It Hurts To Be In Love
Gene Pitney
Musicor MS3019
1964
Gene Pitney was basically a singles artist. If he ever recorded an essential album, I have not heard it. His albums generally contain a hit single or two and a bunch of filler so most people who are not big fans should probably just pick up a compilation. I'm a moderate fan but I like Pitney's voice enough to pick up his albums when I run across a bargain. Since his records are relatively easy to find and generally not expensive, I've ended up with a bunch of them. I rarely play them but I enjoy them when I do. This is my favorite of the ones in my collection. The album begins with a bang with Pitney's soaring melodramatic performance of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "I'm Gonna Be Strong" which was a top ten single for Pitney. The song showcases Pitney's range and strength as a singer, but it is a little over the top for my taste. My favorite version of the song is Jackie DeShannon's cover of it on "This is Jackie DeShannon" and I also prefer Tim Rose's performance of the song on "Tim Rose." It is followed by "Walk" by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller which is a charming, jaunty song that lightens the mood of the record. Van McCoy's "I Love You More Today" is a pedestrian and sappy country-flavored ballad that Pitney makes listenable with his emotional vocal. The record picks up again with the upbeat and poppy "Who Needs It" which was written by the successful British songwriting team of Len Beadle and Robin Conrad (a pseudonym for Peter Callender.) It has a British Invasion sound and is one of my favorite tracks on the album. "Follow the Sun" was composed by Peter Udell and Gary Geld who wrote Brian Hyland's big hit "Sealed With a Kiss." The song has a rhythm and blues sound to it which Pitney bolsters with his robust vocal. "Lips Are Redder On You" was written by legendary British producer Joe Meek. It is a cheerful poppy song that Pitney puts over with ease. Side two opens with another Greenfield/Miller composition "It Hurts To Be In Love" which was a top ten single for Pitney. The song was originally intended for Neil Sedaka and Pitney recorded his version over the original Sedaka backing track, I think I still hear Sedaka on the background vocal. It is an extremely catchy and appealing song, one of my all time Pitney favorites. Al Kooper wrote "The Last Two People on Earth" with Bob Brass and Irwin Levine. Blues Project fans should not get too excited, the song is utterly mediocre although the science fiction theme is kind of interesting. The main reason I bought this album was to hear "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" which was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The song was deservedly a hit single in England where it was the first Jagger/Richards song to crack the top ten. The song sounds nothing like the Rolling Stones, but its dramatic character is perfect for Pitney's emotional style. It is my favorite track after the title cut and the album is worth buying for it alone. "E se domani" is an Italian song written by Giorgio Calabrese and Carlo Alberto Rossi. I presume this is the same version that appeared on Pitney's Italian language album "Gene Italiano" released earlier in the year although I have no idea why it was stuck on this album as well. This old-fashioned song is fine if you like that sort of thing but it does not fit in with the rest of the record at all. "Hawaii" is another Kooper/Brass/Levine composition. I would not say it is better than "The Last Two People on Earth" but it is a lot more fun. The album concludes with "I'm Gonna Find Myself a Girl" by Ray Adams, Elaine Adams and Valerie Avon who were in the English pop group, The Avons. It is a subdued but enticing love song that features a double tracked vocal from Pitney that reminds me of the Everly Brothers. It gives the album a pleasant finale. Six of the twelve tracks on this record are memorable and worthwhile which is a good ratio on a pop album in the mid-1960s. As a result I play this album as much as I play my Pitney compilation album. If you are a Pitney fan, it is well-worth seeking out and probably would appeal to most fans of pre-Beatles pop music. Recommended to fans of the early Warner Bros. Records era Everly Brothers.
George Jones & Gene Pitney
George Jones and Gene Pitney
Musicor MS 3044
1965
The recent passing of George Jones wasn't a big surprise to me. Having read his autobiography, I'd say that the bigger surprise was that he lived as long as he did. He was one of my favorite country singers, but I only have a tiny portion of his discography, mostly compilation albums. My favorites are the duet albums he did with his wife, Tammy Wynette, they had a lot of chemisty together. He also made some nice music with Melba Montgomery in the 1960s. I think his most unusual duet partner had to be this guy though, pop star Gene Pitney. I suppose Musicor was trying to expand Pitney's audience beyond teenyboppers with this album much like his forays into Italian music and easy listening crooner stuff. It works better than you might think, with his high quavery voice Pitney assumes the role that a female singer would have taken opposite Jones' rougher deep voice. The record is hampered by the selection of the songs which leans heavily on covers of earlier country hits, but the quality of the singing is first rate. I do find the album a bit maudlin, there are a lot of slow tear-jerkers. I prefer Jones when he is singing uptempo songs like "White Lightning" or "Why Baby Why." The only song in that vein on this record is a cover of Faron Young's "I've Got Five Dollars and Its Saturday Night" which was a top 20 country hit single for the duo. It is my favorite cut on the album although I have to admit that Jones sounds a lot more convincing singing about hell-raising than Pitney does. My other favorite songs are a couple
of songs that Jones sings solo which were released as the A and B side of a single in
1965 that reached the 9th spot on the "Billboard" country chart. The
songs are "Wearing My Heart Away" which was co-written by Jones and
"Things Have Gone To Pieces" which was written by Leon Payne and
recorded by Johnny Cash back in 1959. The latter song offers such a string of woes that it is likely to leave you feeling better about your day no matter how bad it was. I also like the jaunty "I've Got a New Heartache" which was a 1956 hit for Ray Price and Dorsey Dixon's classic
"Wreck on the Highway" which is the oldest song on the album dating back to
the late 1930s. It was made famous by Roy Acuff in the 1940s. Religious songs were hardly Jones' forte, but the song has a more authentic feel to it than anything on the album. The duo also cover Bob Wills' wonderful "My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You" which was a big hit for Ray Price. Pitney's harmony vocal on this one really sends me. All the other songs are engaging, although not particularly memorable. "I'm a Fool To Care" was a hit for Les Paul and Mary Ford and later for Joe Barry. "Sweeter Than The Flowers" had been a hit for Moon Mullican back in the 1940s and was later a single by the Stanley Brothers. "One Has My Name" also goes back to the 1940s and was recorded previously by the song's co-writer, Eddie Dean as well as Jimmy Wakely and Bob Eberle. I'm not crazy about the song, but it has some of the most effective vocal interplay between Pitney and Jones on the album with Pitney's high voice harmonizing so well with Jones' vocal that I find myself almost thinking he is a woman. "Don't Rob Another Man's Castle" was a hit for Eddy Arnold in 1949 as well as Ernest Tubbs with the Andrews Sisters. Pitney has a couple of solo songs. "I Really Don't Want to Know" was also covered by Les Paul and Mary Ford as well as Eddy Arnold back in the 1950s. Pitney takes this kind of creepy song about a guy who is insecure about his girlfriend's past lovers and makes it sound like a romantic teen ballad with his emotional vocal. "Born to Lose" was a big hit for Ted Daffan in 1942 but I think the definitive version is the cover by Ray Charles and Pitney doesn't come close to challenging him. Given the paucity of new songs or original material on the album, its major appeal is the novelty of Pitney and Jones singing together which is more than enough for me. I'd listen to Jones sing just about anything with anyone, the man was one hell of singer. He sings with such feeling and strength, he makes even the corniest song sound real. Recommended to people who recognize that pop music has just lost a titan of a singer.
