A Time For Mercy

Jann Arden's debut, Time For Mercy, features 11 songs all focused on relationships, but with an uncommon intensity of commitment. When she sings the chorus of the passionate and intriguing "I Would Die For You," you believe every syllable – just as when she delivers the bad news of "I Just Don't Love You Anymore." Piano and Arden's own acoustic guitar work provide the main backing, with electric instrumentation adding subtle flourishes. Little Village drummer Jim Keltner anchors the rhythm section. A lonesome harmonica wail and the sweet bite of pedal steel color "We Do Strange Things" and "The Way Things Are Going" respectively. Strings are used to heighten the title track's emotional peak rather than drenching it in syrup.

Sounds of the Seventies was a 38-volume series issued by Time-Life during the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, spotlighting pop music of the 1970s. Much like Time-Life's other series chronicling popular music, volumes in the "Sounds of the Seventies" series covered a specific time period, including individual years in some volumes, and different parts of the decade (for instance, the early 1970s) in others; in addition, some volumes covered specific trends, such as music popular on album-oriented rock stations on the FM band. Each volume was issued on either compact disc, cassette or (with volumes issued prior to 1991) vinyl record.

The series was revived as "AM Gold" in 1995, with a different cover design (early volumes had an artist's drawing of a pocket transistor radio, with later volumes bearing a "gold record" with the year or era spotlighted emblazoned over the top). The first 20 volumes were re-titled issues of volumes from the former "Super Hits" series with identical track lineups, while new volumes covering the mid- and late-1970s (including individual volumes for each of the years 1974-1979) were included.

The series was revived as "AM Gold" in 1995, with a different cover design (early volumes had an artist's drawing of a pocket transistor radio, with later volumes bearing a "gold record" with the year or era spotlighted emblazoned over the top). The first 20 volumes were re-titled issues of volumes from the former "Super Hits" series with identical track lineups, while new volumes covering the mid- and late-1970s (including individual volumes for each of the years 1974-1979) were included.