Description
The Sky is the Limit is a gospel album by the American singer and songwriter Charlene (Charlene Oliver), released in the UK on Chapel Lane in 1982. Also released in the US on Motown Records, distributed by Motown Records Corporation under license from Chapel Lane Productions (featuring different cover artwork and as well sub-titled “Songs of Inspiration”). The album was recorded June 1982 by Mark Williamson at Chapel Lane Studios in Hereford, England; with Ron Miller and Williamson producing. Mixed by Williamson, Miller, and Ron Andrews at Chapel Lane. Orchestral arrangements by Wayne Warlow. Background vocals provided by Mo Turner and Annie McCaig of Nutshell fame, as well as Mark Williamson. The September/October 1982 issue of the British gospel magazine Buzz featured a cover story on Charlene.
The fairytale story of Charlene, as recounted in the July ’82 ‘CCM’, only heightens the excitement of her first totally gospel album. Following a Hollywood discovery and then virtual anonymity until her 1982 hit, «I’ve Never Been to Me», Charlene turns her singing talent heavenward. ‘The Sky’s the Limit’ (Motown 6024 ML) turns her music vertical and provides a moving testimony of her faith.
Charlene’s intimate, close-up voice could easily be used to sing breathy, lap-sitting songs, but instead she uses it to create prayerful intimacy. Her vocal expression in some ways parallels that of Annie Herring, but she is by no means a carbon copy. Charlene’s an original.
‘The Sky’s the Limit’ does have its limits, though. Because of the intimacy of her voice, Charlene requires close miking, and the strings backing her up sometimes lack a longed-for presence and fullness in accompanying her, an effect which is better felt in her recent secular release, ‘Used to Be’. Instead, Charlene is right up front, while often the strings are way out back.
Charlene composed four of the nine songs on the LP. The title song is the best of the four, and an appropriate opening to the collection to follow. «There Was Nothing to Believe In» closes Side One with an opening similar to Bette Midler’s «The Rose». «Jesus Is Love», the Lionel Ritchie-Commodores-performed song from 1980, opens Side Two: an excellent contemporary hymn revisited.
Charlene also sings a Stephanie Boosahda-Gary Tedder song, «You Knew Just What I Needed», but the opener title song and the closing «Cover Me» are the high spots of the album. «The Loving Still Goes On» is an attractive ballad, simple yet beautiful. «Rise Up» is a spiritual-style invitation to salvation and call to spiritual arms.
‘The Sky’s the Limit’ was recorded and mixed at Chapel Lane Studios in June of ’82, and has been picked up for release in the U.S. on the pop/soul Motown label. Several familiar music names appear on accompaniment credits, including Dave Cook on keyboards, and Bryn Haworth on the other stringed instruments. [Paul Baker, CCM, April 1983]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “The Sky Is The Limit” – 3:14
A2. “The Loving Still Goes On” – 3:20
A3. “Rise Up” – 3:50
A4. “I Want The World To Know He’s Mine” – 4:25
A5. “There Was Nothing To Believe In” – 5:10
Side Two
B1. “Jesus Is Love” – 5:08
B2. “The Prayer” – 3:55
B3. “You Knew Just What I Needed” – 2:50
B4. “Cover Me (For Danica)” – 4:00
CREDITS. Produced by Mark Williamson and Ron Miller. Recorded and mixed at Chapel Lane Studios in Hereford, England during June 1982. Engineered by Mark Williamson. Additional engineering by Rob Andrews and Nigel Jopson. Mixed by Mark Williamson, Ron Miller, and Rob Andrews. Mastered by John Matousek at Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Hollywood, California, US. Orchestral arrangements by Wayne Warlow. (Motown cover: Design by Lisa Aubin. Photography by Paul Cox.)
Musicians: Charlene (Lead and Background Vocals, Additional Piano on track A5), Dave Cooke (Keyboards), Nick Magnus (Synthesizers, Vocoder, Organ), Valerie Aldritch-Smith (Harp on track A4), Bryn Haworth (Acoustic Guitar, Slide Guitar, Mandoline), Dave Plotel (Guitar), Ray Martinez (Guitar), Mark Williamson (Guitar), John G. Perry (Bass), Ian Mosley (Drums). Background Vocals: Charlene, Mo Turner, Annie McCaig, Mark Williamson. Additional vocals on track B1 by Majestic Singers.
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