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Twice As Much - Own Up - That's All (1966)

Track listing:
  1. I Have A Love 2:05
  2. Help 2:47
  3. I This What I Get For Looking You Baby 2:49
  4. Night Time Girl 2:48
  5. Life Is But Nothing 3:55
  6. The Spinning Wheel 2:22
  7. Happy Times 3:24
  8. Sha La La La Lee 2:08
  9. We Can Work It Out 2:16
  10. As Tears Go By 3:17
  11. The Time Is Right 3:05
  12. The Summer's Ending 2:40
  13. Play With Fire 2:30
  14. Why Can't They All Go And Leave Me Alone 2:58
  15. Sitting On A Fence 3:11
  16. Hey Girl 2:26
  17. Listen 2:41
  18. You're So Good For Me 2:33
  19. Green Circles 2:42
  20. Medley 3:29
  21. True Story 2:39
  22. Simplified 3:24
  23. Step Out Of Line 3:10
  24. You'll Never Get To Heaven 2:39
  25. Crystal Ball 2:46
  26. Coldest Night Of The Year 3:30
  27. Baby, I Want You 2:15
  28. She's Always On My Mind 2:23

Notes


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Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Twice as Much was composed of David Skinner (born David Ferguson Skinner, 4 July 19??) and Andrew Rose (born 12 March 1947, Edgware, Middlesex) and were harmony singers who also wrote much of their own material. They were signed to Immediate Records, which was run by The Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham.

The pair recorded four singles ("Sittin' on a Fence" b/w "Baby I Want You"; "Step Out of Line" / "Simplified"; "True Story" / "You're So Good For Me"; "Crystal Ball" / "Why Can't They All Go And Leave Me Alone") and two albums, Own Up and That's All (featuring Vashti Bunyan) between 1966 and 1968 for Immediate. Most of these recordings were pop in the Peter and Gordon/Chad and Jeremy mold, with light orchestral pop/rock arrangements, that sometimes employed a touch of the baroque.

Their only UK Top 40 success was a cover of the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards composition "Sittin' on a Fence" (1966). The Stones released it a year later.

In 1972, Skinner joined Uncle Dog, a group including vocalist, Carol Grimes. He penned most of the tracks on their album, Old Hat. He was also a member of Clancy. In 1977/8, Skinner toured as the keyboard player with Roxy Music. He also contributed to albums by Phil Manzanera and Bryan Ferry.[3]

One of the most anonymous-sounding acts of the British Invasion, Twice as Much was the duo of Dave Skinner and Andrew Rose, harmony singers who also wrote much of their own material. Signed to the Immediate label (run by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham), the pair recorded several singles and a couple of albums between 1966 and 1968. Most of these recordings were innocuous, pleasantly forgettable pop affairs in the Peter & Gordon/Chad & Jeremy mold, with light orchestral pop/rock arrangements that sometimes employed a touch of the Baroque.

They had their only British Top 40 success with a cover of the Stones' "Sitting on a Fence"; although the Stones' version was one of their best cuts from the Between the Buttons era, the Twice as Much interpretation seems to miss the point completely, transforming it into a chipper, quasi-vaudevillian tune without a hint of ambiguity or sullenness.

Twice As Much's debut album was an odd exercise in twee pop-baroque production, very typical of producer Andrew Oldham's ornate, sometimes over-the-top grandiosity. The LP was evenly divided between group originals and covers of hits by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Small Faces. There was also the Spector-Goffin-King composition "Is This What I Get for Loving You Baby?" and "I Have a Love," both of which, coincidentally or not, were done in the mid-1960s by another one-time Oldham client, Marianne Faithfull. The originals, interestingly, were better, though hardly great. David Skinner and Andrew Rose were pleasant, though unexceptional, harmony singers, and played out their introverted, somewhat sad pop-rock ballads against orchestral production with heavy debts to the mid-1960s Beach Boys and California sunshine pop. "Life Is But Nothing" would be covered to good effect by Del Shannon on another Oldham production, and "Why Can't They All Go and Leave Me Alone?," in which the introversion slides into solipsism, is a notable obscure exercise in crashing, epic symphonic pop-rock. The covers do the originals no favors, emasculating classics like "Help" and "Sha La La La La Lee" into fey pop ballads suitable for upper-class parlors. Incidentally, there's a true all-star supporting cast on this record. The session musicians include guitarists Jimmy Page, John McLaughlin, Joe Moretti, and Big Jim Sullivan; drummer Andy White; keyboardists Nicky Hopkins and Art Greenslade (the latter of whom did the arrangements); and engineer Glyn Johns. This is so dissimilar to the music Page, McLaughlin, Hopkins, and Johns made later, though, that you wouldn't suspect their presence if not for the credits.

Twice as Much never got much more than a couple of dismissive comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel (to whom there's admittedly a slight vocal resemblance, although the U.K. duo's brand of lush psych-pop owes little to the New Yorkers' folk-rock roots) and a footnote in pop history for covering a Rolling Stones song on their first Immediate single ("Sitting on a Fence," the country-tinged opener here). This is a shame, because the vocal blend of Dave Skinner and Andrew Rose is simply gorgeous, and they were a dab hand as songwriters as well. Nothing on That's All is up to the level of "Night Time Girl," the album track from the debut, Own Up, that's among the loveliest songs of the entire psych-pop era, but this album is much more consistent than the patchy debut. Soft and gentle, along the lines of Chad and Jeremy's Of Cabbages and Kings, or perhaps Curt Boettcher's work, the album includes gems like a pair of Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane rarities, "Hey Girl" and the trippy "Green Circles," a dreamy take on the Dionne Warwick classic "You'll Never Get to Heaven," and an inspired medley of the ghostly original "Life Is But Nothing," with an oddly resigned version of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance." That's All is second-string work to be sure, but it's certainly of interest to all sunshine pop and lite-psych fans.

01. I Have a Love
02. Help
03. Is This What I Get for Loving You Baby?
04. Night Time Girl
05. Life Is But Nothing
06. Spinning Wheel
07. Happy Times
08. Sha La La La Lee
09. We Can Work It Out
10. As Tears Go By
11. Time Is Right
12. Summer's Ending
13. Play with Fire
14. Why Can't They All Go and Leave Me Alone?
15. Sitting on a Fence
16. Hey Girl
17. Listen
18. You're So Good for Me
19. Green Circles
20. Life Is But Nothing~ Happy Times~ Do You Wanna Dance
21. True Story
22. Simplified
23. Step out of Line
24. You'll Nver Get to Heaven
25. Crystal Ball
26. Coldest Night of the Year
27. Baby I Want You
28. She's Always on My Mind