Phil Spector was the producer of this album, and so you get the full array of (over) instrumentation the Wall of Sound necessitates. The horns sound slightly squashed, however, such as on In and Out of the Shadows, and the overall sound quality isn't what I'd have expected. In photography terms, it's all very soft focus, without much definition.
The songs themselves have some merit, with the title track having a cracking sax solo. However, numbers as trite and boring as (He's Goth the Whole World) In His Hands is almost offensively lazy. Make The Woman Love Me is ponderous, and New York City Song is what would happen if Simon and Garfunkel had written a song title, then left the lyrics and musical content to a very drunk contingent of Bee Gees. Only You Know is half decent, although the production manages to sap much of the life out of it, and In And Out of the Shadows demonstrates that Dion has some decent pipes, and some great sax and guitar licks, but even those I've struggled to pull out of the squall of sound.
All of these shortcomings can be overcome by excellent songs, but it's here that the album ultimately fails. Whilst not bad, offensive, or offensively bad, they fall firmly in the 'meh' category of forgettable. Even after hearing the album through at least ten times, I could barely name more than three songs off it. It's an album whose presence on the list I can't fully grasp, given it's lack of notable, well, anything. In many ways, I wish he had continued to bypass me.
Chloe's album rating: 4
Chloe's favourite track: 5. Only You Know
Olly's album rating: 4
Olly's favourite track: 7. In And Out of the Shadows
Next week's album is 598. Introducing the Hardline by Terence Trent D'Arby.
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