Susie Allanson "Don't Say You're Mine" (ABC Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Ruff & Randy Nicklaus)
Yikes. I mean, I guess the music's okay, but she has kind of a scary, shrill, not-that-great and somewhat irritating voice... It's a weird amalgam of bad pop-country and coke-driven disco-style production. Honestly, it's amazing she had as much success on the Country charts as she did in the late '70s: this is just painfully awful, and it doesn't get better with time. Allanson is backed by a West Coast crew that included country-rock stalwarts Jerry Cole (dobro and guitar), J. D. Maness (pedal steel) and fiddler Bobby Bruce, as well as batallion of more pop-oriented sidemen. Halfway through this album, I realized she had a sort of Vegas-y showtunes vibe going on, and sure enough: Allanson's previous triumphs came as a cast member of "Hair" and "Jesus Christ Superstar." It's worth noting that none of the songs on this particular album (which is kind of a trainwreck) had any chart success; maybe when she switched labels (and presumably producers), the folks over at Curb had more success getting her to shed some of the brassy Broadway affectations and learn a style more appropriate to actual country music. But I really, really, really hate her vocals... and I'm normally a pretty tolerant guy.
Susie Allanson "A Little Love" (MC Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Ruff)
Susie Allanson "We Belong Together" (Warner Brothers/Curb Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Ruff)
This album yielded Allanson's biggest hit, the title track, "We Belong Together," which hit #2 on the country charts, along with her cover of the Buddy Holly oldie, "Maybe Baby," which was one of only four Allanson singles to crack into the Top Ten.
Susie Allanson "Heart To Heart" (Elektra/Curb Records, 1979) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Ruff)
Susie Allanson "Susie" (United Artists, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Michael Lloyd, Jim Crosby & Carmine Rubino)
This was her first (and only) album released after splitting with former husband Ray Ruff, who produced all her other stuff. Apparently she recorded another album that the folks at Curb left in the can...
Though born in Minneapolis, singer Susie Allanson can really be considered a West Coaster -- she grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, and spent her teen years in Las Vegas. Allanson broke into show business as a cast member of the original production of "Jesus Christ Superstar, and had a role in the movie version as well. Her marriage to Nashville producer Ray Ruff brought her into the late-'Seventies country music industry where she enjoyed success as a Top Forty artist, despite an odd and persistent affinity for some of the decade's worst pop impulses. Here's a quick look at her career
