BOBBY GOLDSBORO – We Gotta Start Lovin’ – (United Artists) – 1971

This is Bobby’s peace and love anti- war album. It’s a bit late in the there must be a better world stakes so its sincerity could be called into question. Even apolitical Elvis had recorded “If I Can Dream” in1968. But it was before Watergate and the Vietnam War was still going, so, for a very mainstream pop performer it is perhaps ahead of the game.

Do you need to be cutting edge or at the forefront of some movement to have these thoughts and opinions?

No.

Maybe your thoughts are sincere but when you follow, well after, in the wake of those that have gone, that sincerity will be questioned. The trails have been blazed, the waves have been broken. Your voice could have been used at the start especially if you are a mainstream artist who appeals to the …err, mainstream.

Of course that raises a question: does it matter if your music is insincere.

The answer is, maybe, no. Pop, especially, is about smoothing out the rough edges and making the product as appealing to as many people as possible.

Sincerity in pop is not a state of mind or a value but a musical style or vocal inflection.

Still, I would rather hear someone, who in a calculating way, jumps on a bandwagon and creates some good music than someone who is sincere in their beliefs but doesn’t have an original thought in their head and creates dull music. Of course I would rather ditch both and find someone both sincere and original.

I’m not sure where Bobby is in all of this though by 1971 some of the views here only indicated smooth sailing ahead.

In one of my other Bobby Goldsboro posts I said, “I have nothing against Bobby but unfortunately he was the least interesting of the male soft pop country / singer-songwriters of the 60s. The music is quite bland and was intentionally so to appeal across the board I suspect … and worse still, there is a fair bit of schmaltz in here”.

Despite all the talk about peace and love Bobby on this album hedges bets – there are quite a few love songs.

All that Bobby and team have done is taken a few peace and love lyrics and thrown them into his established normal musical sound.

So, at least he is consistent in his musical style.

Lyrically, his peace and love songs are hardly going to ruffle feathers. The lyrics are all very broad and not at all pointed or barbed. You will never mistake the lyrics for Phil Ochs or Country Joe and the Fish, if you know what I mean.

Tracks (best in italics)

• My God and I – Wilkin – 2:53 – an intro with a very slight feel of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What its Worth”. This is overly dramatic mush about soldier / fighter martyrs and their God. Still …. if someone else had recorded it, it probably would have been more accepted. Goldsboro’s saccharine excesses taint this despite an interesting lyric.
• For the Very First Time -Cashman, Pistilli, West- 3:41 – back to the love song. Filler originally done by pop folk group Cashman, Pistilli and West.
• Heaven Here on Earth –Goldsboro –3:31 – Goldsboro espouses an Edward Bellamy utopian future. No guns and no war. Brotherhood and unity exist. Lyrically no different to any number of Hippie anthems.
• Mary Jackson – Wilkin –2:20 – shades of Paul Simon, and it’s the better for it.
• About Time – Wilkin –2:59 – sticky filler and bland. Pity, it could have been a nice folk-y singer-songwriter type tune.
• Down on the Bayou –Goldsboro -2:54 – This is more the Bobby we know, when he’s not being saccharine, songs of rural bliss to a poppy beat.
• We Gotta Start Lovin’ –Goldsboro– 3:27 – Goldsboro penned this peace and love are important and money isn’t everything ode to the counter culture. By 1971 this wide eyed optimism, even if sincere, was quite late in the peace (sic).
• He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother- Russell, Scott -2:46 – The big Hollies hit from 1969 (and Neil Diamond in 1970). Blah.
• Water Color Days -Henley, O’Dell -2:45- all strings and ethereal reminiscences of times past ….. blah
• It’s Gonna Change –Goldsboro– 2:41 – Love mush.
• Watching Scotty Grow –Davis– 2:28 – with a title like that what did you expect. Not quite as sweet (sic) as Goldsboro’s “Honey” but sticky all the same, this is upbeat ode to fatherhood.
• Requiem –Goldsboro– 2:32 – “Requiem” in the title of any song, let alone as the one word title of a song, conjures up visions of death and loss. Not so here, despite a spooky, 50s era, sea sirens call half way through.

And …

I’ll tape a couple of tracks and sell.

Chart Action

US

Singles

1971  Watching Scotty Grow  Adult Contemporary #1

1971  Watching Scotty Grow  Country Singles #7

1971  Watching Scotty Grow  The Billboard Hot 100 #11

Album

1971  We Gotta Start Lovin’  Country Albums #20

1971  We Gotta Start Lovin’  The Billboard 200 #120

England

Singles

Album

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Sounds

Mary Jackson

attached

Bobby Goldsboro – Mary Jackson

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo2BcmfOt8E

Watching Scotty Grow

Live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G75cORqX_oQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOnz4tAbnOc

Others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59BZxgohr9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYHEBa6Xx48

Review

http://www.allmusic.com/album/we-gotta-start-lovin-r66814/review

Bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Goldsboro

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-goldsboro-p4381/

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-bucky-wilkin-p138118

Website

http://www.bobbygoldsboro.com/

http://www.chichibu.ne.jp/~keiki/

Trivia

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