Customer Reviews

Lovers Concerto

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We were watching "It's a Bikini World" (1966) on TV, truly one of the 1960s most inspired and subversive youth films. Stephanie Rothman directed a cheapo cast including Bobby Pickett, Tommy Kirk (in two roles, hip and square) and the one and only Deborah Walley, and in true BEACH PARTY fashion the film manages to incorporate many great pop acts of the day. This one has Eric Burdon singing "We've Got to Get Out of This Place," the Castaways with their catchy "Liar Liar" number, and many more, a few of which have cerainly not stood the test of time, yet such is the energy of "It's a Bikini World" that viewers forgive all sins. Anyhow the Toys appeared and my heart went right out the window. I had almost forgotten about them, but when they sang their second hit "Attack" in the film a whole era came back. The lead singer Barbara Harris is, to make a long story short, among the half dozen most distinctive voices of the century.

I can see why, or so it is said, the Supremes felt threatened when "A Lover's Concerto" hit the airwaves in the autumn of 1965, and had their songwriters attempt to imitate the successful Toys formula, which to my ears melds together the falsetto and horns sound of the Four Seasons with a gospel "realness." White America, I suppose, felt reassured at hearing that "A Lover's Concerto" took its melody from a Bach piece, as though to reiterate that in a time of seething social change and anger, black people were appreciating the dead white males and their "timeless" music. Anyhow the Supremes hit right back with "I Hear a Symphony" but if you ask me, it's not half as good as the song it seeked to ape. And when the Toys released "Attack" a few months later they launched one of the strangest and most incandescent pop records of all time.

"All's fair in love and war," sing the Toys, and the real message seems to be, "All's fair in pop." Barbara Harris tries to wrap herself around the lilting, twisty, difficult melody, but she's no perfectionist, for I imagine that to properly sing the octave climbing melody of "Attack" you would have to record it one note at a time, the way Dusty Springfield was said to record. Harris attacks the tune as though her life depended on it, and if her hold on some of the notes seems slippery, it's all the more beautiful because you feel something is at risk. Yes, she's straining, and in "It's a Bikini World" even her miming looks uncomfortable, but if you think Tina Turner sang "River Deep Mountain High" with conviction, you're talking pallid imitation of Barbara Harris in ATTACK! River Deep and Attack also share a similar lyrical mise-en-scene, the singer talking about a love that has lasted through childhood, a love that time has made stronger than time itself, a sinewy vine that simply cannot be severed or cleaved. The other Toys provide suitable support, they're lovely, but really the song belongs body and soul to the lead singer, and eternal star, Barbara Harris (not the white actress whom I also like).

You know you've heard it. It starts "How gentle is the rain that fa-alls softly on the me-hed-ows.." to the tune of Bach's Minuet in G...evvy schoolkid's basic piano lesson. Two of the three ladies were originally from North Carolina, the third was found in high school in Jamaica, NY...they got together and did the corner vocals and talent show thing til one day they gathered enuff snuff to strut inta the famous Brill Building, the assembly line factory for many a famous songwriters, producers, teenage acts, etc. Essentially it is where Goffin met King and they wrote tunes for the Sherelles, the Chiffons, et al--songwriters like Lieber/Stoller and producers like Phil Spector marketed teenaged angst on vinyl 45s....Anyway, they somehow got with Bob Crewe and "Working My Way Back To You" writers Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell and lickety split, they came up with "A Lovers Concerto", their biggest hit. But, they did a lot of other jams, too--one, "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby", wound up first on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' original "Working My Way Back To You" LP, and here in recent times it has been done by the neo-alternatives Smash Mouth. "Attack" and "May Your Heart Be Cast Unto Stone" were minor hits with that same bouncy pop production. They are aged well with time. Innocent but not insulting...And I remember "See How They Run" as a local favorite....this is a truly rare and classix album.

