Old Enough to Forget

As a kid the coolest name to say outloud that wouldn't get you into trouble was Engelbert Humperdink. I could not figure out how adults were able to take this British helmet haired crooner seriously. I mean as soon as I heard, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Engelbert Humperdinck." I'd just lose it. Hump a dink, ha ha ha. In my twenties, my roommate had an Engelbert Humperdinck album, and every once in a while he'd appear in the living room in a black velvet smoking jacket and proclaim it was time for some Humperdinck. "Release Me"was fine, "Quando Quando Quando" was good, but we'd loose our collective shit and belt out "Lonely is a Man without Love" and then prance around. I never said I was mature, and for whatever reason I had developed a begrudging respect for Mister Hump a dink as a fine vocalist. I'll also be the first to admit that there's a generic quality to his vocals that make him hard to distinguish from many of his con...

This is the North American release of Himself that added his signature song "Alone Again (Naturally)" and changed up the cover art. Now Gilbert looked like Archie Andrews (without the ginger hair and freckles) rather than a street urchin from a Charlie Chaplin movie. If you didn't like the long haired freaky people, here was Gilbert, a dapper figure in his letter sweater looking like was just waiting to help an old lady cross the street to add to his collection of merit badges. This is a rather strange album. For me the draw was "Alone Again (Naturally)" with his double tracked vocal and  Paul McCartney infused delivery. The srupy string arrangement hearkened back to another time, but it sure was a great song. Even now this is a piece of pop magic, and it brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye when I hear it - it makes me think about my dad. So I was more than a little curious when I got this from the bargain bin. It's not a throw away bubble gum alb...

For a buck I'll pretty much take a chance on stuff that I'd normally ignore. The Sandpipers felt familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it - but I figured it was going to be an easy listening experience that would be in the same vein as "Up, Up and Away" by The 5th Dimension ... yeah, for all the reverence Jimmy Webb gets as a songwriter, particularly his collaborations with Glen Campbell - it was a surprise the goofy balloon song was a Webb composition. Well, I came home and cleaned the record, which was in remarkably good condition. As with so many records from the '60s there was no date on the cover, or the album, but a quick search revealed this was released in 1968. The credits are sparse, to the point of being non-existent aside from Tommy LiPuma who produced the album, and a few others on the engineering side. The first track was the title track which was a cover of a Gordon Lightfoot song. It was indeed in the easy listening style with an emphasis o...