Unchained Melody: The Early Years

1997 compilation album by LeAnn Rimes

Unchained Melody: The Early Years

Compilation album by

LeAnn Rimes

Released| February 11, 1997
Recorded| 1994–1996, Norman Petty Studios (Clovis, N.M.) Rosewood Studios (Tyler Texas), Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre| Country
Length| 32:36
Label| Curb Records
Producer| Greg Walker, Johnny Mulhair, Wilbur C. Rimes
LeAnn Rimes chronology
|  | Unchained Melody: The Early Years
(1997)  | I Need You
(2001)

|
|

Unchained Melody: The Early Years or simply The Early Years[1][2][3][4] is a compilation album by American country singer LeAnn Rimes, released in the United States on February 11, 1997 (see 1997 in music) by Curb Records. Due to high sales of her debut album, Blue, the album consists of tracks recorded previously to Blue (tracks one, two and five through nine were taken from Rimes' independent album, under Nor Va Jak label, All That (1994)). "Unchained Melody" (originally by The Righteous Brothers) was released on a single as a B-side track with "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album. The album contains cover versions of "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" by Patsy Montana, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe, "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton, "Yesterday" by The Beatles. The album has been certified 2× Platinum for shipments of two million copies in the United States. She was the fourth solo artist to chart on the Billboard 200 under the age of 18.[5]

## Background[edit]

Due to high sales of Rimes' debut album, Blue,[6] Curb Records used several tracks recorded from Rimes' commercial album, All That,[7][8] all of which were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old.[9][8] The only songs not recorded prior to Blue is Rimes' cover of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and the song "River of Love". "Unchained Melody" was originally released on a single as a B-side track with "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)" and again on the promotional CD single, "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart", at Target stores during the 1996 Christmas season alongside Rimes' debut album[10][11] before being released as a single on its own in December 1996. The compilation album was released on February 11, 1997 by Curb Records.[12]

Despite Rimes also being a country singer, her cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" is done in the style of Whitney Houston's R&B cover.

## Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [13]

Jose F. Promis of AllMusic gave the album two and a half out of five stars stating that it's "a tad bizarre" due to the album consisting of recordings released prior to Blue, that were recorded when Rimes was eleven years old, as a follow up to her debut album.[13]

## Track listing[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Cowboy's Sweetheart"| Patsy Montana| 2:32
2.| "I Will Always Love You"| Dolly Parton| 4:38
3.| "Blue Moon of Kentucky"| Bill Monroe| 3:17
4.| "River of Love"| Buddy Blackmon, Vip Vipperman| 3:19
5.| "The Rest Is History"| Clay Blaker, Karen Staley| 3:09
6.| "Broken Wing"| David Nowlen| 3:20
7.| "Yesterday"| John Lennon, Paul McCartney| 3:09
8.| "Sure Thing"| Joyce Harrison| 2:41
9.| "Share My Love"| Rimes, Blake Vickers| 2:40
10.| "Unchained Melody"| Alex North, Hy Zaret| 3:51

## Personnel[edit]

Credits for Unchained Melody: The Early Years were adapted from liner notes of All That.[7] Additional credits adapted from liner notes of the album.[1]

* Bob Smith — bass guitar
* Brad Billingsley — drums
* Chuck Rippey — fiddle
* Crista Carnes — background vocals
* Curtis Randall — bass guitar
* Fred Gleber — drums
* Gary Beevers — dobro, steel guitar
* Gary Leach — assistant mixing, assistant recording
* Glenn Meadows — mastering
* Greg Hunt — mixing, recording
* Greg Walker — assistant producer, assistant mixing, assistant recording
* Jerry Matheny — electric guitar
* Jimmy Kelly — keyboards

* Johnny Mulhair — acoustic guitar, co-producer, electric guitar, engineer, mandolin, mixing, recording, steel guitar
* Joy Mckay — background vocals
* Kayla Powell — background vocals
* Kelly Glenn — keyboards
* LeAnn Rimes — lead vocals
* Lisa Criss — background vocals
* Mike Mclain — keyboards, recording
* Milo Deering — steel guitar
* Paul Goad — bass guitar, keyboards, piano
* Perry Coleman — background vocals
* Ray Carl — harmonica
* Whitney Mulhair — flute
* Wilbur C. Rimes — producer, mixing

|
|

## Charts[edit]

Unchained Melody: The Early Years debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 with 166,000 copies sold in the week ending of March 1, 1997,[14] it dropped to #2 in its second week with 133,500 copies sold.[15]

