DR HOOK – Pleasure & Pain – (Capitol) – 1978

Dr Hook.

How do I end up here?

Answer: A couple of  Stones Green Ginger Wines with ice whilst reading my friends blog which has frequent suitably rustic themes (http://thegoatthatwrote.net/ ). I apologise to him in advance for linking him to Dr Hook.

I have commented on another Dr Hook not so long ago so refer to that for biographical details and general observations by me. Suffice it to say, as I had said before, that I have Dr Hooks Greatest Hits which I bought, as an early teen or pre teen, when it came out.

I played it all the time.

I stopped.

I have rarely played it since.

Dr Hook were never country rock but they certainly were pop with country overtones. By the mid 70s they had realised that if you toned down the rustic influences even further you would reach a wider audience. And why not? There was so much music going on in the 70s but disco and dance pop music was by far the most successful.

It made sense for Dr Hook to increase the MOR romantic slow dance songs in their music.

You know the songs I’m talking about. After shaking your booty to up-tempo disco songs and getting all hot and sweaty whilst "lady bumping" your girl the MOR slow pop dance song comes on. It’s sexy and romantic and you can rub your crotch right up against your chick so she can feel your pulsating manhood. You know there is no more than four layers of material, though as little as two on occasion, between your sexual organs.  You need that slow grind music to best arouse yourself in this mutual hetero frottage. Of course it helps if the music is full of sweet sounds and delicate lyrics. No one wants to be thought of as a slut out there on the dance floor.

Ultimately you will go home alone to beat off, but that’s another story.

Equally, and ultimately also, that’s why punk came around. …to release those youthful energies in, I would say, a more dignified manner.

Of course this music wasn’t really aimed at teenagers but at the "older" crowd or white collar workers (who were surrounded by secretaries). Those people would continue to  bump and grind and "disco duck" well into the 1980s.

Again, that’s another story.

My ranting and raving though is partially based on hearsay …. I wasn’t "clubbing" in the 70s so I do not know what went on. What I do know is that this type of music isn’t dead. It mutated, and it’s descendants have created many mini boners on many dance floors up to and including today. That I have seen.

MOR romantic pop …is there anything worse?

Well yes, there is.

But, I wont go into that now.

I will say that with the right amount of alcohol, a well written MOR romantic pop song works in that kind of laid back, I couldn’t be bothered to turn off the stereo, way.

Dr Hook (eventually) tapped into this sound.

I went the long way to make this point in this comment but I had another Stones Green Giner Wine in the process.

The trouble is Dr Hook were inconsistent. They had Shel Silverstein writing for them, which was great, but clearly if you use this album as an example he had his ups and downs also.

This album is pure schmaltz with only a couple of marginal catchy songs.

I hate to use this lame obvious joke on the title, but, you could say this album is more pain than pleasure.

Needless to say the album did well and spawned a number of hit singles.

Tracks (best in italics)

• Sharing The Night Together – (Ava Aldridge, Eddie Struzick ) – pure MOR pop with a very (very, very) slight country feel. Catchy. And if you don’t think the song is catchy then you are wrong, fuck you, it was a hit.
• Sweetest Of All – (Shel Silverstein ) – filler. An odd loser by the normally good Silverstein.
• Storms Never Last  – (Jessi Colter ) – Jessi Colter did better with this, though she recorded it later. It’s a chicks song.
• I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight – (Shel Silverstein ) – slight but catchy
• Knowing She’s There  – (Dennis Locorriere, Shel Silverstein ) – another one catchy but oh so saccharine.
• Clyde – (J.J. Cale )- naff but reasonably entertaining song from JJ Cale.
• When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman  – (Even Stevens ) – ahh, the err gold? Catchy but total schmaltz. Catchy, and I can see any number of punters dancing to this under the disco ball. I’m sure this is an aphrodisiac on the chicks …well, at least some of them. Mouth these words to her under the disco ball while doing a gentle funk:

 When you’re in love with a beautiful woman
 It’s hard .
 When you’re in love with a beautiful woman
 You know it’s hard .
 Everybody wants her
 Everybody loves her
 Everybody wants to take your baby home .
 When you’re in love with a beautiful woman
 You watch your friends
 When you’re in love with a beautiful woman
 It never ends .

You will get a root.

• Dooley Jones – (Hazel Smith, Walter Carter)- sub par Tony Joe White, Jerry Reed rip off.
• I Gave Her Comfort -(Dennis Locorriere, Shel Silverstein)- shoot me
• All The Time In The World – (Even Stevens, Shel Silverstein)- shoot me again
• You Make My Pants Want To Get Up And Dance – (Sam Weedman)- up-tempo, but still crap. Don’t shoot me, shoot the band. This is the type of stuff they could do in their sleep but better than this.

And …

Sorry, I’ll stick to the Greatest Hits (which I rarely play) ….  this is going….
 
Chart Action
 
US
Singles
1979 Sharing The Night Together The Billboard Hot 100 #6
1979 When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman Adult Contemporary #5
1979 When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman Country Singles #68
1979 When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman The Billboard Hot 100 #6
1978 Sharing The Night Together Country Singles #50

Album
1979 Country Albums #17
1979 The Billboard 200 #66

England
Singles
1978 Sharing The Night #6
1979 When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman #6
 
Album
1979 #47
 
Sounds
 
Sharing The Night Together
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_n_NgGWpR4

Sweetest Of All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uv0qVlewFo

Storms Never Last
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVu9M7rU_aw

I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CAESvRugcA

Knowing She’s There 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgpqFnqUANE

When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman 
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxpYN-NK54Y
mp3 attached below

Dr Hook – When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman

Dooley Jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqIn0bUJ8R4

All The Time In The World
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_rz0j6GLRY

You Make My Pants Want To Get Up And Dance
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfEmN-50el8

Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iYpboTjtoQ
 
Review
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Bio
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dr-hook-mn0000806645
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dr-hook-the-medicine-show-mn0000205575
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Hook
 
Website
http://www.doctorhook.com/
http://www.dennislocorriere.com/
http://www.sylviasmother.com/
 
Trivia
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