Spun Gold


Spun Gold is the thirteenth solo studio album by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. The album was released in July 1983 on MCA Records and was produced by Tom Collins. Spun Gold produced two major hit singles on the Billboard Country Singles chart in 1983.

Background and content

Spun Gold was recorded in February 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee and contained ten tracks of new recordings. The album mainly consisted of country pop-influenced material mixed with song themes that discuss the hardships of working-class people. It included a duet with country artist Steve Wariner entitled "Overnight Sensation". Allmusic reviewer Greg Adams compared background guitar on the track "In Times Like These" to the guitar "riff" on Ike & Tina Turner's single, "Proud Mary". He also considered the single, "One of a Kind Pair of Fools" to have a "strong hook and pure pop production". Overall, Adams only gave the release two out five stars, calling the material "disco-era glitz". Adams also found the album's cover to be displeasing saying, "Meanwhile, Mandrell is decked out on the album cover like a high-fashion model in gold lame'. Dolly Parton has always been able to negotiate these kinds of apparent contradictions, but Mandrell does not have the same gift."
Spun Gold was issued on an LP album in its original release, with five songs on each side of the record.

Release

Spun Gold spawned two singles in 1983. The lead single from the album was the opening track "In Times Like These". The song was released to radio in March 1983 and reached a peak of number 4 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Songs chart and number 6 on the RPM Canadian Country chart. The second single "One of a Kind " was released in July 1983 and became Mandrell's final number 1 single on the Billboard Country Singles Chart and also reached the same position on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. Spun Gold was also released in 1983 and peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, her highest charting studio album on that chart and number 140 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "In Times Like These" – 2:58
  2. "As Well As Can Be Expected" – 3:23
  3. "One of a Kind Pair of Fools" – 2:48
  4. "Only Now and Then" – 3:22
  5. "You Are No Angel" – 2:57
Side two
  1. "A Man's Not a Man " – 3:15
  2. "Overnight Sensation" – 3:16
  3. *with Steve Wariner
  4. "Loveless" – 3:07
  5. "Bad Boys" – 2:54
  6. "Cryin' All the Way to the Bank" – 3:35

    Personnel

From Spun Gold album jacket.
Musicians
Background vocals
  • Steve Brantley
  • Robert Byrne
  • The Cherry Sisters
  • Pat Childs
  • Bruce Dees
  • Jim Ferguson
  • Greg Gordin
  • Larry Keith
  • Mary Ann Lomax
Technical
  • Tom Collins – producer
  • Tim Farmer – engineer
  • Archie Jordan – string arrangement
  • Les Ladd – engineer
  • Barbara Mandrell – producer
  • Denny Purcell – mastering
  • D. Bergen White – string arrangement

    Charts

Weekly charts

Singles