Maps of Music

Breakaway (1974)

Where the lyrics of Breakaway take you, and where it was really made.

Breakaway was recorded at a studio in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and it fell short of the duo's debut, making the country Top 5 but barely reaching the Billboard Top 100.

Key places

Recorded at Youngun Sound in Murfreesboro (1974)

Recording site Youngun Sound — The album was recorded at Youngun Sound in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The marker is set at city-centre level, not at the studio building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Breakaway is the second duet album by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge
• Released in 1974 on Monument Records
• It is one of three duet albums by the couple
• Unlike Kristofferson's solo albums, it features several covers
• Mostly covers, plus two Kristofferson compositions that had been hits for other artists
• "I've Got to Have You" and "I'd Rather Be Sorry" had previously been hits for other artists and appear here as Kristofferson's first recordings of them

Background

• The couple's first album, Full Moon, was a chart-topping success and went gold
• Full Moon won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "From the Bottle to the Bottom"
• Kristofferson's commercial stock had dropped with 1974's Spooky Lady Sideshow
• A&M and Monument agreed to take turns releasing the duo's LPs, and this one was Monument's turn
• Longtime Kristofferson producer Fred Foster returned at the helm
• As with Full Moon, the emphasis was on an easy listening MOR sound aimed mainly at Rita Coolidge's vocal prowess
• "I'd Rather Be Sorry" was a hit for Ray Price in 1971, and "I've Got to Have You" charted for Sammi Smith in 1972
• The couple also recorded the classic George Jones-Melba Montgomery duet "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds"

Recording

• Recorded at Youngun Sound in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
• Chip Young served as engineer and Paul Richmond handled mastering
• Billy Swan and Larry Gatlin provided backing vocals on certain tracks
• Charlie McCoy played horns, harmonica, bass harmonica and melodica

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• American musician, songwriter and actor, born June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas; died September 28, 2024 in Hana, Hawaii, aged 88.
• A pioneer of the 1970s outlaw country movement, moving away from the polished Nashville sound toward a rawer, introspective style.
• Signed to Monument Records in 1969 after one single for Epic Records; recorded ten albums for Monument.
• Songs such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night" became hits for other artists.
• "Why Me" and "Highwayman" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1973 and 1985.
• Member of the supergroup the Highwaymen (with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash) from 1985 to 1995.
• Acting career in films including A Star Is Born (1976, Golden Globe for Best Actor), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Heaven's Gate (1980) and the Blade trilogy.
• Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014; three Grammy wins from 13 nominations.
• Announced retirement from performing in January 2021; final performance at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29, 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album made the country Top 5 but just scraped the bottom of the Billboard Top 100
• Its tepid reception was not the hit Full Moon had been
• Biographer Stephen Miller speculates the reaction "was probably due to there being too much material by Kris and Rita on the market"
• Since the start of the Seventies, aside from the two duet collaborations, the pair had amassed 10 solo albums between them

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's William Ruhlmann wrote that the album was a worthy successor to Full Moon
• He noted the Kristofferson/Coolidge albums differed from each artist's solo albums, being largely cover songs with keys set to her voice
• He wrote that Kristofferson had to work harder and sing more on these albums, making him a better vocalist than usual on his own records

Records

• Italian Wikipedia: reached number 19 on the Country Albums chart and number 133 on the Billboard 200
• The single "Rain" reached number 87 on the Country Singles chart
• The single "Lover Please" won the 1975 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
• The album's Billboard 200 peak sat near the bottom edge of the chart, a sign of its weaker commercial run

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The single "Lover Please" went on to win the 1975 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
• The album was recorded at Youngun Sound in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
• The record is one of three duet albums by Kristofferson and Coolidge, and Rita Coolidge's vocals shaped the key choices
• The album includes the classic George Jones-Melba Montgomery duet "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds"
• Special thanks on the release credit Jerry Moss and David Anderle of A & M Records

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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