I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (album)

Last updated
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
I couldn't live without your love warner bros.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 1966
RecordedPye Studios (Great Cumberland Place) June 1966
Genre Pop
Label Pye Records (UK)
Warner Bros. Records (U.S.)
Producer Tony Hatch
Petula Clark chronology
My Love
(1966)
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
(1966)
Colour My World
(1967)
Singles from I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

I Couldn't Live Without Your Love is a Petula Clark album released in the United States and the UK in September 1966. Clark's fifth US album release, I Couldn't Live Without Your Love was the first Petula Clark album to include creative personnel besides Tony Hatch, who produced the album and arranged some of the tracks, along with Johnny Harris.

The album was released subsequent to the Top Ten success in both the UK and the US of the "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" single. Unlike the parent albums of Clark's precedent hits which had favored original material over cover versions, the I Couldn't Live Without Your Love album featured seven contemporary covers plus the traditional pop standard "Come Rain or Come Shine". This formula proved to be a popularity booster in the UK where I Couldn't Live Without Your Love became Clark's first charting album; its #11 peak remains Clark's UK album chart best. In the US the album reached #43.

The mid-60s hits Clark covers on the album include "Elusive Butterfly"; its original artist and writer Bob Lind has called Clark's recording his favourite version despite its omission of a verse. Also included is Clark's version of the Mindbenders' "A Groovy Kind Of Love"; that track became a hit for Clark in Rhodesia (#7) and South Africa (#5) in the summer of 1967. The set opens with Clark's bouncy rendition of Frank Sinatra's recent #1 hit "Strangers in the Night". Her nasal version of the song was reportedly in retaliation for Sinatra's version of "Downtown". Clark performed the song on "The Hollywood Palace".

The song "Two Rivers" was penned by Clark as autobiographic, with references to the Thames and the Seine Rivers, as well as to her husband.

I Couldn't Live Without Your Love also features "Wasn't It You", which is Clark's only recording of a Gerry Goffin/Carole King song.1 [2] [3]

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Strangers in the Night" (Bert Kaempfert, Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder)
  2. "A Groovy Kind of Love" (Carole Bayer Sager, Toni Wine)
  3. "Rain" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
  4. "Wasn't It You" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)
  5. "There Goes My Love, There Goes My Life" (Tony Hatch, Petula Clark, Hubert Ballay, Jackie Trent)
  6. "Monday Monday" (John Phillips)
Side two
  1. "Bang Bang" (Sonny Bono)
  2. "Homeward Bound" (Paul Simon)
  3. "Two Rivers" (Petula Clark)
  4. "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen)
  5. "Elusive Butterfly" (Bob Lind)
  6. "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" (Tony Hatch, Jackie Trent)

Related Research Articles

Carole King American singer-songwriter

Carole King is an American singer-songwriter who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at the Brill Building and later as a solo artist. She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005.

Petula Clark British actress and singer

Petula Clark, CBE is a British singer, actress and composer whose career spans eight decades.

Gerald Goffin was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Take Good Care of My Baby", "The Loco-Motion", and "Go Away Little Girl". It was later said of Goffin that his gift was "to find words that expressed what many young people were feeling but were unable to articulate."

Downtown (Petula Clark song) original song written and composed by Tony Hatch

"Downtown" is a song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark in 1964, became an international hit, reaching number one in Billboard Hot 100 and number two in UK Singles Chart. Hatch received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

Tony Hatch English composer for musical theatre and television; noted songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer

Anthony Peter Hatch, is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a noted songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer.

Sign of the Times (Petula Clark song) 1966 single by Petula Clark

"Sign of the Times", also known as "A Sign of the Times", is a song performed by Petula Clark and released from her album My Love in March 1966. It was the follow-up to her #1 US hit "My Love," which had been the title selection from the aforementioned album, and it continued her association with writer/producer Tony Hatch and songwriter Jackie Trent. However, "A Sign of the Times" had a more percussive sound than had been evident on Clark's previous singles, or than would become evident on her later ones. Clark discussed the song with Carl Wiser for Songfacts.com in 2013. "I loved it. It had a slightly different feel. 'A Sign of the Times,' I suppose you might expect some big political statement or something, but it was just a straight-ahead love song. I think Tony rather liked finding titles that made you think, like 'Don't Sleep in the Subway.' People would think, is it about drugs? Is it about this? And these were just straightforward songs. I like 'Sign of the Times.' I think it's a good song."

