CoronaVinyl Day 289 (I): Night Rains by Janis Ian

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "I," and the only album by an "I" artist I have left is Janis Ian's 11th studio album, 1979's Night Rains.

Singer-songwriter Ian got her start in the mid '60s, as a teenager, when she wrote "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)," a then-controversial song about interracial romance that went to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967.  She would score her next big hit eight years later with "At Seventeen," which went to #3 and won a Grammy.  Notably, she was the musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live in October 1975.

Before today, I knew very little about Ian or her music, so I had no idea what to expect from Night Rains.  It's a combination of pop, soft rock, disco, and country rock -- basically a perfect amalgamation of what was popular in 1979.  While she was the sole songwriter on all but three songs, on those other three songs, one was co-written with famed songwriter Albert Hammond (who is also the father of The Strokes' Albert Hammond, Jr.), and two were co-written by "The Father of Disco," Italian songwriter and producer Giorgio Moroder.  In addition, '80s movie score king Harold Faltermeyer plays the keyboards on several songs and famed jazz pianist Chick Corea plays on one song.  Some songs I like.  Other songs are not my bag.

The album didn't chart in the U.S., but it went to #2 on the album charts in The Netherlands and #11 in Australia.  And while none of the songs charted in the U.S., "Fly Too High," which was co-written and produced by Moroder -- and was featured on the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster-Scott Baio coming-of-age film Foxes -- was an international hit, going to #1 on the pop chart in South Africa and reaching the Top 10 on the pop charts in several other countries.

Ian continued making music with relative regularity, and even released an album this year.  She won another Grammy in 2013 for Best Spoken Word Album for her autobiography, Society's Child.  She is also a science fiction author, a regular contributor to The Advocate magazine, and an outspoken critic of the RIAA.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Fly Too High"
The aforementioned Moroder-produced "Fly Too High" is kind of a jazzy disco pop song, with some catchy trumpeting from seasoned session trumpeter Steve Madaio.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Lay Low"
This one has a funky intro, but then takes a little bit of a country rock turn.