Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 May 24

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May 24

Missing Album

I am trying to find an album which I believe was released in the mid 80's. The genre is similar to Joan Baez; Judy Collins; Joni Mitchell etc. The album cover is mostly whit and shows the artist standing on a street in Autumn with a large hat. My memory is sketchy on the details such as the album cover being mostly white, my mind's eye recalls it as such but I may be mistaken. I discovered Judy Collins yesterday in my search for this album, and was sure it must be her, but alas it does not appear in her discography. I know the details are vague, any help that can be provided would be deeply appreciated. Anton 81.131.40.58 (talk) 08:35, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Are you sure about the mid-80s part? The heyday of those singers was the '60s and '70s. The mid-80s was not a great time for sensitive female singer-songwriters, except for Suzanne Vega, and it's not her. --Viennese Waltz 09:33, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Quite right, its not Suzanne Vega! I recall this as being in the mid eighties when my mother told me hat this was her favourite album and artist of all time. The woman in the picture is wearing a dress and hat reminiscent of the early 80's. Thanks

Do you have an approximate age of the singer? There were young singers, such as Tiffany and Debbie Gibson (who had a thing for hats) as well as older singers such as Joan Jett and Bonnie Raitt. Having an approximate age would help a great deal in narrowing it down. 12.207.168.3 (talk) 12:38, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

• I was looking up other singer-songwriters from the 1980s I could think of, like Mary Chapin Carpenter and Lucinda Williams and Sophie B. Hawkins and Kate Bush, and none of them have album covers like you describe. Still hunting though. --Jayron32 14:19, 24 May 2019 (UTC)
• Damn. I think I have it. Is it Carly Simon's No Secrets? It's a decade earlier than your requirement, it was released in the 1970s, but otherwise checks off all of the boxes: female singer-songwriter, mostly white, giant hat, vaguely autumnal. --Jayron32 14:31, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

My God Man! That's amazing Jayron! Someone buy this man a beer! Anton 81.131.40.58 (talk) 14:40, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Sigh. I would have got that if I hadn't been misdirected by the false mid-80s claim. I said in my first post that the album was probably from the 60s or 70s, not the 80s. And I thought of Carly Simon and went through all of her album covers from the 80s, but didn't go back as far as the 70s. --Viennese Waltz 14:46, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Further claiming that a basic 60s folksy floppy hat is "reminiscent of the early 80's". Hats were not popular at all in the 80s. There were flashes of fads, such as Madonna's beret and Roth's fedora, but nothing stuck. 12.207.168.3 (talk) 16:12, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Au contraire, mon frère, the 80s had their hat trends, as any other decade did, some rather notable ones include the painter's cap, which you couldn't swing a dead cat in 1988 without hitting someone wearing one of those, and that black hat that Debbie Gibson made a thing in in like 1986-1987. --Jayron32 17:58, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

That's as may be, but the hat worn by Carly Simon in that picture was not at all reminiscent of the 80s. Furthermore, none of the 80s female singers who wore hats were of the singer-songwriter genre. --Viennese Waltz 19:42, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Yes, but fashion in the 80's was just generally cringe-worthy, like pleated polka-dot skirts and big hair