Lesley Gore - All About Love (1965)

Lesley Gore Sings All About Love was her first album not to contain a sizable hit, and marked a sharp drop-off in quality from her previous three LPs. Shelby Singleton produced the record, with Nashville musicians like Buddy Harman, Hargus Robbins, and Jerry Kennedy providing the core of the session players. It didn't sound at all country-influenced, though. It sounded kind of confused, with about half of the cuts bearing an obvious Motown influence (the Supremes in particular) and some of the rest filled out with oldies covers and pop standards. Motown is a good influence to have, but the songs in that style weren't too good, and although Gore had some facility with soul-flavored material, she didn't handle these particular tunes with flair or distinction. There were some traces of her more trademark tortured adolescent approach in the three songs she wrote with her brother, Michael Gore, but these weren't up to the level of her numerous previous fine cuts in that tributary.