Jackie Lee - End Of A Rainbow: A Pye Anthology

Holy crocheted hot pants, Batman!

Much of this collection comes under “60s anomaly time”. You find yourself checking the dates with tracks that were recorded around 1968-72, but retain the 50s feel of Uncle Mac’s Children’s Favourites. While this is understandable, with songs such as Rupert and Peter Pan intentionally tilting directly at the kiddie market, the same dated feel pervades the whole collection. It is, in part, down to Jackie’s voice, referred to as “powerful” and a “golden larynx” in the notes, but actually coming across in parts as the aural equivalent of meringue: acceptable on occasions, but not in quantity. Leaving aside the kiddie and cutesy tracks, we have heavily-orchestrated ballads and mid-tempo numbers without a cutting edge in sight. Love Is A Gamble and Everybody Needs A Little Loving stand above the rest, as does the previously unreleased Beautiful City from Godspell, though with the latter you yearn for a better chorus to follow the strong verse. Elsewhere, Lee has a go at the Sweet’s Co-Co, Octopus’ Garden and the always awful Chirpy-Chirpy-Cheep-Cheep, none of which help recommend the collection, which is really for committed Brit girl fans only.

Poker | DECKCD 107

Reviewed by Kingsley Abbott
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