Goffin And King (A Gerry Goffin And Carole King Song Collection 1961-1967) - Various Artists

Advantages: Dusty is the most soulful English female ever
Disadvantages: too many filler album tracks

...Blue for You is a budget releas on spectrum, and as is usual for these cds you pays your money you takes your choice. The good news is that all the songs are original recordings, the bad news is that by spanning the period from 1964 to 1972 without including all the hits the quality of the songs is variable. The theme of the album is lost love, and what all these songs have in common is Dusty's soulful voice letting you know how much she's hurting. The wide time period shows how Dusty's music changed over a decade from from much beat pop to more thoughtful numbers. The problem is that a lot of the later numbers sound as if they belong on a movie soundtrack rather than on a cd in their own right. There are several excellant songs here Bacharah and davids " I just don't know what to do with myself" or Goffin and Kings "will you love me... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: timeless pop
Disadvantages: none

...More of the Monkees, reissued on rhino records, was the Monkees 2nd album released just as they were hitting the big time containing most of the songs from the 1st TV series. Unfortunately the Monkees themselves were far from happy with this album, as everything was prerecorded and all they had to do was add the vocal tracks - so manufactured pop definately. But the quality of songs is very high, as would be expected with songwriters such as Goffin & King. But also interesting is the range of the songs suggesting that no-one knew quite how to sell the monkees. These range from the classic "Daydream believer" to 60's pop "look out here comes tomorrow" the novelty " Auntie Grizelda" Peter Tork's first lead vocal to the garage band "Mary, Mary" and "steppin Stone". All things to all fans - a classic... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: An impressive first step into rock 'n' roll
Disadvantages: Not all the songs are original, but they are well covered anyway

...Alexander's "Anna (Go to Him)", Gerry Goffin/Carole Kings' "Chains" and Luther Dixon/Wes Farrells' "Boys". Each showed the voal skills of all the Beatles, though people did wonder years later why Ringo was singing about boys! "Ask Me Why" was one of the first songs that Lennon wrote, and it is clear by comparison that he found writing a whole song more difficult earlier on that McCarntey did. By studying more how his idols such as Smokey Robinson and Arthur Alexander (included on this album) wrote improved his style later on, but this song does not flow perfectly and seems to have been reather "cut and paste", probably why it was relegated to only a B-side to "Please Please Me", which is the next song on the album. This provided them with their frist ever no.1. "Love Me Do" was the next song, and the version on the album... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful