Release Me

the take

“Release Me” is such an outlier of a debut album, especially in the heat of the British Invasion era. Not only did this album prevent the Beatles “Strawberry Fields” from claiming the number one position on Billboard 100 in January, 1967, but it also went on to sell over a million copies in its first week in the UK alone. Songs like “Ten Guitars” and “There’s A Kind Of Hush”, composed and arranged by Gordon Mills and Les Reed, have become iconic songs of yester-year. Release Me provided enough momentum single-handedly for Engelbert to continue on a 60+ year career in music, and he still sings the title single in his shows to this day.