Clean Cut is the fourteenth solo studio album by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. The album was released in March 1984 on MCA Records and was produced by Tom Collins. It was one of two studio albums Mandrell released in 1984.

Background and content

Clean Cut was recorded in January 1984 at the Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Like Mandrell's previous releases, the album contained 10 tracks. Most of the song's themes were built around the traditional working class country music perspective but had a country pop arrangement. Songs such as "Only a Lonely Heart Knows", "Happy Birthday Dear Heartache", and "I Can Depend on You" had a significant pop-sounding arrangement. Like most of Barbara's MCA output, Clean Cut was only ever issued on a long-playing record, with five songs per side.

Release

Unlike her previous releases, Clean Cut spawned three singles in 1984. "Happy Birthday Dear Heartache" was the first single from the album released in January 1984. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Magazine Country Singles Chart and No. 18 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. The second single, "Only a Lonely Heart Knows" was issued in May 1984 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart and became her final number one hit on the Canadian Country chart. "Crossword Puzzle" was the third and final single released from the album, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Country chart, becoming her first single since 1981 to miss the Top 10 on the chart. Clean Cut was also released in 1984 and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Magazine Top Country Albums chart and peaked outside the Billboard 200 albums chart, reaching No. 204.

Track listing

Side one Side two

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles