Honey/Summer (The First Time)

Sure, if you like sentimentality you’ll find it here in spades. But there’s more – so much more - to Bobby Goldsboro than that. What you’ll find here are a set of songs - admittedly including some cover versions - that are sung from the heart with refreshing honesty and total sincerity. It’s also an album that doesn’t take long to ‘get into’ at all. From the very first listen, you start falling in love with many of the tracks you haven’t even heard before.

So, where to start? Well, everyone over 30 years of age surely knows the opening track ‘Honey’ (if you don’t then where have you been hiding all your life?) and to be honest, its familiarity will more than likely detract a little from its intended impact when hearing it on this album. If you haven’t heard it before, however, then it goes without saying that you should have the obligatory box of hankies at the ready! Heck, they’ll be needed soon enough anyway for track number three - ‘With Pen in Hand’. This truly is the most emotional song I have ever heard or am ever likely to hear. Lines such as “Can you teach him how to whistle a tune, Can you tell him about the man in the moon” and “If you think that the good times don’t outweigh the bad … then sign your name” when listened to in the context of the song (a husband’s heart rending plea to dissuade his wife from signing their divorce papers) – well, they just wrench your heart out and - forgive me here, but this is how it feels - ‘give it a good kicking’ every time. If you can listen to this song with a dry eye you’d better check your pulse! Personally, I must have listened to it countless times now, and it still cracks me up every time I hear it.

In a similar vein, ‘He’s Part of Us’ tackles the sensitive subject of the emotions stirred by adoption in typical Bobby Goldsboro style and is another heart-tugger.

‘Little Green Apples’ is another wonderful ballad, but is one that simply lifts the spirits into orbit with lines like “…and if that’s not loving me, God didn’t make little green apples and it don’t rain in Indianapolis in the summer time…there’s no such thing as Dr. Seuss, Disneyland and Mother Goose, there’s no nursery rhymes”. Yep, just drop all your adulthood worries and cynicisms at the door and let Bobby transport you to a much better place.

However, as previously stated, there’s more than mere sentimentality to this album. Tracks like ‘Run to Me’ and ‘Love Arrestor’ rattle along at a fair old pace and both lend more than a nod in the direction of C&W and uptempo northern soul.

The first time you hear ‘Marlena’ you’ll likely be reminded of Tony Orlando’s ‘Candida’, only it’s so much better. It’s unashamedly catchy pop kitsch at its very best, and none the worse for it – just try getting it out of your head!

‘Brand New Kind of Love’ sort of sidles up to you and taps you on the shoulder like that long lost friend you had almost forgotten about completely and you may just find yourself saying, “I never knew it was Bobby Goldsboro who did that one!” But aren’t you glad it was! With its smooth soulful overtones and laid back feel it’s just perfect for reminiscing on a summer’s day, and you’ll be thrilled at renewing this particular acquaintance. Oh, and whilst we’re reminiscing about summer days, I couldn’t let this review pass without paying tribute to the ultimate tale of sexual discovery and fulfilment. Of course I’m talking about the wonderful ‘Summer The First Time’, as Bobby lays bare (well, almost!) every detail of his ‘first time’. It’s every teenage boy’s dream, and one can only imagine he emerged enriched and wiser for the experience! It’s certainly a rare gift he possesses that he is both a first-class songsmith and an expertly vivid storyteller to boot. “The sweat trickled down the front of her gown … I thought it would melt her”. Quite. Dream on … in sheer envy and frustrated anticipation!

Bobby’s storytelling abilities are also to the forefront on both ‘The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore’ and ‘Mississippi Delta Queen’, and the latter pounds along, horn section and all, at a pace the old paddle steamer herself would have been proud of. All in all it’s a joyous romp of a yarn.

So, there’s little more to be said except do yourself a massive favour and invest in this album. Sure, it’s not revolutionary like the Beatles, and it’s not innovative like Marvin Gaye … it’s just purely and simply one of the best collections of songs one could ever have the privilege to hear and to share, by one of the worlds most underrated artists, who wears his heart on his sleeve at all times … and that’s no bad thing, is it? It sure is one of life’s little secrets, and I often wonder just what I’d do without it. I can’t recommend this album highly enough.

God bless you Bobby Goldsboro.