Irish singer popular in Britain
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/16/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Everybody who was around in the sixties, seventies and eighties in the UK remembers who Val Doonican was - he was a regular on TV, usually hosting his own show in which he would always sing at least one song, often sitting in a rocking chair. But before he established himself as a TV host, he was a singer with a string of UK hits - three top three hits, two other top ten hits, three that came close to the top ten and six minor hits. Ballads were his stock-in-trade but he was not limited to them as he sometimes recorded up-tempo or mid-tempo songs. In the main, he recorded easy listening pop music or covers of soul, country and folk songs adapted to an easy listening pop style but he also recorded some Irish songs too.
Val's five big hits were Walk tall (one of his more upbeat songs), The special years, Elusive butterfly (a cover of the Bob Lind classic - both Val and Bob peaked at number five in the UK charts), What would I be (his biggest hit) and If the whole world stopped loving. The three hits that didn't quite make the UK top ten were Memories are made of this (not included here), If I knew then what I know now and Morning.
Three Irish songs (Delaney's donkey, O'Rafferty's motor car and Paddy McGinty's goat) and a few covers of classic pop and country songs (King of the road, Song sung blue, For the good times, Marvellous toy, First time ever I saw your face) are also featured.
If you just want a single CD of Val's music, this contains the essentials. For a real treat, buy the double CD (His special years)instead."