All Dressed Up & No Place to Go

Nicolette Larson's final album for Warner Bros., All Dressed Up & No Place to Go, got her a fair amount of airplay and TV exposure, thanks to her hit version of "I Only Want to Be With You" -- a fairly daring move, considering that the Bay City Rollers had also charted with it as a single not too many years before. Larson's version is sparked by some pleasing guitar ornamentation by Andrew Gold and some achingly beautiful backing vocal flourishes on the fade, and only the '80s drumming sound dates it today. She attempted to make the jump from country singer to pop diva here, especially on "Just Say I Love You" and "I'll Fly Away (Without You)," and somehow it didn't take. The album isn't as strong as it might've been, and part of the problem involves the production, which mixes '80s-style electric drumming with country-pop sounds. Another, albeit minor weakness, involves Larson's own songwriting on "I Want You So Bad," which comes off as filler next to numbers like Lowell George's "Two Trains" -- a true highlight of this record. [Reissued on CD as a European import in the late '90s.] ~ Bruce Eder