| Candles in the Rain | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Melanie |
| Cover: | Canldes Rain Melanie.jpg |
| Released: | April 1970 |
| Studio: |
|
| Genre: | Pop |
| Label: | Buddah |
| Producer: | Peter Schekeryk |
| Prev Title: | Affectionately Melanie |
| Prev Year: | 1969 |
| Next Title: | Leftover Wine |
| Next Year: | 1970 |
Candles in the Rain is singer Melanie's third album. Released in 1970, the album produced Melanie's first Top Ten single in North America, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", which was inspired by the crowd's reaction to her performance at Woodstock. The cover of the Rolling Stones' 1967 song "Ruby Tuesday" reached the Top Ten in the United Kingdom.
In their review of the album, Billboard Magazine stated that "Melanie's song creations and vocal interpretations are widely popular in Europe, and with this LP her success in the U.S. should be assured. "Lay Down (Candles In the Rain)," with the Edwin Hawkins Singers, is her current single and the most exciting cut; other outstanding originals include "Leftover Wine" and "CitiestPeople." Her versions of "Ruby Tuesday" and "Carolina in My Mind" are definitive."[1]
Cashbox noted that the album "offers her strongest bid to date for album success with this beautifully poetic LP....Melanie should find herself on the charts with this excellent record."[2]
Allmusic stated that "this was where she seemed to truly hit the mark for the first time...If Candles in the Rain was the album that broke Melanie to a larger audience, it did so not just because it featured her biggest hit single to date, but because it matched material and interpretation with greater skill than she had in the past, and it ranks with her finest work."[3]
All songs written by Melanie Safka except where noted.
Some versions of the album substituted "Close to It All" for "Alexander Beetle", some versions have neither song.
On the original 1970 UK release by Buddah Records (2318009), "Lay Down" is given a timing of 3:49 on both label and sleeve notes as is quoted above. On this album, the track is in fact 7:44 minutes long (from direct timing), but was 3:49 on her Very Best of album.
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Albums Chart [4] | 17 |
| U.S. Cash Box Albums Chart [5] | 6 |
| Australian Albums Chart | 2 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 5 |
| German Albums Chart | 33 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 20 |
| UK Albums Chart[6] | 5 |
| Dutch Album Charts [7] | 4 |
| Chart | Title | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Cash Box Charts | "Lay Down" | 3 |
| U.S Billboard Hot 100 | "Lay Down" | 6 |
| Australian Charts | "Lay Down" | 2 |
| Canadian Charts | "Lay Down" | 1 |
| Netherlands Charts | "Lay Down" | 1 |
| U.S. Cash Box Charts | "Ruby Tuesday" | 34 |
| U.S Billboard Hot 100 | "Ruby Tuesday" | 52 |
| German Charts | "Ruby Tuesday" | 6 |
| Austrian Charts | "Ruby Tuesday" | 2 |
| Belgian Charts | "Ruby Tuesday" | 14 |
| Canadian Charts | "Ruby Tuesday" | 25 |
| UK Chart | "Ruby Tuesday" | 9 |
| Australian Charts | "Ruby Tuesday EP" | 70 |
| UK Singles Chart | "What Have They Done to My Song, Ma" | 39 |
| Norwegian Charts | "What Have They Done to My Song, Ma" | 6 |
| Belgian Charts | "What Have They Done to My Song, Ma" | 14 |