What could be nicer (mum the kettle's boiling) (Gilbert O'Sullivan) (LP 290-291)

Gilbert O'Sullivan Back To Front (Vinyl, MAM, 1972) ***
Gilbert O'Sullivan I'm A Writer, Not A Fighter (Vinyl, MAM, 1973) ***

Genre:  English pop

Places I remember: Charity shop in Caterham - on the High St. Bought both for 2 pounds.  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Get Down




Gear costume:  Claire, I'm In Love With You, Who Was It, 

Active compensatory factors: Hunky big G is a guilty pleasure for me, as I've pointed out before, and a seventies icon. So when I was fossicking through some vinyl in one of the local charity shops before Christmas, I couldn't resist shelling out 2 quid when I spied these two albums in pristine condition.

Clearly not played much, maybe someone was cleaning out a loved ones estate and came across these without realising what pop gold they were.

Gilbert is pretty effortless with his vocal style and definitely of his time. Would he get a look it in 2019? Would he eckaslike!

Except!! He did!!! Against all oddities on 24 August 2018, O'Sullivan released his 19th studio album Gilbert O’Sullivan  which entered the UK album charts at No. 20, his first UK charting studio album for over 40 years.

Enough to restore your faith in humankind!

So, put the kettle on, pop this slice of 1972 onto the turntable and let it work its magic all over again.

Where do they all belong? A distant innocent pop age that was so naff it was great and who cares if he will never ever be cool. Now, where's my woolly jumper with the big G on it?

You're a bad dog baby (Gilbert O'Sullivan)

Gilbert (not Greg or Leo)

My friend Gregarious recently posted on Leo Sayer on his seventies blog (link on the left column) and it reminded me of the deep dislike I have always had for Leo Sayer. It also reminded me of my soft spot for Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Eh? I hear you say. But they are peas in a pod. How can you love one and dislike the other?

Seventies singer-songwriters with naff names (Gilbert? Leo?), big Richard Simmons hair, a penchant for cringe inducing songs (Oh wakka doo wakka day anyone?) and very non rock n roll images (Leo's suspenders and Gilbert's sweaters with a big G on them - I rest my case).
. 
But to me - one was cooler (Gilbert) than the other. Why? One reason really.

Get down.

Get Down is so stoopid and prescient it's almost early punk/ early Norwegian death metal.

Who am I trying to kid! It's a guilty pleasure (it turns up on Vol 2 after all) shared by a few saddos like me who bought the Guilty Pleasures albums).

But it's really infectious and it stays on my ipod because I feel good whenever I hear it.