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"Square Peg", for instance, is a lush recording reminiscent of The Searchers and The Byrds, while "Miss Bad Daddy" is an uptempo song that features a complex harmony vocal arrangement. Indeed, harmonies are a prominent feature of the band's style, alternating with Lionel Morton's solo vibrato. "You Went Away" is another highlight, mainly because of its striking melody.
The outside material is of mixed quality. Their version of Leadbelly's "Black Girl" is polished, as is the Buffy St Marie song, "Until It's Time For You To Go". On the other hand, attempting a cover of any Roy Orbison hit, in this case "Running Scared", is asking for trouble. "No Sad Songs For Me" however, despite the Mantovani-like strings, works because of the solid, low-register harmonies.
Overall, this is a generally mild collection of pop songs, some of which sounds dated even for the 1960s. It also contains too many syrupy ballads for my liking, but there are still several gems left over. Not one of the first CDs to obtain in building up a collection of music from that era then, but worth considering later.
The line-up was Lionel Morton (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Fritz Fryer (vocals, guitar), Mike Wilsh (vocals, bass) and Alan Buck (drums). A complete chronological list of their UK hits reads Do you want me to, Juliet, I found out the hard way, Black girl, Until it's time for you to go, Trouble is my middle name.
Juliet was the best song they ever recorded, but the rest of the CD is certainly worth a listen. The Four Pennies wrote most of their own material (including Juliet) but they also recorded a few covers, three of which were hits for them. On this collection, you can hear their versions of Black girl (Leadbelly), If you love me (Edith Piaf), Running scared (Roy Orbison), No sad songs for me (written by Tom Springfield - Dusty's brother who achieved success as producer of the Seekers - this song will be familiar to Sandy Denny fans), Trouble is my middle name (Bobby Vinton) and Until it's time for you to go (Buffy Sainte-Marie), together with three other songs (Keep the freeway open, San Francisco Bay, Sweeter than you) whose origin escapes me. The other songs are all originals.
After the group disbanded, Lionel Morton maintained a public profile of sorts (at least for a while) by marrying actress Julia Foster, by presenting the BBC children's TV show Playschool and by performing in local productions of musicals such as Hair, Owl and the Pussycat, Jesus Christ Superstar and West Side Story. Despite all this, I don't think the name Lionel Morton would register with many people these days.
People think of the Four Pennies as a one-hit wonder. With six hits, four of which made the UK top twenty, they were more than that, so if you are a committed fan of sixties music, give them a listen. But if you only want Juliet, that song appears regularly on British various artist compilations of sixties music.
If one enjoys the beauty of the 60s, one will delight in the music of the Four Pennies.
In Time, their rendition of "No Sad Sogs for Me" is so beautiful, even more beautiful than the one by The Springfields' or the great version sung by the German lady Hildegard Knef. I happen to own both and feel so luck to add a good quality copy of my favourite one.
I have been collecting sixties music for over 45 years and I appreciate when a compilation is as complete [definative] as this one is. Read more
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