Customer Reviews

David Soul

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

David Soul had started out as a singer songwriter. He had recorded in the 1960s without major success and had turned to acting as another option to earn money. After acting in various Successful TV shows and films he recorded this album. Around the same time he got one of the starring roles in the TV series "Starsky and Hutch" which gave him international fame.
Not long after the release of this album David recorded the single "Don't give up on us" which was a more commercial track than anything on this album.
I loved this single and bought it. It wasn't on the album but the B side of the single was and this I also liked so bought the album.
This album is a great album. And this CD version, which took far too long to get released, is even better because they have added the single "Don't give up on us" as a bonus track.
The album is great because it has so much to offer. There are some impressive songs written by, or co written by David himself. There are some fantastic arrangements and there are flavours of country music, American folk, and middle of the road pop.
David plays lead guitar on six of the tracks and is well supported by some great musicians.
The album begins with the soft, contemplative co written song "The Wall" then it goes into a wonderful atmospheric 1920s song called "1927 Kansas City" which has a great rag flavoured piano sound that holds the track together. There are some beautiful harmonious and reflective interludes into the song and the whole track is instantly likeable. Track three is a cover version of the American folk song "Bird on a wire" by Leonard Cohen. This has hints of Jazz blues and is a great arrangement. There is more 1920s/30s atmosphere in "Hooray for Hollywood" with its acoustic guitar, piano and banjo and hints of harmonica in the arrangement. It has a great harmonious chorus and it's a really catchy tune.
Track five "Landlord" has a more rock feel with a brilliant set of lyrics. Once again a good use of piano and harmonica married with electric guitar give a colourful sound. "Seem to miss you so much" (The coalminer's song) is a fantastically romantic song with great emotion. It is poignant in its beauty. Track seven is a cover of the Greenfield/Sedaka song "One more mountain to climb" This is by far the best version I have heard of this track. Its religious, almost gospel tone has put me off on other versions, but here we have a rock arrangement that turns the song into an anthemic voice of hope. "Ex lover" gets us back to the softer, contemplative and harmonious atmosphere of earlier track six. It is reflective, and gentle. Track nine, "Topanga" has elements of all the previous tracks in its arrangement. It is Rock, it is pop, it is anthemic, and it is inspiring. This track has wonderful strings and piano in the arrangement and it is like a country rock song. This country rock feel is even more present in the next track "Black bean soup". This is fabulous. A great song, with great melody and a song that begs you to join in. It is great fun. Finally the original album ends with the David Soul song "Kristofer David". This was written for David's own son. It has David on acoustic guitar and he is singing a children's story song to some children. It is a great attempt at an original children's song. The CD concludes with the single "Don't Give up on us". It is more commercial than the other tracks and the arrangement is nothing like the rest of the CD. But it is a well produced and excellent single with great arrangement and atmosphere. The song went to number one in the UK in early 1977.
I personally find the sound on this mastering of the CD to be reasonably good. It could have been better, but it is good enough. It is good that it is available on CD at all so we should be thankful for that.
Often actors have jumped at the chance to record. Usually it's simply off the back of their film or TV success. Very often there is no real originality. But here is an example of a singer songwriter who recorded both before and after his acting success. And this album shows that there was real originality. In fact this album displays real musical talent and creativity.
This album, for me, is a classic and top recording that should get more recognition for its true value.

The long awaited releases of David Soul's 'Studio' Albums now on CD.

This was his first LP for Private Stock back in 1976 - self-titled. Many would have purchased this back at the time and been disappointed, as it did not include the current hit of the time: 'Don't Give Up On Us'. They later decided to add it to the LP a little later on subsequent issues, but this is a great Album anyway.

It features eleven Tracks (plus Bonus of the said Single on CD) which is a good example of the kind of Music Soul was into recording. This just missed the top spot in the Albums Charts making Number Two - along with his second release: 'Playing To An Audience Of One'.

It's wise to note that this is not a good transfer. I don't know what Masters 'cherryred' have used here, but it is distinctly poor in places; in particular: 'Don't Give Up On Us' which actually has 'drop-outs' on the Intro. that you would expect from an audio cassette tape of this age. I'm sure that this could have been rectified even using the signal from an old vinyl LP and polished up.

I have recently bought this album to fill my David Soul collection, although I thought I knew most of the songs from various "best of" compilations. This CD however contains some further little gems which would well have deserved an inclusion on a "best of".
As with various other artists, I have never understood the criteria they use for songs to be either the main single of the album or are included in "best of" collections later.
"Ex Lover" is definitely one of my favourites, whereas the included bonus track "Don't give up on us", which was a hit single in a number of countries, is to my opinion not one of the best songs.

If you like the music of David Soul, then this CD is for you!

love this item ,had the lp but was damaged ,very happy this has been brought out on cd
its fantastic