David & Jonathan's sole U.S. Top 40 hit, an adult contemporary-style cover of
the Beatles' "Michelle" produced by
George Martin, is actually rather ghastly; the arrangement is basically the same, but it's over-burdened with too much instrumentation and the vocals don't have the rhythmic playfulness of
Paul McCartney's original. On the other hand, the rest of the album (with the exception of a similarly leaden piano-based cover of "Yesterday") is quite good chart pop in a mild
Peter & Gordon style. Unsurprisingly, the best tracks tend to be the originals (
David & Jonathan were in reality
Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook, one of the most successful songwriting teams in the U.K. through the late '60s and early '70s), like the
Petula Clark-style "Every Now and Then" and their own version of "You've Got Your Troubles," which they'd previously written for the Fortunes. The best of the covers is their take on
P.F. Sloan and
Steve Barri's "A Must to Avoid," a minor sunshine pop classic most associated with
Herman's Hermits, though the weirdly overwrought version of
the Four Seasons' "Let's Hang On" has its over-the-top charms. Not an all-time classic by any means,
Michelle is still much better than many similar albums.
–
Stewart Mason, Rovi