Consumer Guide Album

Bonnie Koloc: At Her Best [Ovation, 1976]
Her most consistent album to date is marred by chummy material (who is David Van Delinder and why did she release his "Roslyn" once much less twice?), half-assed commerciality (two is one too many Jim Croce songs), and dumb experiments (arting up Jackson Browne is carrying grass to Topanga). Fortunately, it's also marked by a goodly selection of her more consistent originals--the eighty-percenters is how I think of them--as well as the definitive version of "You're Gonna Love Yourself in the Morning" (not to mention Jim Croce's "Hard Way to Go"). But the real reason I continue to listen through the bad tries is that she sings the way Lily Tomlin has always wished she could. B-