Ronnie Milsap - It Was Almost Like a Song (CD)

All Music Guide

Country singer Ronnie Milsap's breakthrough pop album might not have been as earth shattering as Ray Charles Modern Sounds In Country Western Music, but it did much to modernize mid70's C W with its fusion of the adult contemporary style Barry Manilow introduced with Mandy and the formulas Kenny Rogers employed when "Lucille" brought his career back to life. The blind keyboard player/singer shifts from pure country to pure pop like a chameleon on this disc and does it effortlessly. Robbins "Here In Love" plays like Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" while Newbury's "The Future Is Not What It Used To Be" pours Bergen White's strings and The Lea Jane Singers over a Southern twang that fusion of styles executed to perfection. Having players like Hargus "Pig" Robbins and fiddler Tommy Williams on this album coproduced by the singer and Tom Collins only adds to its mystique. Milsap writes no tunes here, he's just a great interpreter, the voice ever so mournful inside "Crystal Fallin' Rain",... commanding on the title track. "It Was Almost Like A Song" was 1 country and Top 20 pop, a big ballad which Manilow could have easily added to his repertoire. "Selfish" works like a second cousin to the Brenda Lee/Juice Newton hit "Break It To Me Gently" while the repeating title "What A Difference You've Made In My Life" captured some additional adult contemporary airplay for the performer in the mid70's. Like that other blind pianist, female country singer Terri Gibbs and her hit from four years later, "Somebody's Knocking", the music here changed what radio programmers would accept. It's music that sparkled on the airwaves when artists had the chance to effectively cross over. Joe Viglione, All Music Guide Read more Less