The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1 January 1968 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Label | Pye Records (UK) Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) | |||
Producer | Sonny Burke, Charles Koppelman, Don Rubin, Tony Hatch | |||
Petula Clark chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener is the ninth album released by Petula Clark in the United States. It entered the Billboard 200 on February 17, 1968 and remained on the charts for 23 weeks, peaking at #93. [2] It fared better in the United Kingdom, where it reached #37. [3]
After collaborating with producer/songwriter Tony Hatch on nine US Top 40 hits, Petula Clark had begun to work independently of Hatch in 1966 collaborating with Sonny Burke on "This is My Song" which would become Clark's most successful global hit in the spring of 1967: Burke also oversaw the resultant These Are My Songs album although that album did feature one Clark/Hatch collaboration: "Don't Sleep in the Subway" which would provide Clark with a further Top Ten hit.
Clark's next single: "The Cat in the Window (The Bird in the Sky)" was produced by Charles Koppelman and Don Rubin, and was released in August 1967 as the first advance single for what would become Clark's The Other Man's Grass is Always Greener album, although as "The Cat in the Window..." shaped up to become Clark's first US Top Twenty shortfall since she'd reached #1 with "Downtown" in 1965 plans for Clark to record an entire album with Koppelman/Rubin were scrapped and in September 1967 Clark reunited with the producer Sonny Burke, and also "This is My Song" arranger Ernie Freeman, to record the nucleus of her next album release at Western Studios (Los Angeles) with the Wrecking Crew session players.
The tracks which Sonny Burke had Clark record included his own composition: "Black Coffee", which had helmed the iconic 1953 debut album by Peggy Lee: Black Coffee , which Petula Clark would eventually describe as "my Bible. I knew every note [Peggy Lee] sang, every note of the orchestrations." Clark would add that she herself "really shouldn't have touched" the song "Black Coffee". [4] Burke also had Clark record "Smile", the signature composition by Charlie Chaplin, writer of "This is My Song" - ; the current Engelbert Humperdinck hit "The Last Waltz"; the 1953 Frankie Laine hit "Answer Me, My Love"; and the Lerner & Loewe showtune "I Could Have Danced All Night". Burke also produced the only French language track to be included on a non-Francophone album by Petula Clark: "L'île de France", which Clark herself wrote with lyricist Pierre Delanoë.
With Burke's output seemingly too easy listening focused to yield the comeback single Clark required it was felt expedient to reunite the singer with Tony Hatch to produce a second advance single "The Other Man's Grass is Always Greener", as song written by Hatch with Jackie Trent which would eventually serve as the title cut for Clark's January 1968 album release. "The Other Man's Grass is Greener" would in fact become Clark's second consecutive US Top 30 shortfall peaking at #31 on the Hot 100 in Billboard for the last week of December 1967 and the first week of January 1968. The single fared better in the UK - where its title was formatted as "The Other Man's Grass (is Always Greener)" - spending six weeks in the Top 30 with a #20 peak on the UK chart dated January 16, 1968.
Petula Clark, CBE is a British singer, actress, and composer.
"Downtown" is a song written and produced by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark in 1964, became an international hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. Hatch received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
"This Is My Song" is a song written by Charlie Chaplin in 1966, and performed by Petula Clark.
Anthony Peter Hatch is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer.
"Black Coffee" is a song with music by Sonny Burke and words by Paul Francis Webster. The song was published in 1948.
"My Love" is a 1965 single release by Petula Clark which, in early 1966, became an international hit, reaching No. 1 in the US: the track continued Clark's collaboration with songwriter and record producer Tony Hatch.
"Round Every Corner", with words and music by Tony Hatch, is a single release by Petula Clark recorded in July 1965 at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch. The personnel on the session, produced by Hatch, included guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.
"I Know a Place" is a song with music and lyrics by Tony Hatch. It was recorded in 1965 by Petula Clark at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch in a session which featured drummer Bobby Graham and the Breakaways vocal group.
"Who Am I" is a 1966 single by Petula Clark written by Tony Hatch & Jackie Trent and produced by Tony Hatch.
"Colour My World" is a song written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, and recorded by Petula Clark in 1966.
"The Cat in the Window " is a song with words and music by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon which was a 1967 single for Petula Clark.
"The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" is a song written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent which was a 1967-68 hit for Petula Clark.
"You're the One" is a song by Petula Clark with lyrics by Tony Hatch, recorded in 1965. It was later also included on the 1965 album I Know a Place. "You're the One" was a Top 30 hit on the UK Singles Chart for Clark, but was more successful as a top ten US single release by The Vogues.
I Know a Place is the second album release by Petula Clark, which in the USA charted at #42. In the UK, the album was released as The New Petula Clark Album, a name which was dropped during later re-releases to prevent confusion among record-buyers.
My Love is an album released by Petula Clark; her first album to feature recording done in the United States, My Love was produced, arranged, and conducted by Tony Hatch. In the US, it was her fourth album licensed to Warner Bros. Records. After the single release of "A Sign of the Times" charted, new pressings of the album were titled A Sign of the Times/My Love.
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.
Colour My World is the sixth album released by Petula Clark in the US on Warner Bros. Records. It combines cover versions of popular songs of the era and original material, much of it written by Clark and Tony Hatch, who produced the recording and arranged it along with Johnny Harris and Frank Owens.
These Are My Songs is a 1967 album released by Petula Clark. In a break with longtime collaborator Tony Hatch, Clark joined forces with producer Sonny Burke and arranger/conductor Ernie Freeman for this release.
"Kiss Me Goodbye" is a Les Reed/ Barry Mason composition recorded in 1968 by Petula Clark.
Petula is a 1968 Pye Records album release by Petula Clark leased to Warner Bros. in the USA.