Genre: pop
Rating: ** (2 stars)
Title: Where Do You Go To My Lovely
Company: World Pacific
Catalog: WPS-21895
Year: 1969
Country/State: India
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG
Comments: minor ring and edge wear
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4781
Price: $9.00
Cost: $1.00
He's a total unknown in the States, but at least for a brief period in the late-1960s singer/composer Peter Sarstedt was a major European pop star.
Born to English parents living in India, Sarstedt returned to the UK in the mid-1950s. He started his professional musical career as a folkie, attracting the attention of Chris Blackwell's Island Records which signed him to a recording contract and released his debut single 'Must Go On' b/w 'Mary Jane' (Island catalog number WIP 6028).
Picked up United Artists Sarstedt's 1968 label debut 'I Am A Cathedral' b/w 'Blagged' (United Artists catalog number UP-2228) generated considerable media attention, but little commercial success. His follow-on 'Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)' b/w 'Morning Mountain' (United Artists catalog number UP-2262) proved a major European hit, leading United Artists to rush him back into the studio to record a supporting album.
Produced by Ray Singer, 1969's cleverly-titled "Where Do You Go To My Lovely" comes off as second tier Al Stewart or perhaps third tier Donovan. Like those other artists, Sarstedt had a hippy dippy voice that served to display his sensitive singer/songwriter credentials in their full and nauseating glory. Unfortunately while Stewart and Donovan occasionally demonstrated a sense of humor, Sarstedt seemed pretty confident in his keen insight and relevance. Material like 'I Am A Cathedral', 'Sons Of Kain Are Abel' and the title track probably brought scads of female English and Library Science college majors to their knees in awe, but most folks are probably immune to the album's supposed charms. Elsewhere I can only guess that 1969 was a slow year for music, but along with David Bowie's 'Space Oddity', the title track somehow 1969's Ivor Novello award (awarded by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters for the years best songs).
"Where Do You Go To My Lovely" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) I Am A Cathedral (Peter Sarstedt) - 2:47
2.) Sons Of Kain Are Abel (Peter Sarstedt) - 3:42
3.) Stay Within Myself (Peter Sarstedt) - 2:56
4.) You Are My Life (Peter Sarstedt) - 3:11
5.) Sayonara (Peter Sarstedt) - 2:34
6.) Where Do You Go to My Lovely (Peter Sarstedt) - 4:42
(side
2)
1.)
Blagged (Peter Sarstedt) - 3:09
2.) My Daddy Is A Millionaire (Peter Sarstedt) - 2:15
3.) Once Upon And Every Day (Peter Sarstedt) - 2:29
4.) Time Was Leading Us Home (Peter Sarstedt) - 4:24
5.) Many Coloured Semi Precious Splastic Easter Eggs (Peter Sarstedt) - 2:48
6.) Time, Love, Hope, Life (Peter Sarstedt) - 3:33