Mark Lindsay - Golden Classics: Arizona/Silverbird

A 21-song collection drawn from the Arizona and Silverbird albums. The material is quite pop-oriented, and very pretty pop music -- there's not much rock here apart from "Arizona" and "Silverbird," and there are lots of string and brass sections at work, but Lindsay's voice is an extremely expressive instrument, and he gives some powerful performances. The material overlaps the repertories of the likes of Dionne Warwick, The Carpenters, and The Sandpipers ("Come Saturday Morning"), as well as Peter, Paul & Mary ("Leaving On a Jet Plane"); the arrangement on "We've Only Just Begun" is pure lounge act and makes The Carpenters' own version sound raw and direct; and The Beatles medley of "The Long and Winding Road"/"Yesterday" (two of Paul Mccartney's wimpiest songs), where he sounds uncannily like Mccartney, shows how far he'd come from The Raiders' punkier side. Read More