woman's Heart (Is a Handy Place to Be)," all of which were brave inclusions on a country album in 1976. The originals include "You Hung the Moon (Didn't You Waylon?)" and the
Colter-trademarked country-soul number "Ain't No Way." If you haven't already purchased the
Raven editions of
Colter's
Capitol output,
BGO's package is a fine place to begin. ~ Thom Jurek
