Original released on LP PYE NPL 18125
(UK, 1965)
Songwriting
partner (and later, wife) of super-producer Tony Hatch, Jackie Trent (1940-2015) earned a
big hit single in 1965 when "Where Are You Now (My Love)" famously
ousted the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" from the top of the British
charts. Nearly as beautiful a piece of AM pop as Dusty Springfield or Petula
Clark ever recorded, the song benefited greatly from Hatch's melodramatic
string production and Trent's
tortured vocals. Following the single that same year was an LP, "The Magic of
Jackie Trent", that saw Trent
attempting to cement her show-biz bona fides with detours into adult pop - that sweet spot between Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones. There's only one
Trent/Hatch original, a pop torch song named "Faces." Elsewhere, as
great as she sounded on her breakout hit, Trent does less well with material
others had made famous; she outdoes the bombast of Tom Jones on "It's Not
Unusual" (at a slower tempo, no less) and over-enunciates and over-emotes
on Kander & Ebb's "My Colouring Book." The uptempo, flute-led
"I Believe in You" would have made a great play for the charts, but
nothing else here. [An El compilation of 2007 bookended the original LP with a
total of 13 additional tracks, including "Where Are You Now (My
Love)," her second hit "When the Summertime Is Over," and
highlights from 1968-1969 like "7.10 from Suburbia" and Scott
Walker's "Such a Small Love" (a favor returned, since Trent and Hatch
had given Walker their own "Joanna" to sing).] (John Bush in AllMusic)
