Magic is the correct word
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/12/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Jackie was an important person in the sixties, writing or (more usually) co-writing several classic pop songs of the era, many of which became hits for Petula Clark. Jackie was an outstanding singer in her own right but, apart from one single that made it to number one (albeit briefly) in Britain, the public largely ignored her own recordings. Nevertheless, her music deserves to be heard by a wider public and it is good to see that, however slowly, more of her music is being made available on CD.
This compilation is made up of both sides of her first two UK hits (tracks 1 to 4, released originally in 1965), one entire album (The magic of Jackie Trent, also from 1965, which occupies tracks 5 to 16 here), plus a selection of tracks recorded between 1967 and 1969 (tracks 17 to 25). Some of these tracks have previously appeared on CD. Seven of them can be found on a double CD, Where are you now - the Pye anthology, that was re-packaged with different artwork and updated liner notes, though both versions are now out of print. Other tracks have been released on other compilations, possibly including some that can only be found on multi-artist compilations. Altogether, I think that about half of these tracks can be found elsewhere, but this compilation is still worth it for whatever you haven't got already.
Jackie's big hit (Where are you now, originally written for the TV series It's dark outside) opens this collection. Jackie only had two minor British hits thereafter, of which one (When the summertime is over) is also included here. The other tracks include two songs that Jackie wrote alone (To show I love him, Everything swings) and several great co-writes with Tony Hatch, her husband for about thirty years (This time, Faces, 7.10 from suburbia, Lazy day, When the city sleeps, Time is).
I particularly wanted this CD for Jackie's cover of It's not unusual, the Tom Jones classic. I'd never actually heard Jackie's version prior to buying this CD, but I remember hearing somewhere that Jackie had re-interpreted the song, slowing it right down, and that Tom Jones was impressed. My expectations were fully justified, as I am also very impressed with Jackie's recording of the song. Perhaps the writer of the liner notes was less convinced as it wasn't one of the tracks that he highlighted, or maybe it's just that there are so many great tracks here and he couldn't wax lyrical about all of them individually. (I could but I won't.) Other covers include a Scott Walker song (Such a small world) as well as several oldies from the Great American Songbook including Yesterdays, Fly me to the moon, The sweetest sounds, I believe in you and Little girl blue.
I still dream about the day when Jackie's entire Pye recordings are available on CD although I don't actually expect that to happen. Well, I can dream, can't I? In the meantime, I can enjoy this and the other available material."
Track Listings (25) - Disc #1