Mr. Walker, It's All Over!
Studio album by
Billie Jo Spears
ReleasedMay 1969 (1969-05)
RecordedJanuary 1969 (1969-01)
StudioColumbia Studio
Genre
LabelCapitol
ProducerKelso Herston
Billie Jo Spears chronology
The Voice of Billie Jo Spears
(1968)		 Mr. Walker, It's All Over!
(1969)		 Miss Sincerity
(1969)
Singles from Mr. Walker It's All Over!
  1. "Mr. Walker, It's All Over"
    Released: March 1969

Mr. Walker, It's All Over! is a studio album by American country artist, Billie Jo Spears. It was released in May 1969 on Capitol Records. It was the second studio album of Spears's career and her second with Capitol. The disc contained 11 tracks that mixed both original material with cover tunes. The title track was the only single featured on the disc. The song reached the top ten of the North American country charts, while also climbing to minor chart positions on the pop charts. The album itself reached charting positions on the American country survey. AllMusic gave the disc four of five stars in its review of the album.

Background and recording

Billie Jo Spears had been attempting to have commercial success in the country genre. After a failed run of singles on United Artists Records, she moved to Capitol Records with the assistance of producer, Kelso Herston. It was at Capitol that Spears broke through with the top ten single, "Mr. Walker, It's All Over".[2] The song would serve as the name for Spears's second studio album on the Capitol label. The project was recorded at the Columbia Studio, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Sessions were produced by Kelso Herston in January 1969.[3]

Content

Mr. Walker, It's All Over! was a collection of 11 tracks.[1] Compositions featured writing credits from Dallas Frazier, Ed Bruce, Merle Haggard and Spears's friend, Jack Rhodes. According to the liner notes, the album was a concept project that focused on songs about working women and women overcoming obstacles with male partners.[3] The title track was among these songs, which described how a New York City secretary faces sexual harassment and discrimination in the work place.[4] A similar song about secretaries was the track, "The Price I Pay to Stay". In the song, "Tips and Tables", a woman is characterized as a "deserted young mother".[3] Spears also covers Tammy Wynette's number one country single, "Stand by Your Man",[5] and Johnny Nash's top 40 pop single, "Hold Me Tight".[6]

Release, chart performance, reception and singles

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Mr. Walker, It's All Over! was released by Capitol Records in May 1969. It was the second studio album released in Spears's career and her second with the Capitol label. It was distributed as a vinyl LP, featuring six songs on "Side A" and five songs on "Side B".[3] The disc debuted on America's Billboard Top Country LP's chart in May 1969. It spent a total of six weeks there, reaching the number 26 position by June 1969. It was Spears's first studio album to enter the chart and its highest-charting album until 1975.[7]

Mr. Walker, It's All Over! received a positive response from AllMusic's Greg Adams, who rated it four out of five stars. Adams found that the title track not the only quality track on the disc: "The rest of the album is by no means filler. It's a quite strong set of material, hewing to the gutsier side of late-'60s country-pop, with Spears proving herself as one of the tougher, harder-edged, commercial country singers of the era."[1] The only single included was the title track and was originally issued by Capitol in March 1969.[8] The song climbed to number four on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart,[9] number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100,[10] number ten on Canada's RPM Country chart[11] and number 85 on the RPM Top Singles chart.[12]

Track listing

Side one[3]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Mr. Walker, It's All Over"Gene Crysler2:59
2."Keep Me from Cryin' Today"Merle Haggard2:42
3."Look Out Your Window"
2:39
4."Tips and Tables"
  • Henry Ebner
  • Rhodes
2:54
5."Stand by Your Man"
2:30
6."Hold Me Tight"Johnny Nash2:10
Side two[3]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."That Man"
2:33
2."My Arms Stay Open Late"
2:10
3."Thanks for Hangin' Round, World"
  • Buddy Lacky
  • Rhodes
2:20
4."You Couldn't Even Light His Candle"Dallas Frazier2:25
5."The Price I Pay to Stay"Ed Bruce2:10

Chart performance

Chart (1969) Peak
position
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[13] 26

Release history

Region Date Format Label Ref.
North America May 1969 Vinyl Capitol Records [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Unterberger, Richie. "Mr. Walker, It's All Over: Billie Jo Spears: Songs, reviews, credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  2. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Billie Jo Spears Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Spears, Billie Jo (May 1969). "Mr. Walker, It's All Over! (Disc Information)". Capitol Records. ST-224 (LP); ST-8-0224 (Club Edition).
  4. ↑ Bufwack, Mary A.; Oermann, Robert K. (2003). Finding Her Voice: The History of Women in Country Music. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press. pp. 271–272. ISBN 978-0826514325.
  5. ↑ "Billboard Magazine - November 23, 1968" (PDF). American Radio History. Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "Johnny Nash, "Cupid" Chart Positions". Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  7. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1997). Joel Whitburn's Top Country Albums: 1967-1997. Record Research Inc. ISBN 0898201241.
  8. ↑ Spears, Billie Jo (March 1969). ""Mr. Walker, It's All Over"/"Tips and Tables" (Single Information)". Capitol Records. 2436.
  9. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. various.
  10. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2000). Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Singles 1955-1999. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research. p. various.
  11. ↑ "Search results for "Billie Jo Spears"". RPM. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  12. ↑ "Search results for "Billie Jo Spears" under Top singles". RPM. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Billie Jo Spears Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
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