"I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" by NORMA TANEGA – 1971 Second Studio Album on RCA Victor Records UK (no US issue) featuring Musician Mike Maran, Producer Don Paul and Arranger Nick Harrison (31 January 2025 UK Ace Records Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Four Bonus Tracks - Two 1971 Library Music Rarities and Two Previously Unreleased – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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RATINGS:

Overall ****

Audio ****

Presentation *****

"…Fragments Of You And Me…"

Bubbly and giggling Californian Norma Tanega was famously a London lover to Britain's Dusty Springfield for five years (late Sixties to the early Seventies) when such a relationship was both physically dangerous and a very definite commercial no-no (Dusty lived in terror of being outed). And in the last five years especially (we are here in January 2025) – her Lesbian Love Letter Album to Dusty has acquired hero worship amongst lost-gems aficionados. And at times you can hear why.

Despite its rather caustic and oddly unmemorable title – Norma's "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" album is a deeply romantic homespun Folk outing with some Sunshine Pop, Baroque and Chamber Music Harpsichord flourishes that feel more Flowers In My Hair 1967 than Led Zeppelin 1971 where levees are breaking to the sound of whacked drum kits. It doesn't help either that five of its sixteen tracks are kind of pointless instrumentals or that one only-ok song is represented twice ("What More In This World Could Anyone Be Living For"). For me to appreciate the vibe better – I programmed my own Norma Tanega album (you can see the list below) – and that – even if I say so myself - is a very lovely thing indeed.

When this second studio album of hers was released in the late spring of 1971 by RCA Records UK (no one seems to know its actual release date, probably May or June 1971) - a confused and probably disinterested RCA had already floated the songs "Nothing Much Is Happening Today" and "Antarctic Rose" as a 45-single in April 1971 on RCA Victor RCA 2072. But it sold zip and is now as rare as the Vinyl LP. There is not nor has there been an US equivalent of the album and the single was UK-only too in 1971. In fact, up until this point, Norma was famous for one chart 45 in February 1966 in the States on New Voice Records called "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" which was a minor hit (March 1966 in the UK on Stateside SS 496). 

In the booklet - the few trade newspaper reviews Ace were able to reproduce make much of her five-year absence from the music scene – describing her as a nomad. In fact - as you read the tiny newspaper print - you can feel the reviewer fighting the inherent negativity in the 45-single song title used to promote the album - "Nothing Much Is Happening Today" - by calling her new music on RCA as not nothing much – but actually good. Truth was (as Bob Stanley gleans in the liner notes) - the LP would have been and was hard to market given its scattergun approach – too many instrumentals and not enough radio-friendly three-minute ditties to coax the Top of the Pops crowds. So - forgotten it was - probably in UK remainder bins by November 1971 with a 'drastically reduced to 78p' sticker stuck on its laminate sleeve. 

There was a May 2022 Norma Tanega 2CD/2LP compilation called "I'm The Sky: Studio and Demo Recordings 1964-1971" issued on Anthology Recordings ARC084 (Barcode 184923608427) that scattered most of the album across two discs - but this 31 Jan 2025 variant appears to be the first reissue on CD of the album proper. So old Ace Records of the UK have pulled off a wee bit of a coup here by being the first company to reissue the album "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" on CD - and this time - as a Remastered 'Expanded Edition' with Four Bonus Tracks – two of which are from an uber rare Library Music LP (also 1971) and the other two are Previously Unreleased.

A word to the wise first. In the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide of 2018 (not so long ago) – this album is not even listed at a value of £15. How time has changed. Enterprising dealers and Folk-Prog Folk-Pastoral seekers have stumbled on an album I couldn't give away in the racks of Reckless in Soho for decades and are now asking £400 or more on auction sites. Is it worth that much wonga on original vinyl – no not really. But is it any good? I say a relieved yes - especially in a selected-songs program mode that cuts out some of the faff (more of that at the end of the review). Let's get to the details…

UK released Friday, 31 January 2025 - "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" by NORMA TANEGA on Ace Records CDTOP 1653 (Barcode 029667111522) is a 20-Track CD Reissue and Remaster of her 16-Track 1971 UK album on RCA Victor Records (unissued in the USA) with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (51:07 minutes):

1. Now Is The Time [Side 1]
2. Beautiful Things
3. Illusion
4. Cowfold (Instrumental)
5. Magic Day
6. Hampton Court (Instrumental)
7. What More In The World Could Anyone Be Living For (Version 2)
8. Clapham Junction (Instrumental) [Side 2]
9. Elephants Angels And Roses
10. Antarctic Rose 
11. Stranger
12. Barrell Organ Blues (Instrumental)
13. Nothing Much Is Happening Today
14. What More In This World Could Anyone Be Living For (Version 1)
15. Upper Osterley (Instrumental)
16. A Goodbye Song
Tracks 1 to 16 are her second studio album "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" – released (May or June) 1971 on RCA Victor SF 8217 in the UK (no US issue). Produced by DON PAUL – it did not chart

BONUS TRACKS:
17. Barrel Organ
18. Alternator Man
19. Upside Down Town 
20. Magic Day (Demo)

