Brenda Lee’s ‘Decades Vol. 2’ Brings Four New Albums to Streaming For the First Time
Four classic Brenda Lee albums are available on streaming for the first time today, courtesy of the new retrospective collection ‘Decades Vol. 2.’
Four albums from the treasure trove that is Brenda Lee’s back catalog became available on streaming today as part of an ongoing reissue campaign. The Decades Vol. 2. Collection includes 1966’s Coming On Strong, 1969’s Johnny One Time, 1973’s Brenda, and 1980’s Take Me Back. It follows Decades Vol. 1, which arrived in late May and contained Too Many Rivers (1965), New Sunrise (1973), L.A. Sessions (1976), and Even Better (1980). In the coming months, even more LPs from Lee’s catalog, which spans three decades and contains more than 100 albums, will make their debut on DSPs.
Coming On Strong was Lee’s seventeenth studio album, cut at Owen Bradley’s Bradley’s Barn studio outside Nashville. Leaning heavily on covers of contemporary hits, the record’s title track was its only single; however, it was a smart bet, and would become her final track to break the U.S. Top 20, climbing to No. 11.
Just two years later, Johnny One Time saw Lee move her recording studio from Nashville to New York, where she worked with producer Mike Berniker. Comprised primarily of pop covers, the album took its name from its title track, a song first cut by Willie Nelson that became a modest hit for Lee across pop, adult contemporary, and country radio. It was her twentieth studio album and the last of her records to crack the Billboard 200’s top 100.
Although most of Lee’s casual fans likely know her early Yuletide standard “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” the artist’s expansive career actually saw her move from child stardom into adult contemporary success into, improbably, a 1970s country breakthrough. That came with 1973’s Brenda, which reunited the artist with longtime producer Owen Bradley and became a turning point in her career. The album’s “Nobody Wins,” written by Kris Kristofferson, gave Lee her first Top 10 country hit and helped steer her toward the genre where she’d spend much of the rest of the decade. The record also featured her version of “Always on My Mind,” later a signature hit for Willie Nelson.
The final album in Decades Vol. 2, Take Me Back, came when Lee was already well-established in the country space. She produced the record with Ron Chancey, due to Bradley’s retirement, and nabbed a co-write from Elton John on the title track. The record’s lead single, “Broken Trust” featuring The Oak Ridge Boys, also broke the Top 10 on the country charts.
