Conversations In The Wind

Originally recorded in London between January and March of 1970, the first dozen songs on this CD constitute what would have been the last full-length collaboration between Petula Clark and producer Tony Hatch on songs written (or co-written) by Jackie Trent. Instead, five of the songs turned up on the 1971 mid-priced Pye Records LP Today, while the rest remained unheard until the release of the three-CD anthology I Love to Sing: Pye 35th Anniversary in 1995. This CD marks the first time that all of the tracks have been assembled together in one place the way they were intended to be heard. What is here is a compelling mix of sophisticated pop that intersects (and compares favorably) with elements of progressive pop coming over to the States -- "After You" and, to a lesser degree, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" call to mind aspects of Jimmy Webb's collaborations with Richard Harris, while "Theme for a Dream" favorably recalls the bouncy British Invasion sound of Clark's classic '60s hits. "Gotta Be Love" doesn't have the strongest chorus ever heard, but the rest of the song is attractive and shows off an alluringly vulnerable side to Clark's persona, and "Conversations in the Wind" casts her in a dramatic pop setting, surrounded by swirling strings and a body of percussion of which Phil Spector could be proud. Not everything here is quite on that level of inventiveness or boldness, but even relatively tame fare (think of Clark's answer to the Beatles' "Honey Pie" or the Monkees' "Magnolia Simms") is difficult to complain of because Clark has so much fun. "Things to Do" puts her back in her lighthearted modern pop mode, and her voice dances over the melody and the lyric with the lightest and most seductive of touches; "Cranes Flying South" is an exquisite showcase for Clark's most poignant musical emoting. "Gotta Be Better Than This" was a single that should have been, a catchy, bittersweet, yet enchanting ballad with hooks in all the right places, while "City Lights" is a kind of distant thematic successor to "Downtown" and "I Know a Place." In all, Conversations in the Wind is no cash-in effort or body of leftovers, or merely of value as a "lost" work, but a genuinely worthwhile album plucked from the archives. The 12 tracks intended for the original album have been augmented with six bonus cuts, Clark/Hatch collaborations on Trent's work that didn't make it onto any LP at the time. It's all essential listening, especially for anyone whose appreciation of Clark goes deeper than "Downtown" and "My Love." As with all of the post-'90s Pye reissues by Sequel/Castle, the sound is state-of-the-art and the annotation is very thorough. ~ Bruce Eder|