a great, great song. emotional. beautiful. starts out melancholy, develops into a celebration.

Bobby Darin - truly one of the smoothest singers the US has ever produced, and there's nothing that showcases this pop-cabaret style like his tenure at Capitol. A singer of great versatility, he swings effortlesly on this album, having great technique and even greater rhythmic feel.

Call Me Irresponsible, something of a standard really, is my favourite. Darin's vocals make you fall in love with his irresponsible, unreliable, unpredictable charm. Accompanied by finger clickin' good Richard Wess big-band sounds. Wow. Whatta man.

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It's just a beautiful song, very good for a Sunday morning, or an evening. Go buy the album.

The Fleetwoods were an excellent vocal group from the late 50s and early 60s who are best known for 'Come Softly to Me' and 'Mr. Blue'. Both of these are 'classic' oldies tracks, evocative of the late 50s.

'Lonely is as lonely does' came late in their career, and actually sounds much more modern than its 1964 recording date would suggest. This is really a prototype of the 'soft pop' style that would become popular later in the 1960s. The composer, Chip Taylor, went on to write 'Wild Thing' and 'Angel of the Morning'.

The track opens with a nice picked guitar introduction. As in many of my favorite Fleetwoods tracks, Gary takes the lead vocal, with Gretchen and Barbara singing backing vocals. Gary has a very sincere voice. At the beginning the song sounds very routine, but there are some clever chord changes and some cool lyrics. My favorite line is 'As your tears fall, remember this: you're just a kiss away from happiness'.