Search - White Plains :: My Baby Loves Lovin

Early seventies British pop group

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"White Plains evolved from an earlier group, the Flower Pot Men. That group originally achieved success with Let's go to San Francisco (in 1967, of course) but a succession of line-up changes took their toll. Meanwhile, a group name that seemed ideal for 1967 really didn't seem relevant as the seventies approached. So the Flower Pot Men, with a very different line-up from the original 1967 group, became White Plains.



This compilation ignores the material recorded as the Flower Pot Men (available elsewhere) and focuses exclusively on the seventies music recorded using the White Plains moniker. Under that name, they released two albums in Britain as well as several singles. The first album, simply titled White Plains, contained twelve tracks and is reproduced here in its entirety, occupying the first twelve tracks of this compilation. That album was released in America, but given the title My baby loves lovin' (after the hit single, which made the top ten in Britain and number thirteen in America) and reduced to ten tracks. American album buyers were deprived of To love you and Young birds fly, though the latter track was released as the B-side of an American single that failed to chart. (The A-side, In a moment of madness, was taken from the album and is also included here.) In Britain, a different album track (I've got you on my mind) was released as the follow-up single and this made the top twenty.



The remainder of this compilation comprises twelve further A-sides, one of them only released in America, five only released in Britain and the other six in Both countries. Only three of these singles (Julie do ya love me, When you are a king, Step into a dream) charted in Britain and none charted in America. Unsurprisingly in these circumstances, the second album wasn't released in America.



The music here reflects the time in which it was recorded and is an excellent collection of its type. White Plains may never be more than a fgootnote in the annals of pop history, but if you enjoy light pop music of the early seventies, this five-member all-male group are definitely worth a listen."