Product Review

It is mighty, mighty hard to believe, but this famed duets album—which went to #1 on the country charts and #26 on the pop charts and garnered a Gold Record—has never been issued on CD outside of Japan, and even there only in the late ‘90s on a limited run. This was a love album par excellence, as the two stars had just gotten married weeks prior to the record’s release in 1973; interestingly, though Kris Kristofferson, fresh from recording his country chart-topper “Why Me,” was the bigger star at the time, Full Moon really played to Rita Coolidge’s strengths, as it was produced by her long-time producer David Anderle and set its songs in a higher key more suited to her dreamy vocals. The album scored a huge hit with Kristofferson’s “A Song I’d Like to Sing,” and followed that up with a smash version of Tom Jans’ “Loving Arms;” the duo’s rendition of Kristofferson’s “From the Bottle to the Bottom” also won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. In short, Full Moon was and is a stone-cold classic; and our Real Gone Expanded Edition not only features notes by Joe Marchese featuring quotes from Rita Coolidge herself, but also adds a no less than six unreleased tracks from the A&M vaults including a Kris & Rita duet from the album sessions and five more Rita solo recordings from the period! Cornerstone ‘70s pop-country.