Graham Bonnet

After the premature breakup of the Marbles, larynx acrobat Graham Bonnet took a stab at movie stardom (landing a role in Three for All), and then returned to mount a solo career with this eponymous outing, an Australian hit distributed by Ringo Starr's label. As with his previous duo, Bonnet exclusively interprets other folks' tunes. One can't really fault any of the songwriting, as most of these numbers are dependable standards; and nothing's ever wrong with Bonnet's sterling voice. But the record definitely betrays its time. The disco-string coda on "Goodnight and Goodmorning" (from Hall & Oates' debut) screams 1970s, which doesn't diminish the entertainment value one iota. Many have recorded Bob Dylan's sturdy Joan Baez dissolution, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," but none included squawking talk-box guitar. Bonnet later released a groovy single ("Warm Ride," one of his many Bee Gees covers) and dropped another one-man bomb No Bad Habits before Ritchie Blackmore plucked him for duty in Rainbow. Much of this scarce material can be found on the Rock Singer Anthology, which is fast becoming a rarity, itself. ~ Whitney Z. Gomes