Albums That Should Exist: Various Artists - Covered: Graham Gouldman, Volume 1: 1964-1967

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Various Artists - Covered: Graham Gouldman, Volume 1: 1964-1967

It's been months, but I'm very glad to announce that my "Covered" series is back! For this series, I've highlighted the best songs of the most famous and talented songwriters. So far, I've mostly focused on those who got started in the 1950s. But I'm starting to move to those who made it in the 1960s.

Graham Gouldman is one of my favorite songwriters. He's known for some great 1960s classics such as "Bus Stop" by the Hollies, "No Milk Today" by the Herman's Hermits, and "For Your Love" by the Yardbirds. Then in the 1970s he was part of the band 10cc, and co-wrote most of their big hits, such as "The Things I Do for Love" and "Dreadlock Holiday." You can read more about his long career, with his still leading 10cc at 74 years old as I write this, at his Wikipedia entry:

Graham Gouldman - Wikipedia

What I like about Gouldman's songwriting is that he writes very catchy pop songs, yet he uses unusual chord changes, especially utilizing minor chords, to separate his songs from the pack. Although lots of different artists are featured on this album, in my opinion there is some sort of musical continuity that identifies them all as Gouldman songs.

He has so many excellent songs that I've created three albums for him in this series. However, he differs from many songwriters in that he was a very capable singer and performer, and has put out a lot of his own material. This series avoids all of that, including everything he did with 10cc. This series is contains his songs, but performed by others. Later, I plan on posting some other album collections of his best songs outside of 10cc where he was the lead vocalist.

This album has a lot of songs on it, but they're generally short, so the total length of the album is only 44 minutes.

01 For Your Love (Yardbirds)
02 I'm Gonna Take You There (Dave Berry)
03 Evil Hearted You (Yardbirds)
04 Behind the Door (St. Louis Union)
05 Heart Full of Soul (Yardbirds)
06 The Cost of Living (Downliners Sect)
07 Look through Any Window (Hollies)
08 East West (Herman's Hermits)
09 People Passing By (High Society)
10 I'm 28 (Toni Basil)
11 You Stole My Love (Mike Furber & the Bowery Boys)
12 Listen People (Herman's Hermits)
13 Bus Stop (Hollies)
14 Pamela, Pamela (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
15 No Milk Today (Herman's Hermits)
16 Star of Eastern Street (High Society)
17 London Look (Hifis)
18 Going Home (Normie Rowe & the Playboys)