Various Just As Beautiful CD

The only regret one has after witnessing the stage musical Beautiful, anywhere in the world, is how many exceptional songs from the pens of Carole King and Gerry Goffin one does not get to hear.   Just As Beautiful, a 40 track compilation selected by Glenn A Baker and released on his GAB-Disc imprint through Sony, goes part of the way to filling in those gaps.   Like Bacharach & David, Carole and Gerry were cornerstones of the American music industry as the sixties dawned. Fearsomely prolific, they turned out many hundreds of compositions for new acts thrown up by the booms which started with rock’n’roll.

  They were there when the teen idol era arose, when the British Beat acts needed songs, when the TV-created Monkees were racing up the charts, when the psychedelic explosion reached mainstream ears, when the global rock scene grew wide, when British pub rockers found they needed reliable songs to charm their patrons and when glam and retro rockers in the mid seventies reached the same conclusion.  

The artists on just As Beautiful range from Gene Pitney, Johnny Mathis, The Drifters, Marianne Faithfull, Tony Orlando, Dusty Springfield, the Everly Brothers, the Hollies and The Byrds to The Monkees, Anne Murray, Blood Sweat & Tears, Nick Lowe’s Brinsley Schwarz and Ol’ 55.

  The songs include Goin’ Back, Hey Girl, Go Away Little Girl, Take Good Care Of My Baby, This Little Girl, Is This What I Get For Loving You?, Take A Giant Step, Hi De Ho and Halfway To Paradise. Songs that truly are … Just As Beautiful.
 

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