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5.0 out of 5 stars
British family group of the seventies, June 3, 2009
This review is from: Best of (Audio CD)
This group comprised three brothers, three sisters, the husband of one of the female Dooleys and an unrelated man. With Jim Dooley providing lead vocals, they had four hits in the British charts but their two biggest hits (Wanted, The chosen few) were with female lead vocals. Actually, despite my having a soft spot for female singers, I prefer the songs with Jim as the lead singer. Of the songs featuring female lead vocals, my favorites (Stone walls, Don't let me be the last to know) were recorded during the period when the hits featured Jim's lead vocals, but they didn't chart and may not have been released as singles.
With Jim as lead singer, the Dooleys only made the British top ten once, with Love of my life - it peaked at nine - by they came close with A rose has to die (my favorite Dooleys song) and Think I'm gonna fall in love with you (their first British hit). Two other singles with Jim as lead singer (Don't take it lying down, Honey I'm lost) gave them minor British hits during their main chart run. Following their two biggest hits (Wanted, The chosen few) , they had three further minor hits with female lead singers (Love patrol, Body language, And I wish) before disappearing from the British charts completely.
The song with the most interesting history on this compilation is Hands across the sea, which was recorded by Olivia Newton-John in 1974, along with five other songs that were voted on as possible Eurovision entries. Eventually, Long live love became the Eurovision entry (and Olivia ended up finishing fourth behind Abba) but all the other tracks appeared on Olivia's album, Long live love. The Dooleys had at one time hoped that Hands across the sea would be their debut single, but once the song had been entered for Eurovision, the plan was abandoned. Even though the Dooleys didn't have to compete with Olivia's version (which, of course, was never released as a single), the fact that the song had been submitted as a possible Eurovision entry damaged its prospects, whoever recorded it. Given that the Dooleys didn't chart for a further three years, it clearly took them a long time to find another song as good as Hands across the sea, which they eventually included on an album. Exactly why the public voted for Olivia to sing Long live love at Eurovision remains a mystery; Hands across the sea is a better song, whether sung by her or the Dooleys.
This compilation rounds up all the Dooleys hits and the best of their other recordings including all the songs that I've mentioned, but there are no liner notes. If you're into the music of the New Seekers and other similar groups, you might enjoy the music of the Dooleys.
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