Jackie Trent

Jackie Trent's 1968 album (done in collaboration with Tony Hatch, who shares credit with Trent as the artist) was more material in a somewhat sub-Petula Clark mode. This time out, the duo focuses more on the work of other songwriters, most notably Roger Nichols and Tony Asher, as well as popular favorites by Paul Simon ("The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)") and standards such as "Let It Be Me." She and Hatch do well enough as vocalist and arranger/conductor, respectively -- "Love So Fine" is well worth hearing for its overall sound and arrangement; but Trent just isn't an interesting enough singer on most of this album to make this a compelling listen, except for '60s U.K. pop/rock completists. There are some great songs here, however -- in addition to the bright, spritely "Love So Fine," the ethereal Hatch/Trent original "Lazy Day" (which strongly resembles Fred Karlin/Dory Previn-authored "Come Saturday Morning," from the same year) which make this record a lot more interesting than the singing per se. One must, of course, balance that against dross such as the jaunty brass-and-strings-driven version of "Feelin' Groovy," though even the latter is pleasant enough in its middlebrow way. For very good reasons, the record didn't attract a lot of attention in 1968, but it contained so many of the attributes of good rock-focused pop of its period, that it now possesses what one may call contextual value, and may be worth owning on that basis alone, with any number of Petula Clark and Tom Jones albums of the same period (though those would outclass most of what's here, song for song). ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide