PETULA CLARK: "COLOR MY WORLD / WHO AM I"

Original Released on LP (January 1967)
US: Warner Bros WS 1673 / UK: PYE NPL 18171

In the U.K. this release was withdrawn after a month because of the chart success of "This Is My Song". The album was re-issued with "This Is My Song" and "The Show Is Over" replacing "England Swings" and "Reach Out, I'll Be There". Pet Clark gives us interesting adult contemporary covers of the Association's "Cherish," the Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere," the Four Tops' "Reach Out, I'll Be There," New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral," and even Roger Miller's "England Swings." If it sounds like a K-Tel mix, it isn't, though more obscure tunes like "Please Don't Go" and "What Would I Be" work better than "England Swings" and "Winchester Cathedral." Still, the humor of covering those odes to Great Britain is not lost, and they add to the disc's mystique. The two Top 20 hits splashed on the cover, "Who Am I" concluding side one and "Color My World," which brings the album to a close, are the true gems here, powerful pop music that Petula Clark is famous for, and which will be her legacy. The striking blue cover has the singer staring out at the listener with a daisy under her chin, while the back cover has a more revealing black-and-white of the artist reading sheet music with Tony Hatch over her shoulder. It's a great and elusive look at the team, with seven other catalog items, snapshots of the previous discs, exhibited below the credits and liners, adding to the package's charm. Though radio listeners may prefer greatest hits collections, all of Petula Clark's outings are of high quality, and "Color My World / Who Am I" is no exception. It's excellent music by Clark and Hatch, with the singer collaborating on five of the dozen songs - a fact that shouldn't be overlooked. These two chart entries were her eighth and ninth of 15 hits in a three-and-a-half year span; an impressive run, and a nice chapter in the Petula Clark story. (Joe Viglione in AllMusic)