NOTES:
Two of the four bonus tracks on this CD reissue (Tracks 17 and 18) were originally part of three instrumentals featured on a 1971 24-Track UK Library Music LP called "Period/Pastoral/Solo Instruments – Moog/Dramatic" on Standard Music Library ESL/121. The other (third) instrumental was "Cowfold" – which showed up on Side 1 of the "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" LP

Side 1 of that Library Music LP was called "Period/Pastoral/Solo Instruments" while Side 2 was "Moog/Dramatic" – her three were on Side 1. Track 19 of the Bonuses is another harpsichord instrumental called "Upside Down Town" while Track 20 "Magic Day (Demo)" is also Previously Unreleased. The Demo of "Magic Day" is a Vocal Take with less instruments than the LP cut. Just as lovely as the issued ballad on the album - for me "Magic Day (Demo)" is undoubtedly the prize previously unreleased track on this timely CD reissue/remaster.

Long-standing Audio Engineer for Ace Records NICK ROBBINS has done the transfers and the Audio is sweet – warm and lovely – as much of the album demands. For sure there are some ragged top-end edges here and there – but for the main – this feels like an upgrade of a forgotten album that deserves audio TLC. BOB STANLEY handles the liner notes to the 12-page booklet and gives an excellent history of her career whilst quoting references on the recordings – singles pictured between the text etc. The usual bang-up-job from Ace. To the music…

The idea that this is a lost classic or masterpiece is stretching credulity for me. But – and I do mean this – I have re-sequenced the album into 11 tracks instead of its original cluttered 16 and included in that rejigger is a repeat of the "Magic Day" track albeit in Demo form. I use only one instrumental of the five on the original (wasted spaces in my mind), dropped the two versions of "What More In This World Could Anyone Be Living For", added the Demo Version of "Magic Day" (to make that the doubled-up track instead). The album title comes from lyrics in "Illusion" and reflects the romanticism of the lyric-songs. 

The album opens with "Now Is The Time" – an attempt at a singer-songwriter Rock Song maybe ala Carole King or even Vinegar Joe – but the electric guitars feel heavy-handed on what is essentially a Folk album. Thankfully better is to come. "Beautiful Things" and "Illusion" are where the LP lights up – sweet and heartfelt ballads that employ strings and the musical talents of Mike Maran – the man who oversaw the whole LP (his reminiscences of recording are in the booklet). The first of five instrumentals rears its intrusive head - "Cowfold" having been used on the Library Music LP described above that also appeared in 1971. The only instrumental I have time for here is "Clapham Junction" - a harpsichord ditty that features her infectious giggle and laugh (Ace used it on the "London A to Z…" CD compilation of 2023 curated by Bob Stanley). Again, things pick up.

As I play this truly warm Remaster of "Magic Day" – it is a gorgeous song and should have been the single - "…I am so very happy…to be able to call you my friend…" and "…evening rainbows shine across her face…ring around the sun the world is falling into place…" and "…you gave me a dazzling day…a sky full of music and fairytale delights…" It is one of the sweetest and most celebratory Gay love songs I have ever heard. The demo in the bonuses is just as beautiful. There is a slight harshness to the acoustic guitars of "Antarctic Rose" – a tale of blue lips and minus ten degrees below in Iceland – Aurora Borealis lights enchanting and lonely at the same time. 

There is little doubt about the depth of her love in the Harpsichord gorgeous and upbeat "Elephant Angels And Roses" – lyrics like "…I think about you…angels inside awake when I touch you…everything I see is a fragment of you and me…" or how about "…love is a playground…world is a big zoo…elephants mingle with angels and roses…love is you…" There is a slightly fazed soft trippy Sunshine Pop acoustic guitar touch to "Stranger" – her song full of empathy – full moon tenderly. 

So, there you have it. Not quite the undiluted masterpiece of yesterday dealers are assuring you it is - but nonetheless - there is a loveliness and charm to Norma Tanega's "I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile" that just couldn't happen in a sinister-ridden 2025. And with a decent Audio Remaster and booklet that explains and appreciates - once again Ace Records of the UK have done collectors a solid. 

Innocently, perhaps even naively, Norma sang back in the mists of 1971 "…I am a stranger to this time…but the space of loving knows no tears…" just before her union with that beautiful British icon ended a few years later. This disc captures some of that 'Magic Day' that lasted five years. Investigate...

PS: Controversy time - my suggested 11-Track 'alternate album' by Norma Tanega is called "The You Of Us". Makes for such a lovely listen. You can sequence it from the CD tracks suggested below (total playing time of 33:04 minutes).

Side 1 (Program CD Tracks 2, 3, 8, 5 and 10):
1. Beautiful Things
2. Illusion
3. Clapham Junction (Instrumental)
4. Magic Day
5. Antarctic Rose

Side 2 (Program CD Tracks 9, 11, 13, 1, 20 and 16):
1. Elephants Angels And Roses
2. Stranger
3. Nothing Much Is Happening Today
4. Now Is The Time
5. Another Magic Day
6. A Goodbye Song

PPS: Why is the Fly Records logo on the rear inlay of this Ace CD?