Knight In Rusty Armour (2011 - Remaster)

by Richie UnterbergerPeter & Gordon really ground out more albums in a brief time than they should have. That was true of many 1960s artists, of course, and not many of them were up to the pressure as much as the Beatles were. This LP is an unexceptional assortment of pop/rock from various angles, much of it sounding pretty passé by early 1967 standards (and in fact one of the better tracks, the folky original "I Would Buy You Presents," had been used as a B-side back in 1964). The British-quaint novelty title track was their final American Top 20 hit. Otherwise, there was too much overblown orchestration on songs that weren't great to start with. While it's a testament to their taste that they covered obscure songs by Jackie DeShannon ("A Boy With Nothing" and "Colour Blue") and P.F. Sloan & Steve Barri ("My First Day Alone"), these were not notable works by those composers. Their version of Phil Ochs' "The Flower Lady" isn't bad, though, and is interesting both because it predates the release of Ochs' own rendition, and is one of the relatively few covers of Ochs material by a mid-1960s rock act.