Consumer Guide Album

Helen Reddy: I Am Woman [Capitol, 1972]
The hit added many instruments and one conciliatory stanza to the debut-LP version, which may be the way the Grammy bounces but is also how Reddy's feeling these days. She is wife, with baby son and marital crisis behind her, and she's enjoying her success. Tom Catalano's discreet schlock is right for a celebration of connubial privacy like Kenny Rankin's "Peaceful" because it implies the affluence underlying her domestic contentment. This time, at least, the production doesn't drown out Reddy's essential intelligence, compassion, and confidence. But avoiding complacency may prove a problem. B