An interesting curiosity for big time '70s soft rock fans
Dave | United States | 09/02/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"David Batteau may be far from a household name, but that's not to say he never did anything worthwhile--he wrote the title track for Valerie Carter's 1978 album "Wild Child", and also wrote the lyrics & co-wrote the music for Seals & Crofts' 1978 hit "You're The Love". He put out the "Batteaux" album with Robin Batteau in 1973, & this album, "Happy In Hollywood" followed in 1976.
As if you couldn't tell by the title, this album is an "L.A. product", and that's not a bad thing--in fact, it's part of the good news. The late great Jeff Porcaro is on drums here, and he's in great form (hey, this was the same year of Boz Scaggs' "Lowdown" which Porcaro drummed on), lending his magic to the funky "Spaceship Earth". Other musicians featured are bass guitarist Willie Weeks, and David Paich on keyboards.
As for Batteau himself, his vocals are pleasant enough--imagine a mixture of Steve Winwood and Cat Stevens--though he overdoes it with a sappy vocal on the tedious airy ballad "My Morning Glory" which sounds like early '70s Leonard Cohen run amok. Plus, overall, his songwriting is reasonably solid. The title track is a pleasant mellow pop song; the orchestrated ballad "Dancing On Atoms" is a little ponderous, but it pulls the listener in; and the best track is the dreamy ballad "Walk In Love" (the one song to feature a co-writer--he wrote the rest of the songs on the album himself) with warm electric piano & restrained, squiggly melodic synthesizer. The "primal drum"-laden "Festival of Fools" is somewhat dorky, but the aforementioned "Spaceship Earth" is another one of the standout tracks, as is the catchy, slow-building "Orphee" (with a chorus line that does get slightly beaten into the ground). And the reggae flavored "Oh, My Little Darling" is fun.
Lyrically, the album isn't too bad--there's a hippie sensibility that comes through more than once, and there's also a preoccupation with dying carried over from the "Batteaux" album, though it's much less noticeable here. The album certainly is not overflowing with predictable love song lyrics if you're concerned about that sort of thing.
Overall the record is indeed interesting, & if you're a big listener of soft rock/ pop that was recorded in the '70s, & if you've got an appetite for more from where that came from, this is a good album to try. You certainly don't have to worry about any '80s dance beats or '90s techno influence (or whatever) here--it's mid-'70s soft rock/ pop-rock all the way, and it's generally well done. Is the album really worth spending a lot of money on? Well... It's certainly far from perfect with some considerable annoyances (the lyrics on occasion, Batteau sounding a bit smug at times, a couple tunes that are excessively annoying...) that mar the overall experience. I will say the CD version does feature very fine remastering. Still, there are a handful or so tracks here worth having in your collection, so it's worth a pickup if you see it on vinyl cheap."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1