Mostly known as another one of those quite usual pair of names in the brackets, this pair of Rogers, Cook and Greenaway that is, enjoyed their own share of spotlight outside of the brackets too.
After none other than Sir George Martin himself, liked their own demo of The Fortunes’ You’ve Got Your Troubles among the “goods” they offered to the pop market through Tin Pen Alley, a two year collaboration followed, resulting in an album for both UK and US, as well as a whole bunch of singles, all released under the name of David and Jonathan.
Besides the re-recorded You’ve Got Your Troubles, there’s quite a few other titles that you might recognise, such as This Golden Ring (The Fortunes), Green Grass (Gary Lewis & The Playboys), Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart (Gene Pitney), but of course, the ones they kept just for themselves were just as great, most usually patterned halfway between Merseybeat and upbeat orchestrated pop confections as heard in How Bitter The Taste Of Love, Take It While You Can or A Little Like You.
Bye Bye Brown Eyes displays George Martin’s songwriting skill within the same format, spicing it up with a bit of a jazzy flavour too, the Clint Ballard-written Speak Her Name and another original called I Know, is a pair of slightly Spectorized big balladery in the vein of the “Righteous Walker Brothers”, The End Is Beginning seems like another one that urges for a Gene Pitney-treatment.
While I Got That Girl On My Mind and Lovers Of The World Unite both blend the first and the second half of the sixties, with the former being a fine crossover from the Mersey-flavoured ones to the forthcoming sunshiny sounds of The Turtles, and the latter being a folky thing catching up with the LOVE-ly surroundings of the moment.
The full blown harmony-pop sounds of Turn Around And Start Again and This Magic Book are already in full accordance with the times-a-changin’, as is You Ought To Meet My Baby which even provides an extra buzz with the fuzz, while Penthouse takes them even further, as far as Eastern-influenced popsike.
If you haven’t been doing so already, this one is sure to make you pay more attention whenever the Cook-Greenaway appears in the bracket.
[Released by RPM 2006]
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