The Toys are a beautiful girl group from the mid-1960's. My favorite one from the Toys is "A Lover's Concerto". I may not had been around when it was hit in late 1965. I recall listening to it as a kid in late 1985 on the radio. I found it a very nice song. I didn't know who they were at all. In late 2000 (by then 15 years later), that's when I found it was the Toys. I bought the Toys CD in late 2001. The only one around in the Milwaukee Metro Area. I'm so glad to have it in the archives. There are no decent girl groups in recent years. Only one for 2006/2007 would be Cherish (Do It To It and Unappreciated). That's it. The Toys and others will do until a good girl group come out.

I bought this CD mainly for the big hit "A Lover's Concerto" which I fell in love with when I heard it played at a friends Bridal Shower more than twenty years ago. I was also won over by a few of the other songs such as: ATTACK, BABY TOYS and MAY MY HEART BE CAST INTO STONE. Great 60's girl group!

The Toys are a girl group that made only one album, but what an album it is! All the songs are written by Linzer and Randell, and it's as though they prepped for the project by ingesting all the great music of the era. There are hints of Motown, classic girl group, guitar pop, Frankie Valli, and Ray Charles in the writing and arranging. The material is strong from get to go, and the groups vocals are exquisite, making this my favorite single-artist (i.e. not a compilation of different groups singles) girl-group album.

I happened to be on 'Youtube' one day and out of nowhere came the song 'Attack'! I had heard of The Toys before and I know their hit song 'A Lover's Concerto' but I had never heard 'Attack'. The group sounds a little bit like 'The Four Seasons' (with the high falsetto of Frankie Valli) on the chorus of 'Attack'. I like the catchy words to the songs. 'This Night' is another tune that represents the class and real talent of the writers and singers of the 'girl group' period in popular music. 'Can't Get Enough Of You Baby' really should have been a hit, it sounds a little like something that Motown would have put out on The Marvelettes or Martha & The Vandellas. This CD gave me a new perspective on The Toys and a greater respect for their talent and their place in American popular music. The Toys should be including in the next induction of Cleveland's 'Rock & Roll Hall of Fame' (along with The Marvelettes). Excellent recording.

The Toys sing "A Lover's Concerto and Attack!" is thirty-seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds long and was originally released as a vinyl album in 1966. The CD version was released on November 1, 1994 by Sundazed Records with two bonus songs. The last two songs on this album were to be released on the group second album which was never released. A Lover's Concerto and Attack! Reached #92 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and #2 on the Black Albums chart. To call the group a one hit wonder would be a mistake since they had six songs that charted. Silver Spoon and Sealed with a Kiss, which are not included in this CD, are the other two songs that charted. I found the music is very enjoyable to listen to and makes me want very much for the music of yesteryear. The Toys sing "A Lover's Concerto and Attack!" gets an AAAAA+++++.

Can't Get Enough of you Baby
Deserted
See How They Run*
Hallelujah
I Got A Man
A Lover's Concerto
#2 Billboard Hot 100
#4 Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles
#1 Cashbox
What's Wrong With Me Baby*
Yesterday
Baby's Gone*
This Night
Back Street*
Attack
#18 Billboard Hot 100
Baby Toys
#76 Billboard Hot 100
May My Heart Be Cast Into Stone
#85 Billboard Hot 100

An asterisk means that it is a mono\stereo recording

I am a fan of the Toys because as a child while my father was stationed in Germany, I would lay on the floor listening to A Lover's Concerto while the downstairs neighbors would play it repeatedly...

An O.K. nostalgia CD which is probably worth owning just to obtain their biggest hit single - "A LOVER'S CONCERTO" which is probably the best track on this CD. Also included is the follow-up single to "Concerto" entitled "Baby Toys" which is listenable but otherwise none of the other tracks are memorable I'm afraid.
Also included is the original version of "What's wrong with me baby ?" which went on to become a big Northern Soul Classic via the INVITATIONS version which was enormously popular in the clubs and dancehalls of the day.
Nice to have in your collection if you're a nostalgia buff like myself, so grab it whilst you can as it is quite a sought-after and perhaps even hard-to-obtain CD.