In Touch With Peter And Gordon Plus

by Richie UnterbergerPeter & Gordon's second British album furthers their vague credentials as folk-rock precursors, with a few traditional folk tunes like "Freight Train" and "Barbara Allen" and some slightly folky British Invasion harmony ballads ("I Still Love You"). There are also some ill-advised bluesy covers ("A Mess of Blues," "My Babe"), and some inoffensively competent originals that go for both the folky approach ("I Don't Care What They Say," "Leave Me in the Rain") and a mildly bluesy one ("Love Me Baby"). For all that, the most memorable track by a longshot is the poppiest item, their hit cover of Lennon-McCartney's "I Don't Want to See You Again" (which the Beatles never recorded). The material and delivery is pleasant but slight, and just too damned polite to be of much consequence. There was no direct counterpart to the album in the US, where seven of the fourteen songs appeared on the I Don't Want to See You Again LP, and a few others were scattered on other releases. The 1997 EMI CD reissue in the UK includes both the mono and stereo versions of the album.