Now I do see it as some sort of low rent Jimmy Webb - you can see what they’re trying to do, but neither singer nor song are really up to it.

Always thought ageing Hollywood hunk James Garner as Jim Rockford should have released something suitably miserable.

“He’s Just A Little Toerag Like His Father”

b/w

“Can We Get Morecambe And Wise For The Police Christmas Ball?”

“Get Yer Trousers On, You Slag. You’re Nicked!”
“We’re The Sweeney, Son, And We Haven’t Had Any Dinner!”
“The 5th Floor Are Gonna Bury You For This One, Guvnor!”

as well as the unforgettable:

“We’re Not Wasting Any More Time On Rubbish Like You, Son!”

Get it on K-Tel today.

Well, I would have fucking bought it!!!

As for the recording career: WAY to kill off all remaining traces of a crush and stamp on them hard! Yeah, cheers for that. OK, so “Don’t Give Up On Us” was pleasant enough in its way - but I hated, hated, HATED “Silver Lady”, at a time where hatred came quite easily to me. It sounded limp, eviscerated, utterly lifeless - the weary, humdrum, spirit-crushing sound of Diddy David Hamilton at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, reminding you that everything stopped for tea, at a time when my spirit was damned nearly crushed anyway. (And little did I know how much worse things were going to get before they started getting better, either.)

So, look, I don’t WANT to re-appraise “Silver Lady” through a sensible adult perspective, giving it a polite 5 for period charm. This time around, I want to hang on to a little residual scrap of that teenage hatred. I think that’s healthy.

It certainly goes on a bit.

I love ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’. This has none of the impetus, the sense of necessity, of place, of yearning, of charm of that performance.

It’s one of those songs which you can really imagine what the promo film must have been like, DS walking through deserted landscapes, troubled but in a handsome way, with a series of close-ups for the chorus, DS’ eyes soulfully looking directly into the camera/viewer/listener, imploring us to take him back in an adorably psuedo-sincere expression.

The song isn’t quite good enough to carry this off.

Sadly due to filming commitments John Thaw was unable to provide the lead vocal on the Waterboys’ moving 1993 tribute to the long-standing Morse sidekick “The Wonders Of Lewis.”

It did indeed hold that honoured position for precisely ten years.

“Silver Lady” was definitely the pick of Soul’s singles output, atmospheric and (within his often-noted limitations) well performed. The swirling buildup of “the Indiana wind and rain” is especially nicely done. Back then I used to compile a “points chart” based on the simple system NME used to use, awarding 30 points for number one down to one point for number 30 each week, and David Soul was by a distance the 1977 points champion. Unusually, the acts in second and third place - Boney M and Showaddywaddy - didn’t have a number one that year.

A decade or two later he was something of a professional Anglophile, turning up on an amiable BBC2 show I forget the name of, where he brought together old foes to kiss and make up. One bizarre line-up had him sitting outside a country pub with Joe Gormley, former head of the NUM, and Derek Ezra, former head of the National Coal Board, reminiscing about the strife of the early 70s. Very odd to see Hutch in between those two.

So, two hit albums, a bunch of fairly consistent hit singles, all top ten (apart from one which JUST missed), but once again it’s the actor curse, where someone has to offer them some bit part in a movie and the whole singing thing suddenly becomes less important. (see also Roland Gift of the Fine Young Cannibals)

Most of Indiana is flat and rural, with the occasional tornado to liven things up (just as my home state has earthquakes & alas fires - it’s always something).

The tv cop’s third offering, which got stuck at number two, was where Hutch started to get slightly annoying but to his credit he pulled up the drawbridge after one more top tenner and another which just missed, which was fair play to him, to be honest.

“Ve like zer musick! Ve like zer deesco sound!”

Yes, La Belle Epoque and their epochal take on “Black Is Black” which like the original had to take the silver medal.