Search - Barry Ryan :: Singing the Songs of Paul Ryan

Beautiful & Original

swinginglondon | London | 02/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Buoyed by the success of their single 'Eloise', an international smash hit (though not in the USA), Paul & Barry set about to create a classic album to go with the single.

What they created was 'Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan' & it appeared in the shops in early 1969. A long luscious collection of songs done in a style that I think I can get away with calling 'Baroque Pop'. Lots of strings and warm melodies about love and girls with long hair. Barry had one of the most under-rated pop voices of '60's London, swinging from shrill and girlie for the choruses and confidently masculine for the lead vocals and everything else in-between.

A lot of the songs don't really make a lot of sense. This is very post-Procul Harum Sgt.Pepper era music. All the songs fall into each other. The fact that they often don't make a lot of sense doesn't matter. It's the sound and the quality of the tunes that will take you swirling back to 1969.

In reference to this CD, the sound reproduction is as good as anything I've heard. So often '60's music, reproduced on CD, sounds so inferior to the original production. This is absolutely NOT the case here.

The second album Paul & Barry produced, simply entitled: 'Barry Ryan,' although very beautiful in terms of production and orchestration is, for some reason, inferior to the first. It seems to lack warmth and it may be because many of the themes sway away from romantic love. It seems to be more about style than anything else. Though it is indeed stylish.

Anyway, wonderful to have both albums on this one CD. I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone who likes late '60's British Pop, though to the modern ear, I should think this sound might sound very strange indeed, but, wonderfully so.

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