"The Sound of Goodbye" by Crystal Gayle

Song#:  1719
Date:  12/10/1983
Debut:  90
Peak:  84
Weeks:  5
Genre:  Country Crossover



Pop Bits:  In 1982, Gayle issued her first album for her new label Elektra, True Love. The album did well thanks to three #1 Country singles. But changes at her label pushed her over to Warner Bros. for her next effort Cage the Songbird. The album got off to a great start when this first single became her thirteenth #1 Country hit. It would also do very well at AC reaching #10. It got enough attention to crossover to the Pop chart, but it was a minor entry that stayed for only a few weeks. The song would end up being her last to reach the Pop chart and her last to go Top 10 at AC. The album would also be her last to reach the Country Top 10 peaking at #5. Although Gayle would get four more Country Top 10 singles over the next few years, this album marked the point where her charting career began to decline.

ReduxReview:  I kind of feel the same way about this song as I did about her previous Pop chart entry "Baby, What About You." Both are good songs (I actually like this one better), but there is just something lacking in the production. This was already prepped to be a crossover single, so why not push it even further with a more rockin' arrangement. I think it would have benefited both the song and Gayle. I think this song is just screamin' to be unleashed but is trapped in a typical Country/AC cage. Still, the song is very good and deserved to do better at Pop.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  The title track to Gayle's album Cage the Songbird was a cover tune. The original was co-written and recorded by Elton John in 1976. It was included on his double-LP Blue Moves. Prior to that album, John's association with singer Kiki Dee began when he signed her to his Rocket label in 1973. She released four albums for the label and would make appearances on several of John's recordings. Of course, their most famous collaboration would be the duet "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," which hit #1 in 1976. That same year, Dee prepped her new solo disc. It would be titled Cage the Songbird and would feature her cover of that John tune. Unfortunately, the album seemed to not meet the expectations of the label and the project got shelved. Dee would return to the studio with a new set of songs and create her 1977 self-titled LP. It would do well in the UK thanks to a pair of minor charting singles. Dee's Cage the Songbird album would eventually see the light of day in 2008 when EMI would issue the long lost album.

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