Поет Аманда Лир (Sings Amanda Lear)

THE ALBUM FIRST

Never Trust A Pretty Face, which was the basis for the album Поет Аманда Лир (Sings Amanda Lear), was released in 1979 on Ariola. It was Amanda Lear's fourth studio album and arrived at the height of her commercial peak in Western Europe. Produced by Anthony Monn — the architect of her sound since Sweet Revenge — the record pushed her further into synth-driven disco territory while retaining the theatricality and spoken-word posturing that had made her a singular figure in the genre. It performed strongly in several European markets, continuing a run that had established Lear as one of the more distinctive voices in late-seventies European disco, operating well outside the Anglo-American mainstream. The Melodiya compilation Amanda Lear draws its tracklist predominantly from Never Trust A Pretty Face, making that 1979 album the primary source material for Soviet audiences encountering her work for the first time.

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ARTISTIC CONTEXT

Anthony Monn's production on Never Trust A Pretty Face is dense and precise — layered synthesisers, metronomic four-on-the-floor drum programming, and arrangements that treat Lear's voice less as a conventional pop instrument and more as a stylized centerpiece. The album leans harder into electronic textures than its predecessors, with tracks like "Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)" and "A Soldier's Story" demonstrating Monn's ability to build momentum through repetition and sonic architecture rather than conventional melodic development. Lear's spoken interjections and low, deliberate delivery gave the material a dramatic quality that translated well across language barriers — a fact that likely contributed to her sustained popularity in markets where English was not the primary language.

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THIS PRESSING

This Melodiya edition — catalogue number C60-13935-6 — was manufactured in the USSR as part of the label's ongoing programme of licensing Western popular music for domestic release. Melodiya issued a notable number of French and French-market artists throughout the late seventies and early eighties, and Lear, despite her multinational background, was primarily marketed and distributed through the French Ariola infrastructure, which placed her squarely within that category. The C60 prefix identifies this as a consumer-grade vinyl release in the standard Melodiya classification system.

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COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

Amanda Lear built a substantial following in the Soviet Union, where her brand of European disco — polished, slightly cold, and emphatically Continental — found a receptive audience through Melodiya releases and radio exposure. This pressing is one of the few officially sanctioned points of contact between Soviet listeners and her catalogue, and it remains the primary physical document of her popularity in that market. Collectors pursuing either Lear's discography comprehensively or the broader Melodiya catalogue of Western licences seek this out for both reasons simultaneously. The compilation format, drawing heavily from Never Trust A Pretty Face, also means it functions as an effective Soviet surrogate for that album in its own right.

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TRACK HIGHLIGHTS

• "Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)" — One of the most percussion-forward tracks from Never Trust A Pretty Face, built around a locked synth groove and one of Monn's tightest arrangements.
• "A Soldier's Story" — A dramatic centrepiece from the 1979 album that showcases Lear's spoken-word delivery at its most controlled and deliberate.