Thursday, July 31, 2014

"'65 Love Affair" by Paul Davis

Top 10 Alert!
Song#:  0933
Date:  02/27/1982
Debut:  82
Peak:  6
Weeks:  20
Genre:  Pop



Pop Bits:  Moving to the Arista label was good and bad for Davis. Good because his album for them, "Cool Night," already yielded the #11 title track and this second single became his biggest pop hit. Bad because the marrying of his earlier soft rock/country sound with Clive Davis' hit-making ways was not a match made in heaven. The album was a career high for Paul Davis, but the pop push didn't sit well with him. It would end up being his only LP for Arista. In the meantime, this reflective ode lit up pop radio and got into the Top 10.

ReduxReview:  It's a shame that Davis ended up not really liking this song. I think it is a wonderful piece of pop and I played it quite a bit back in the day. The production is a bit dated now, but it is still enjoyable and brings back waves of nostalgia. It's just plain fun.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  It's been said that Davis originally wrote this tune as "'55 Love Affair." This would seem to fit as the song references 50's pop culture points like doo-wop music and car hops. However, Arista balked that '55 was too old, even for Davis to sing about, and to appeal to a younger demo they wanted it as '65. Davis obliged, but the whole commercialization of his music soured him and he took off from Arista and never looked back.

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