Goldie Hawn - Goldie (1972/2017)

Goldie Review by Stewart Mason
It's a tragedy of pop culture in the new millennium that starlets don't rush willy-nilly into the recording studio anywhere near as much as they used to. Goldie Hawn's sole foray into pop music – originally released in 1972 on Warner Bros. after Laugh-In but before Steven Spielberg's Sugarland Express revealed her dramatic range as an actress – isn't Golden Throats-level bad, surely to the disappointment of hipsters everywhere. Although Hawn's helium-pitched voice is a trifle thin and limited, the selection of material wisely plays to her strengths, with Dolly Parton's "My Blue Tears" and – believe it or not – Joni Mitchell's "Carey" both well-suited to her soprano vocals. In fact, the only really egregious errors aren't really her fault: the Frenchified "Butterfly," with its absurdly cheesy choral backing, wouldn't have sounded good sung by anybody, and the countrified take on Van Morrison's "I Wanna Roo You" has a botched arrangement that slaps on a vaguely oompah-style waltz-time arrangement that suits neither singer nor song. Other than that, though, Goldie is a sweetly endearing country-tinged middle of the road pop record of a style that just isn't being made anymore.