THE VERY BEST OF ALBERT HAMMOND : To the average listeners, Albert Hammond is the singer of 'It Never Rains In Southern California', 'The Free Electric Band' or 'The Peacemaker', who for a brief while enjoyed big success in the early 1970s. I, for one, was always indignant that Albert Hammond did not get the respect he so richly deserved. Believe me, this man is a legend. For starters, what do you think artists like Leapy Lee, The Fortunes, The Pirkins ( 1960s ), The Hollies, Olivia Newton John, Art Garfunkel, Leo Sayer ( 1970s ), Starship, The Carpenters, Chicago ( 1990s ), Julio Iglesias, Bonnie Tyler, Whitney Houston and Rod Stewart have in common. Well, they all have hits with songs by Albert Hammond.His early albums sounds like demos for these artists to take their pick in covering his songs. Though he may be a more successful composer than a singer, there are some gems here delivered by the man. The three above mentioned songs and 'Down By The River', 'Rebecca', 'These Are The Good Old Days' and 'Half A Million Miles From Home'. Personally, I think his version of 'Moonlight Lady' is a much better version than Julio Iglesias. 'When I Need You' is of course the best song that Leo Sayer didn't write but I absolute hates Rod Steward's version of it. I am on the lookout for at least the first three albums of Albert Hammond. DOP : 27th March 1993.
I have forgotten about Albert Hammond! However, this post brings back my fond memories of Albert Hammond.
ReplyDeleteI owned 2 Albert Hammond's cassettees or CDs in the 80s. Besides the songs you mentioned in the post, another song that impressed me very much was "Your world and my world".
I agree that "Your World And My World" is a fine track. I don't have it on CD but I will get it in due time.
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