Customer Reviews

Singing the Songs of Paul Ryan

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Buoyed by the success of their single 'Eloise', an international smash hit (though not in the USA), Paul & Barry set about to create a classic album to go with the single.

What they created was 'Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan' & it appeared in the shops in early 1969. A long luscious collection of songs done in a style that I think I can get away with calling 'Baroque Pop'. Lots of strings and warm melodies about love and girls with long hair. Barry had one of the most under-rated pop voices of '60's London, swinging from shrill and girlie for the choruses and confidently masculine for the lead vocals and everything else in-between.

A lot of the songs don't really make a lot of sense. This is very post-Procul Harum Sgt.Pepper era music. All the songs fall into each other. The fact that they often don't make a lot of sense doesn't matter. It's the sound and the quality of the tunes that will take you swirling back to 1969.

In reference to this CD, the sound reproduction is as good as anything I've heard. So often '60s music, reproduced on CD, sounds so inferior to the original production. This is absolutely NOT the case here.

The second album Paul & Barry produced, simply entitled: 'Barry Ryan,' although very beautiful in terms of production and orchestration is, for some reason, inferior to the first. It seems to lack warmth and it may be because many of the themes sway away from romantic love. It seems to be more about style than anything else. Though it is indeed stylish.

Anyway, wonderful to have both albums on this one CD. I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone who likes late '60s British Pop, though to the modern ear, I should think this sound might sound very strange indeed, but, wonderfully so.

Well, of-course back in 1968 the way to success was to make soupy string and trumpet pop. Make it sound like it was recorded in a Blue Whale's stomach, and, Wallah! Out comes a hit.

But that would be to discredit such a great song as "Eloise". Truly. It's one of those, you know, classics, that genuinely is classic. And you might not be surprised that a late-60's artist would make an album of dreamy, sophisticated, classical-music pop. But you might be surprised that there isn't more stuff like this; it just sounds so great.

It's the execution, more than anything else, which is questionable. The first album here is SO souped up the vocals often drown in a rich gravy of strings and silly backing vocals. And if you can't hear the vocals, or understand them, you wouldn't know if the singer was berating your family's name or ridiculing your meager income (not that Barry Ryan would do that!).

But if you like Eloise, definitely get this set. "Why do you cry my love?", "The colour of my love" and "You don't know what you're doing" are all fantastic classical-psych and the second album is full of gems, and is actually a better album, as it has a better production and is more consistent; despite a few terrible experiments, like "The Hunt", where the dream turns into a nightmare, and the fwuffy wabbits grow big teeth and run after Elmer and Alice with bayonets.

Otherwise, this album is like star-gazing on a glorious night.

There are two bonus tracks that have a more realistic production and are more litsenable, showing up the flaws in the studio albums.

Rating:
"Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan" - 3 stars
"Barry Ryan" - 3.5 stars
overall - 3.5 stars