The future isn't just one night - it's written in the moonlight

Continuing my trip back through the 1977 album charts.

03/04/77 : David Soul - David Soul

Oh good, our second visit with Mr Soul in a year.  Last time he wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting - and part of me thinks that because this was his breakthrough then maybe it will be better.  Maybe?

No.  Let me assure you it is not.  "Don't Give Up On Us" was his breakthrough and it's a decent enough cheesy song, but his voice is remarkably weak on it.  Most of the rest of it is not quite as good as that, but still bearable - except for his version of Leonard Cohen's "Bird On A Wire" which he absolutely murders and "Hooray For Hollywood" which is weird whilst also being impressively poor.  

And then there's "Kristofer David" which is so odd that I can only assume many mind-altering substances were involved - I've no idea what anyone involved was thinking in letting it see the light of day.  Having listened to this album, I'm quite surprised he got a second chance but I suspect the money that rolled in convinced a lot of people it was worth a shot.  I am loving the album cover vibe though!

We're at a relatively high placing of #15 in the chart this week on his twentieth week of a 27 week run, with it having peaked at #2 in its twelfth week - what WERE people thinking?!?  The top five this week were best-ofs from Frank Sinatra and The Shadows, ABBA , a Hollies best-of and a compilation called Heartbreakers which has got some decent enough tracks on it, but it's all 60s stuff which seems an odd thing to hit the top five, let alone spend seven weeks there including two weeks at #2.  The highest new entry this week was one from even older times - a Glenn Miller best-of (#20).

Obviously for such an incredibly successful album, Wikipedia has a whole two sentences on it - it came out in 1978 and earlier versions didn't have "Don't Give Up On Us" on it, which is far and away the best thing on the album.  For such a lightweight album, there are some heavyweight personnel involved - the names I recognise are Greg Errico (drummer from The Family Stone), Nicky Hopkins (did keyboards for The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and many others) and Taj Mahal (a well known US blues musician - not his birth name!).  It did OK commercially globally getting to #8 in Australia and #40 in the US, but it was only really over here that people went mad for it.

"Customers also listened to" Tony Christie, Leo Sayer, David Cassidy and The New Seekers - none of whom I would seek out.  But this album was really quite something - I'm actually pleased I listened to it just so I can say I've experienced it, but there's no danger of me venturing there again! 

27/03/77 - Does what it sets out to do
10/04/77 - Perfectly bearable and perfectly forgettable