Heaven's Just a Prayer Away is a studio album by American singer, Norma Jean. It was released in January 1968 by RCA Victor and was her eighth studio album in her career. The disc was a collection of gospel songs featuring several cover tunes. It was received well by music publications who praised its song selection and vocal performance. The album reached the top-50 of the US country chart.
Background
Norma Jean was the duet partner of Porter Wagoner on his television show and had a series of commercially-successful country songs in the 1960s about working class people. Along with top-10 hits like "Go Cat Go" and a series of secular studio albums, she also had an album of gospel songs, which would be Heaven's Just a Prayer Away.[2] According to its liner notes, Heaven's Just a Prayer Away was cut recorded at the RCA "Nashville Sound Studio", which was also located in Nashville, Tennessee. The album was produced by Bob Ferguson and was engineered by Jim Malloy.[3] The product was a collection of 12 songs,[4] many of which were cut in an upbeat tempo like "There's a Higher Power" and "Supper Time".[1] Cover of popular gospel tunes are also included like "Precious Memories", "I Saw the Light" and "Farther Along".[5]
Heaven's Just a Prayer Away was released by RCA Victor in January 1968 and was Norma Jean's eighth studio album. It was offered in two vinyl LP formats: monaural or stereo.[3] It received positive reviews from music magazines after its release. Billboard wrote that it was "possibly one of the best albums of this nature by a country artist all year", crediting her vocals and song choices.[1] Cash Box called it "an excellent collection of gospel tunes and songs of faith" that gives "make quite an impression with the lark's voluminous following."[5] AllMusic did not write a written review but did give the product three out of five possible stars.[4] In 1968, Heaven's Just a Prayer Away peaked at number 44 on the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It was her lowest-charting album to make the country chart and also her seventh album to make the chart in her career.[6]
Track listing
Side two| Title | Writer(s) |
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| 1. | "There's a Higher Power" | | 2:26 |
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| 2. | "Where the Roses Never Fade" | - Elsie Osborn
- Jack Osborn
- Jim Miller
| 2:42 |
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| 3. | "Suppertime" | Ira Stanphill | 2:35 |
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| 4. | "Precious Memories" | J. B. F. Wright | 2:58 |
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| 5. | "A Gathering in the Sky" | | 1:53 |
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| 6. | "Heaven's Just a Prayer Away" | Tommy Tomlinson | 2:38 |
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References
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