Getting Access to The Gift Of Love by Marie Osmond
Mary Osmond recorded "The Gift Of Love" as her debut single in 1973, and it became a moderate country hit, reaching the Top 40 on the Billboard country chart. She was 13 years old at the time. If you're trying to find or obtain this track today, it is available through standard music channels. The song appears on her early Capitol Records catalog. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. I tend to grab these older tracks from Amazon or Qobuz when I want the best available bitrate, since the remastering quality varies across platforms. On Spotify the track is fine for casual listening, but the audio is noticeably compressed compared to the CD version. If you want to own a physical copy, the album This Is Your Time (1973) is the original release. It sometimes shows up on eBay or Discogs in the $5 to $15 range depending on condition. Be careful with listings that don't specify pressing details - some are CD reissues while others are original vinyl. I once picked up a "vinyl" listing that turned out to be a CD pressed onto a vinyl-style disc, which sounds exactly like a CD and is worthless if you have a turntable. Always check the product details before buying.
For digital ownership rather than streaming, Amazon MP3 and iTunes both sell the single or the full album. The MP3 is usually $1.29 per track or included in the album purchase. Bandcamp does not carry her catalog since this predates their platform by decades.
Audio Quality Notes
The original recording has that characteristic early-70s Nashville sound - clean production, restrained string arrangements, and Osmond's voice which was already technically strong for her age. The mastering on the Capitol reissues from the 1990s is decent but not warm. If you are sensitive to the overly bright mastering that was common in that era of CD remasters, you might prefer the vinyl pressing for a more natural frequency response. The difference is real but subtle - I would not call one version objectively better, just differently colored. There is no official FLAC or lossless digital release from Capitol for this particular track that I am aware of. The highest quality digital option remains the 16-bit/44.1kHz CD rip. If someone offers a "lossless download" on an unofficial site, it is likely just an MP3 with a .flac extension, which changes nothing about the audio quality. The song is also featured on several compilation albums over the years, so if you already own any Osmond greatest hits collection, check the tracklist before purchasing separately. I had two different compilations that both included this song, so I ended up gifting one to a friend.
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![O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" & 1978's "The Gift of Love" Marie Osmond & Timothy Bottoms](https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_facebook_share/images.spreaker.com/original/cdbee872496847e69ea09261f810ddb4.jpg "O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" & 1978's "The Gift of Love" Marie Osmond & Timothy Bottoms")
