Wayne Fontana (MGM, 1967)

I have a soft spot for British singers who started in a ‘Beat’ group and made almost middle-of-the-road music. One foot in the British commercial music world, and the other dangles over the possibility of failure. I first heard the name Wayne Fontana connected with the band The Mindbenders. Wayne did a few albums with them and had a big hit in the States with The Game of Love. Soon afterward, he left the band and went solo. What I pick up with my ears is a conflict of being a rock n’ roll singer and making inroads into the pop world. I feel there is tension on the road between the two practices and the genre of music-making.

Fontana and the other members of The Mindbenders were from Manchester. The significant musician in The Mindbenders is Eric Stewart, who later became a member of 10cc, along with Graham Gouldman, who wrote Fontana’s only solo hit single, Pamela, Pamela. The album Wayne Fontana was arranged by Les Reed, who composed the soundtrack music to Girl on a Motorcycle. So in my world, Fontana was in outstanding company.

While listening to this album, I think of Scott Walker’s albums after Scott 3 and before he made some Country music-orientated material. The material Fontana did was not original, and one feels that he was following someone else’s pattern, more likely his record label. Still, the Manchester quality of bringing light to his presentation, or maybe it’s his taste, is a winner. Pamela, Pamela is not as good as the Gouldman solo recording of his song, but he does an excellent job on the Bacharach and David classic (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me.

Creative-wise, Fontana should have stuck with Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman's world because he’s a terrific singer but not an artist with a solid solo vision. He probably wasn’t aware of the talents of those two, and it would lead to 10cc. Still, I have a great fondness for this solo album, and his version of The Entertainer and Perfida are listening worthy. This sounds like faint praise, but I keep returning to the Wayne Fontana album.