BOBBY DARIN: "Inside Out"

Original released on LP Atlantic SD 8142 

(US, May 1967)

Encouraged by the critical reception to the Carpenter album if not by its failure to make the Top 40, Darin returned to the recording studio in March 1967, to fashion a follow-up. The result was this "Inside Out", a similarly folk-inclined offering. One that, again, dipped into the Hardin and Sebastian songbooks but also included Randy Newman's reflective "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today", a subtle interpretation of the Stones' "Back Street Girl", and a trio of songs penned by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, formed members of New York group The Musicians, who'd become suppliers of hits to The Turtles. Additionally, Bobby had shaped a couple of originals that fitted snugly into the concept, "Hello Sunshine" sounding for all the world like something Lovin' Spoonful might have cooked up, I am proving to be a ringer for anything that might have appeared on a Best Of Tim Hardin album. Darin, not just vocally but also from a songwriting point of view, was always the chameleon (Fred Dellar)