The Newbeats: Golden Classics Edition (US, Comp)

An animal-house special. the Newbeats: Larry Henley and Mark & Don Mathis performed 18 campy songs in frat house style. All tracks feature Henley's exaggerated, sometimes painful falsetto, i.e., "Little Child," "Tough Little Buggy," and "The Bees Are for the Birds." However, the style works on "Bread and Better," "Run Baby Run," "Everything's Alright," and the harmony laden "Break Away (From That Boy)." The singing is OK, but the lyrics sound like the work of third-graders. "Better Watch Your Step," is "Bread and Butter" with new lyrics; most interesting is "Pink Daily Rue," which cops the groove of the Ikettes' "I'm Blue" and their rendition of "I Can't Hear You No More." There are no ballads and only a few mid-tempo tracks including "Patent on Love," the only song written by Henley and the best overall. Henley later wrote "Wind Beneath My Wings," but there's nothing that deep here.

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