Love Is Strange (album)

Love Is Strange
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 11, 1990
Recorded1990
GenreCountry
Length38:17
LabelReprise
ProducerJim Ed Norman
Kenny Rogers chronology
Christmas In America
(1989)
Love Is Strange
(1990)
Back Home Again
(1991)

Love Is Strange is the twenty-third studio album by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released on September 11, 1990, by Reprise Records. The album includes the single "Love Is Strange", which charted at number 21 on Hot Country Songs that same year.[1]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love Is Strange" (duet with Dolly Parton)Mickey Baker, Ellas McDaniel, Sylvia Robinson3:27
2."Soldier of Love"Richard "Spady" Brannan, Anthony Crawford, David Malloy2:50
3."Listen to the Rain"Skip Ewing, Don Sampson3:34
4."If I Were a Painting"Ewing, Sampson3:44
5."Crazy in Love"Randy McCormick, Even Stevens4:18
6."Lay My Body Down"Joe Henry, Bob Morrison4:05
7."So Little Love in the World"Michael Smotherman4:17
8."Walk Away"Bob Carpenter, Tom Kell4:39
9."In Our Old Age"Chaz Bosarge, Randy Hardison, Paul Hollowell3:55
10."What I Did for Love"Brent Maher, Thom Schuyler3:28

Personnel

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From Love Is Strange liner notes.[2]

  • Kenny Rogers – lead vocals
  • Matt Rollings – electric piano (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9), acoustic piano (4, 5, 7)
  • Mike Lawler – synthesizers (1-5, 10)
  • Phil Naish – synthesizers (1, 2, 3, 5–10)
  • Larry Byrom – electric guitar (1), mandolin (2), acoustic guitar (3, 10)
  • Steve Gibson – electric guitar (1, 2, 4–9), acoustic guitar (3, 7, 9, 10), mandolin (3, 10), gut-string guitar solo (3), sitar (10)
  • John Hug – electric guitar (3), acoustic guitar (4, 5, 6, 9, 10)
  • Bernie Leadon – acoustic guitar (3), mandola (4, 8), mandolin (10)
  • Glenn Worf – bass (1, 2, 6, 8, 10)
  • Michael Rhodes – bass (3, 4, 5, 9)
  • Joe Chemay – bass (7)
  • Paul Leim – drums (1, 2, 6, 7, 10), percussion (6, 8, 10)
  • Eddie Bayers – drums (3, 5, 9)
  • Terry McMillan – percussion (1, 2, 10)
  • Jimmy Mattingly – fiddle (4)
  • Bobby Taylor – English horn (5), oboe (8)
  • Bergen White – string arrangements and conductor (4, 8)
  • Carl Gorodetzky – concertmaster and contractor (4, 8)
  • The Nashville String Machine – orchestra (4, 8)
  • Chris Harris – backing vocals (1-9)
  • Mark Heimermann – backing vocals (1-9)
  • Gary Janney – backing vocals (1-9), harmony vocals (6, 10)
  • Dolly Parton – lead vocals (1)
  • Vince Gill – backing vocals (2, 10)
  • Jim Photoglo – backing vocals (2, 10)
  • Harry Stinson – backing vocals (2, 10)
  • Jim "Val" Valentini – harmony vocals (2)
  • Jennifer O'Brien-Enoch – soprano vocals (4)

Production

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  • Producers – Jim Ed Norman and Eric Prestidge
  • Production Assistant – Daniel Kee
  • Engineered and Mixed by Eric Prestidge
  • Assistant Engineers – Robert Tassi and Jim "Val" Valentini
  • Additional Engineers – Craig Hansen, Daniel Johnston, John Kunz and John David Parker.
  • Recorded at The Loft, Digital Recorders and 16th Avenue Sound (Nashville, TN).
  • Mixed at The Loft (Nashville, TN) and The Castle (Franklin, TN).
  • Digital Multitrack Editing by Keith Odle at GroundStar Laboratories (Nashville, TN).
  • Mastered by Glenn Meadows and Eric Prestidge at Masterfonics (Nashville, TN).
  • Art Direction – Laura LiPuma
  • Design – Heather Horne
  • Photography – Bernard Boudreau
  • Management – Ken Kragen

Chart performance

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Chart (1990) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 21
Australian (ARIA Charts) Albums 155[3]

Singles

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Love Is Strange is home to three singles. The title cut, a duet with Dolly Parton, debuted first and made it to number 21 in the U.S. and number 14 in Canada. The follow-up single, released in 1990, was "Lay My Body Down", which reached number 69 in the U.S. but did not chart in Canada. The final single, "What I Did For Love", written by Brent Maher and Tom Schuyler, did the opposite, charting only in Canada, peaking at number 81.

References

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  1. ^ Joel Whitburn (2017). Joel Whitburn's Top Country Singles 1944-2017. Record Research, Inc. pp. 310–311. ISBN 978-0-89820-229-8.
  2. ^ Love Is Strange (CD insert). Kenny Rogers. Reprise Records. 1990. 26289-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ "Kenny Rogers ARIA chart history, received March 31, 2020". Imgur.com. Retrieved April 11, 2020. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column indicates the release's peak on the national chart.