There were some nights during his triumphant starring run as the villainous Gaston in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast when Donny Osmond's mind was racing. No, he wasn't trying to remember his next line; rather, he was thinking about the album he was in the process of recording. Backstage. In his dressing room. "It was totally bizarre" he laughs. "I would perform my role onstage, and then I would run back to my dressing room and fix a vocal I didn't like. Sometimes it was just a word; other times it was an entire verse or chorus.The album is called Love Songs of the 70s, and once you hear it, you'll know why. Donny gave it his all -- he could perform vocals to completed musical tracks in his dressing room whenever he liked, a ritual he followed each afternoon -- and, as it so happened, some nights as well. Describing himself as a "Type-A perfectionist," Donny admits his that work habits might have confounded his co-stars. "But when a record means as much as this one, you do whatever it takes to make it special."
True to its title, Love Songs of the 70s is a collection of some of the most memorable romantic pop and R&B ballads of a golden, multi-platinum era. Just a casual glance at some of the songs will transport listeners back to a special place in their lives: "Laughter in the Rain," "Oh, Girl," "If," "Let's Stay Together," "How Deep Is Your Love," "You Are So Beautiful," -- these are some of the priceless selections Donny has chosen for this remarkable set. "That's what's so amazing about these songs," says Donny. "They're time capsules, capable of moving you in so many powerful ways. What's more, if a song is truly a classic, as these certainly are, their importance grows through the decades because of what you, the listener, bring to them. I've always loved hearing these songs, and I especially love singing them."
Musically speaking, children of the '70s subscribe to a tribe mentality: At first glance, former Stooges fanatics may have little in common with onetime discomaniacs, but get them together and odds are they'll bond over a mutual belief that Cliff Richard's "We Don't Talk Anymore" was, for its time, one hot track. Which is why Donny Osmond did himself a favor by recording this batch of retreads--what he loses in nostalgia points for making a disc without Marie (all these years later, there's still an element that prefers a little bit of country with its little bit of rock'n'roll), he makes up for in timeless material that, not incidentally, is very well sung. It's possible to hear Dan Hill's ever-tender "Sometimes When We Touch" here without missing Hill for a second, for instance. And because Donny's nice-guy reputation precedes him by decades, he's a natural at putting his own sunshiny spin on Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now." If Love Songs disappoints even a sliver, it's because the title limits the song selection to disallow tracks that could have formed an equally enjoyable record: Goofy Songs of the 70s. Suffice it to say that Leo Sayer's "When I Need You" leaves a listener with a deep hankering to hear Donny's rendition of "You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'," too. --Tammy La Gorce
More Donny Osmond
The Singles | 
What I Meant to Say | 
Greatest Hits |
