''You've Come This Way Before'' is a 1968 album by American singer-songwriter

Nancy Priddy Nancy Priddy (born January 22, 1941) is an American actress, singer and singer-songwriter. As an actress, she has appeared on many television series, including ''Bewitched'', ''The Waltons'', and '' Matlock''. She is the mother of actress Christ ...

. The album was produced by

Phil Ramone Philip Rabinowitz (January 5, 1934March 30, 2013), better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, and co-founder of A & R recording studio. Its success led to expansion ...

Release

The album was originally released by

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In its early years, Dot sp ...

in 1968, and reissued on CD in 2005 by

Rev-Ola Records Rev-Ola Records is a British independent record label formed in 1990 that specializes in reissues, as well as select new releases. The label is headed by Joe Foster, a former child actor and musician/producer. He, along with Alan McGee and ...

Style

'' Plan B''s Alistair Fitchett said the album had a "definite

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

edge" mixed with "orchestrated

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

" and "a sweet soulful

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

edge". He also called it "beautifully

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

" in a way reminiscent of

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...

, also noting that the title track is about Buffalo Springfield cofounder

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Jason Ankeny called it a "minor classic of

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...

". The album has also been called

acid folk An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the p ...

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

called the album "the kind of idiosyncratically weird effort that could have only been made in the late '60s", with "trippy", "''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...

''-like dreamy jottings" for lyrics.

Reception

Fitchett called the album a "gem that demands your attention." Unterberger, on the other hand, felt Priddy and her team "couldn't quite decide whether they were aiming for the pop market or the freaks", ending up with an album that could sometimes be "haunting and enticing" but mostly "doesn't cohere, the songwriting not being quite up to the apparent far-out ambitions of the project." In his book ''Music: Over 100 Top 10 Lists'', critic Barney Harsent called "Christina's World" his sixth-favorite song inspired by art, with its inspiration coming from the painting of the same name by

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist and one of the best-known American artists of the middle 20th century. Though he considered himself to be an "abstractionist," Wyeth was primarily a realis ...

. Harsent called the song "beautiful" and the album "sublime". A writer for ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said the title track "displays a strong set of lyrics, well read by the lark and a vocal chorus."

Track listing

All tracks written by

, with additional writers noted in parentheses. #"You've Come This Way Before" – 2:52 (Everett Gordon) #"Ebony Glass" – 2:21 (Bobby Whiteside) #"Mystic Lady" – 6:32 ( John Simon) #"Christina's World" – 2:45 (Gordon) #"We Could Have It All" – 2:41 (

Manny Albam Manny Albam (June 24, 1922 – October 2, 2001) was an American jazz arranger, composer, record producer, saxophonist, and educator. Early life A native of the Dominican Republic, Albam grew up in New York City. He was attracted to jazz at an ea ...

) #"My Friend Frank" – 3:03 (Albam) #"O' Little Child" – 3:17 (Albam) #"And Who Will You Be Then" – 3:13 (Gordon) #"On the Other Side of the River" – 2:34 (Albam) #"Epitaph" – 1:21 (Simon)

Personnel

– vocals, liner notes *

– producer *

–

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

* John Simon – arranger, conductor * Everett Gordon – arranger, conductor ("Christina's World") * Don Peterson – cover photography * Christopher Whorf – art direction

References

{{Authority control 1968 albums Nancy Priddy albums Albums produced by Phil Ramone Dot Records albums Rev-Ola Records albums Psychedelic folk albums