Beat The Heat: Thin Covers

Joey Heatherton: God Only Knows
from The Joey Heatherton Album (MGM/Hip-O Select 1972)

Joey Heatherton: It's Not Easy
from The Joey Heatherton Album (MGM/Hip-O Select 1972)


Because this summers unbearably hot (ain't that the inconvenient truth) and since I tend to wilt like a pussy whenever the thermometer jumps past 80 I've decided to throw up a series of songs that are almost guaranteed to help you beat the heat, just don't quote me on that. The first part of the series will be dedicated to cover songs that don't exactly break the mold and these particular ones are taken from Joey Heatherton's first (and only?) album, conveniently titled "The Joey Heatherton Album." Joey Heatherton, 60's sex kitten, is probably known more for her body than her body of musical work but don't let the good looks fool you, the girl has some vocal chops. Her sonorous voice is loud and crystal clear and tends to hit all the right notes, but despite the impressive ability to hold a note her by-the-numbers interpretations of some songs tend to leave you with the unsatisfied feeling of wanting more but knowing you won't get it.

God Only Knows is a good example of this. Aside from her big, brassy voice she doesn't bring much to her cover of the Beach Boys classic. It is a straight interpretation with very little to differentiate it from the original which can be seen as a good thing considering how well constructed it was to begin with. Whereas Carl Wilson's handling of the verses lent the lyrics a subdued romanticism, Joey's voice tends to effect a more melancholy tone on the interpretation and, understandably, gone is the songs multi-layered vocal harmonies here reduced to the closing of the song.

My favorite song from the album and a cover that's actually better and more interesting than the original is her cover of It's Not Easy, originally performed by the Aussie King of Pop Normie Rowe. The song, penned by hit songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, was originally intended for the Righteous Brothers and Joey steps up and does justice to the track. Though the song isn't exactly a hit, it has been covered by everyone from Eric Burdon of the Animals, to The Sweet Inspirations to Cissy Houston and supposedly by Dusty Springfield but Joey's version is for me the most endearing. The song seems ready made for her as it starts off softly and quickly builds up to the chorus and Tommy Oliver's orchestration with it's use of the horns at the right time and the always odd mix of the modern Pop and classic Big Band sounds serves to make the song a nice little gem.

If you've got a couple of sawbucks burning a hole in your pocket you'd be wise to pick up the album (don't let my damning with faint praise review make you think otherwise). Joey covers everyone from Gershwin to Meredith Wilson to Patsy Cline and while you might not find every song good enough to write home about, the whole package more than makes up for it which is more than a lot of modern artists can say about their albums.