Melanie's Music

Listen to Melanie! Click here to hear a Real Audio recording of "Ring Around the Moon". For instructions on how to download the audio clip from this page, see my home page.

Flash!
Nearly all of Melanie's albums are now available on CD! Go to It's About Music to order them.
Note: The rest of this page is somewhat dated, and the links may not be good. but the album recommendations are. Just get them at It's About Music.

Pat's Picks
If you are not familiar with Melanie's music, here are my picks of recorded music you can get to start enjoying Melanie. These are all available at CDNow (except Photograph, which is not available yet), and, for your convenience, I have linked the title of each album to it's page at CDNow. There you can see track listings, and hear clips of songs on some of the albums.

The Best of Melanie (Rhino R2 70991). This CD is available at many of the major recorded music stores, and most of the on-line CD stores. It contains all of Melanie's chart singles and some other selected songs. On it you will hear the range of Melanie's talent, from the lighthearted "Brand New Key" to the thoughtful "Some Say I Got Devil".
Ring The Living Bell: A Collection (Renaissance RAMJ0001). If you get only one other Melanie CD besides the one above, this should be it. This is a 2-CD set packed with over 146 minutes of recent recordings by Melanie. The booklet has an excellent interview and several pictures. It is very reasonably priced, and available at most of the on-line CD stores.
Ballroom Streets (Tomato (Rhino) R2 71283). This CD is available at most of the on-line CD stores. It is a re-release of a 1979 dual-LP album. This is a rock-and-roll version of Melanie at her best. It contains upbeat versions of some of Melanie's early '70's hits, middle '70's songs, and a couple of songs new to this collection. All but two of the 14 songs on this CD were written by Melanie. If you already have Melanie's earlier music, this is a must to add to your collection.
Antlers: A Christmas for True Believers (Blue Moon BMXCD 91180). This is available at many on-line CD stores. Melanie had dreamed of doing a Christmas collection for years, and finally realized her dream in this CD. It contains her unique treatment of several traditional songs, plus some contemporary songs including her own "True Believers" and the beautiful "Tin Star". If you like rockin' Christmas music, you'll love her treatment of "Good King Wenceslaus", especially the "with attitude" version (there are two versions on this CD).
Note: This ablum has been re-released as "Yes Santa, There Is a Melanie".
Old Bitch Warrior (Creastars BMG/Ariola 74321293572). If the title of this CD offends you, keep your copy in a plain brown wrapper. The music is too good to miss out on. This is a European release, but it is now available in US online stores. One of my favorite songs, "Something Warm" is on this CD.
Photograph (label and number unknown at this time). This is a CD re-release of an LP that is being prepaired by Rhino Records. This is one of Melanie's most beautiful collections. Two of my favorites on it are "If I Needed You", and "Save Me", which was written, arranged, and recorded in one day! It does not sound "thrown together" though, but has thoughtful, "deep" lyrics, and was arranged beautifully.

Music Sources
There are actually quite a few places to find CD's and record albums of Melanie's music. I have links to several places listed below. But to start with, you may want to try promusicfind.com. They are a search site for several different sellers. This link will take you to their record and CD search page. Also, try This list of music resources.
If promusicfind doesn't have what you are looking for, or you want to try to find a better price, check CD Now, CD Universe and Music for a Song for CD's currently available, and Vinyl Vendors, Record Club, Sonic Recollections (listed under Rock & Roll), or California Albums* for a good selection of Melanie records. Another good source for CD music is Booksmith/Musicsmith in Orleans, Massachusetts. They don't sell on their web page, but they do by email. To see what they have, click here to go to Rick Ziegler's links page. Some good foreign sources for Melanie CD's are 101CD (Canada), Rockhouse Music Mail Express (Netherlands), Imedia Musicshop (Germany), WMI Music (UK), CD Teleshop (Netherlands), Cheap or What CD's (UK), Music Express (Germany), Cyber CD (Germany), and JPC (Germany). A good domestic source for foreign and domestic CD's is CCMusic. They actually have track listings for most of their CD's! They list a "Candles In The Rain" cassette that has the song "Alexander Beetle" on it (hard to find).
* California Albums is an auction store. The minimum bid is $15. But I have always bid the minimum, and have always got what I wanted. However, that could change if everybody tries to get the same Melanie albums. Melanie is in the category "Female Artists" (also listed as "Female Rock Singers"), not in "Folk Females".

The Care and Preservation of Phonograph Records (on a Budget). How to keep the music alive on your rare Melanie albums.

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