I Couldnt Live Without Your Love song by Petula Clark

"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" is a 1966 single written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark. It was inspired by the affair the songwriters were having at the time. Clark has cited "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" along with "Don't Sleep in the Subway" as her favorites of her hits. “I still love that one; I do it onstage with great joy,” Clark told the "Montreal Gazette" in 2017.

Who Am I (Petula Clark song) 1966 single by Petula Clark

"Who Am I" was a 1966 single by Petula Clark written by Tony Hatch & Jackie Trent and produced by Tony Hatch.

Dont Sleep in the Subway 1967 single by Petula Clark

"Don't Sleep in the Subway" is a song written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark, for whom it was an April 1967 single release.

<i>Spare Parts</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Status Quo

Spare Parts is the second studio album by the English rock band Status Quo, and the final one in the psychedelic vein. It is also the first in which the group's roadie Bob Young began writing and co-writing songs for and with the band.

<i>Rock & Roll</i> (Vanilla Fudge album) 1969 studio album by Vanilla Fudge

Rock & Roll is the fifth album by American psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge, released in September 1969. It peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard album charts in October of that year. The album was the band's last studio album prior to their initial break-up in the spring of 1970.

"One Fine Day" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It first became a popular hit in the summer of 1963 for the American girl group The Chiffons, who reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1980, King covered it herself and charted at #12 on the Hot 100 with her version. The song has subsequently been covered by numerous artists over the years.

Up on the Roof (song) 1962 single by The Drifters

"Up on the Roof" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded in 1962 by The Drifters. Released late that year, the disc became a major hit in early 1963, reaching number 5 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 4 on the U.S. R&B singles chart. In the UK it was a top ten success for singer Kenny Lynch, whose version was also released in 1962.

<i>Tears on My Pillow</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Johnny Tillotson

Tears on My Pillow was Johnny Tillotson's first album in two years, released by Amos Records. The arrangements were by Clark Gassman, Ernie Freeman and Glen D. Hardin.

"Some Kind of Wonderful" is a song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King that was first released by the Drifters in 1961..

<i>Then & Now: The Very Best of Petula Clark</i> 2008 greatest hits album by Petula Clark

Then & Now: The Very Best of Petula Clark is a compilation album by British singer Petula Clark that was released on 16 June 2008. It's a collection of greatest hits, four newly recorded tracks, and a previously unreleased recording.

Elusive Butterfly 1965 single by Bob Lind

"Elusive Butterfly" is a popular song written by Bob Lind, released as a single in December 1965, which reached #5 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the adult contemporary chart in the spring of 1966. In Australia, Lind's "Elusive Butterfly" entered the charts on April 10, 1966 and spent three weeks at #2 during July 1966.

<i>Petula</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Petula Clark

Petula is a 1968 Pye Records album release by Petula Clark leased to Warner Bros. in the USA.

It Might as Well Rain Until September 1962 Carole King single

"It Might as Well Rain Until September" is a 1962 song originally written for Bobby Vee by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. King recorded the demo version of the song and it became a hit for her. However, Vee's management baulked at releasing the song as a single, instead using it only as an album track. Bobby Vee recorded the song the same year for his 1963 Liberty album The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.

<i>The Legendary Demos</i> 2012 compilation album by Carole King

The Legendary Demos is a compilation album by pop rock artist Carole King. It was released on April 24, 2012 on Hear Music. The album contains thirteen demo recordings, ranging in time from "Crying in the Rain" (1962) to six tracks that appeared on King's 1971 hit album Tapestry.

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. "US charts at PetulaClark.net". Archived from the original on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  3. "UK charts at PetulaClark.net". Archived from the original on 2010-04-03. Retrieved 2009-06-05.