Downtown (Petula Clark album)

Last updated
Downtown
Downtown warner bros.jpg
US cover, Warner Bros.
Studio album by
Released1965
Recorded1963-1965
StudioPye Studies, Marble Arch, London
Genre Pop
Length30:20
Label Pye (UK)
Warner Bros. (U.S.)
Disques Vogue (Canada)
Producer Tony Hatch
Petula Clark chronology
In Other Words
(1962)
Downtown
(1965)
I Know a Place
(1965)
Singles from Downtown
  1. "In Love"
    Released: 1964
  2. "True Love Never Runs Smooth"
    Released: 1964
  3. "Downtown"
    Released: November 1964
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Downtown is an album by Petula Clark (her first album licensed to Warner Bros. Records) following the success of her single of the same title. The album's tracks were all produced, arranged and conducted by Tony Hatch and were recorded at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch with the session personnel including drummer Bobby Graham, guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and the Breakaways vocal group; the "Downtown" track included guitarists Vic Flick and Jimmy Page in addition to Sullivan. Most of the album's tracks pre-dated the title cut, with almost all of the sides Hatch had produced from their inaugural collaboration: the 1963 single "Let Me Tell You Baby", being included.

Downtown entered the Billboard 200 on 13 February 1965 for a 36 weeks chart run with a #21 peak. Despite Clark's subsequent album releases being more focused on the hit sound Hatch had devised for Clark with the "Downtown" single, the Downtown album would remain Clark's most successful US album release. Downtown did not rank in the UK album charts which were then limited to the Top Twenty. [2] [3]

TRACK LISTING
Side One
TitleSongwriting creditBackground info
"True Love Never Runs Smooth" Hal David (lyrics)
Burt Bacharach (music)
Clark's precedent single (UK) to "Downtown" (Pye 7N15668/ 1964),
her fifth single (UK) produced by Tony Hatch;
US hit (#21) for Gene Pitney in 1963
"Baby It's Me"Mark Anthony
(pseudonym for Tony Hatch)
Clark's second single (UK) produced by Hatch (Pye 7N15573/ 1963).
"Now That You've Gone"Petula Clark, Hubert Ballay, Norman Newell Recorded for Downtown album:
an English rendering (by Newell) of the Clark/Ballay French language composition "Puisque Tu Pars" (album Les James Dean: Pye VRL 3001/ 1964);
released as a single by Connie Stevens (WB 5610: #53/ May 1965)
"Tell Me (That It's Love)"Tony Hatch, Petula ClarkRecorded for the Downtown album
"Crying Through a Sleepless Night"Mark Anthony
(pseudonym for Tony Hatch)
B-side of "Thank You", Clark's third single (UK) produced by Hatch
(Pye 7N15606/ 1964)
"In Love" Harvey Fuqua, Bobby LesterClark's fourth single (UK) produced by Hatch (Pye 7N15639/ 1964),
first recorded in 1955 by the Moonglows
Side Two
TitleSongwriting creditBackground info
"Music"Tony HatchRecorded for Downtown album
"Be Good to Me"Tony Hatch, Petula ClarkB-side of "Let Me Tell You Baby" (Pye 7N15551/ 1963),
Clark's first single (UK) produced by Hatch
"This is Goodbye"Tony Hatch, Petula Clark, Georges AberB-side of "Baby It's Me" (Pye 7N15573/ 1963),
Clark's second single (UK) produced by Hatch
"Let Me Tell You Baby"Mark Anthony
(pseudonym for Tony Hatch)
Clark's first single (UK) produced by Hatch (Pye 7N15551/ 1963)
"You Belong to Me" Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, Shilton PriceRecorded for Downtown album;,
#1 US/ UK hit for Jo Stafford in 1952
"Downtown"Tony HatchRecorded 16 October 1964; original release (UK): Pye 7N15722;
US release: WB 5494

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References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. "US charts at PetulaClark.net". Archived from the original on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  3. 45 RPM