Sittin’ On a Fence: The Immediate Anthology

RELEASE
May 25, 1999
LABEL
Import
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Baroque Pop

Album Review

The duo's two albums are assembled together on one CD, and appended with singles that weren't on either, all in glittering sound (it took till the mid-'90s, at least, for proper sources to be assembled on the Immediate Records catalog). The first six tracks, representing single A- and B-sides, have a fair amount of appeal today as artifacts of '60s pop/rock, with "Step Out of Line," an original by the duo, probably representing their own sound best, kind of between Simon & Garfunkel and Peter & Gordon, and closer to the latter. The album cuts are a more difficult fit, ranging from Broadway tunes to covers of Beatles and other songs -- though if these guys were to have covered any Beatles tracks, the right ones were chosen in "Help!" and "We Can Work It Out," and the harmony versions of the Small Faces songs are an interesting variant on the latter, even if they won't displace the Small Faces' own renditions. There are also good covers of Phil Spector material ("Is That What I Get for Loving You Baby?") and rock classics like "Do You Wanna Dance," but their very best efforts were, in many ways, the duo's own songs, and filmmaker Peter Whitehead seems to have had the best instincts when he lifted their "Night Time Girl" from the first album for use in his documentary Tonite Let's All Make Love in London. Fans of Vashti Bunyan may also want to pick this CD up for the presence of "The Coldest Night of the Year," as the folksinging legend appeared with the duo, fully credited, on the record.
Bruce Eder, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Sittin' On a Fence
  2. Baby I Want You
  3. Step Out of Line
  4. Simplified
  5. True Story
  6. You're So Good for Me
  7. I Have a Love
  8. Help!
  9. Is That What I Get for Loving You Baby?
  10. Night Time Girl
  11. Life Is But Nothing
  12. The Spinning Wheel
  13. Happy Times
  14. Sha La La La Lee
  15. We Can Work It Out
  16. As Tears Go By
  17. The Time Is Right
  18. The Summer's Ending
  19. Play With Fire
  20. Why Can't They All Go and Leave Me Alone?
  21. Crystal Ball
  22. Hey Girl
  23. Listen
  24. Green Circles
  25. Life Is But Nothing/Happy Times/Do You Wanna Dance
  26. You'll Never Get to Heaven
  27. The Coldest Night of the Year