### Weekly charts[edit]

| Chart (1997)  | Peak
position

|

Australian Albums Chart[16] | 4
Canadian RPM Top Albums[17] | 19
Canadian RPM Country Albums[18] | 1
US Billboard 200[17] | 1
US Billboard Top Country Albums[17] | 1

### Year end-chart[edit]

| Chart (1997)  | Position

|

Australian Albums Chart[19] | 71
Canadian RPM Country Albums  | 5
US Billboard 200[20] | 21
US Billboard Top Country Albums[20] | 3
Chart (1998)  | Position
US Billboard Top Country Albums[21] | 31

### Sales[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

Australia (ARIA)[22] | Gold  | 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[23] | Platinum  | 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[24] | 2× Platinum  | 2,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Unchained Melody: The Early Years (CD). LeAnn Rimes. Curb Records. 1997. D2-77856.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
2. ^ Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart (CD single). LeAnn Rimes. Curb Records. 1996. PRCD-6945-2.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
3. ^ "Billboard - Google 도서". 21 December 1996. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
4. ^ "Curb Catalog: Home". Artists.curb.com. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
5. ^ Lynch, Joe. "Solo Artists Who Scored a No. 1 Album Before Turning 18". Billboard. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
6. ^ CMT Inside Fame: LeAnn Rimes CMT (2004-4-12) Retrieved 2011-10-8
7. ^ a b All That (CD). LeAnn Rimes. Nor Va Jak. 1994. 98081-1234-2.`{{cite AV media notes}}`: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
8. ^ a b Kingsbury, Paul; Rumble, John; Cooper, Daniel C. (2004-12-16). The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music - Paul Kingsbury, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Google 도서. ISBN 9780195176087. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
9. ^ McCall, Michael; Rumble, John; Kingsbury, Paul (February 2012). The Encyclopedia of Country Music - Google 도서. ISBN 9780199920839. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
10. ^ "Amazon.com: Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart: LeAnn Rimes: Music". amazon.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
11. ^ "Billboard - Google 圖書". 23 November 1996. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
12. ^ "Early Years: Unchained Melody: Leann Rimes: Music". Amazon. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
13. ^ a b Promis, Jose F. (1997-02-11). "Unchained Melody: The Early Years - LeAnn Rimes". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
14. ^ "Billboard - Google 도서". March 1997. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
15. ^ "Billboard - Google 圖書". 8 March 1997. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
16. ^ Steffen Hung. "LeAnn Rimes - Unchained Melody - The Early Years". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
17. ^ a b c [1]. billboard.com. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
18. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
19. ^ "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Albums 1997". Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
20. ^ a b [2]. google.com. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
21. ^ [3]. google.com. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
22. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
23. ^ "Canadian album certifications – LeAnn Rimes – Unchained Melody-The Early Years". Music Canada.
24. ^ "American album certifications – LeAnn Rimes – The Early Years". Recording Industry Association of America.

* v
* t
* e

LeAnn Rimes

* Awards and nominations
* Discography
* Videography

Studio albums|

* All That (1994)
* Blue (1996)
* You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs (1997)
* Sittin' on Top of the World (1998)
* LeAnn Rimes (1999)
* Twisted Angel (2002)
* What a Wonderful World (2004)
* This Woman (2005)
* Whatever We Wanna (2006)
* Family (2007)
* Lady & Gentlemen (2011)
* Spitfire (2013)
* Today Is Christmas (2015)
* Remnants (2016)
* Chant: The Human & the Holy (2020)
* God's Work (2022)

Compilation albums|

* Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997)
* I Need You (2001)
* God Bless America (2001)
* Greatest Hits (2003)
* The Best of LeAnn Rimes (2004)

Live albums|

* Rimes: Live at Gruene Hall (2019)

Soundtrack albums|

* It's Christmas, Eve (2018)

Extended plays (EPs)|

* One Christmas: Chapter 1 (2014)
* Re-Imagined (2018)

Related articles|

* Curb Records
* Darrell Brown
* Eddie Cibrian
* Bill Mack

Authority control |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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