A Little Bit More

by Mike DeGagneA small improvement from their earlier work surfaces on A Little Bit More, but not enough to be qualified as significant, with Ray Sawyer and the rest of Dr. Hook showing slight signs of relinquishing their exhausted sense of humor. The band took the syrupy title track to number 11, while "If Not You" made it to number 55 in the U.S., but went Top Five in the U.K., as did the album itself. There seems to be a little more concern to accompany radio and to garner a wider audience base with songs like "More Like the Movies," "What About You," and "A Couple More Years," and this minor step toward more mature songwriting is truly noticeable, but it's only a small transition, and it fails to fully rescue the album from its clichéd formula. Tracks like "Bad Eye Bill" and "I Need the High" are mired in the same witless banality the group has been churning out since their first release, while "Jungle to the Zoo" sports a little bit of affability, although it's in the same context. A Little Bit More failed to crack the Top 50 in the U.S., and following its release, Sawyer tried his hand at a solo album consisting mainly of country songs, proving that even he was getting a wee bit tired of the same old song and dance.