From Wikipedia: The group’s second album, “No Second Chance”, began the practice of having a photograph of a female model as the album’s cover. “Turning To You”, from that album, was Charlie’s first chart entry, peaking at #96 in the US.
Besides great album covers, for those of us who appreciates female models, their albums was also great when it came to the musical side of things. Four stars given by Mr. Mitchell is not a hype.
Read on!
Charlie`s angles
Charlie: “No Second Chance” (Polydor Super 2383 422) ****
Album Review by Tony Mitchell
CHARLIE first came to a lot of people’s attention when they supported the Who on some dates just before Christmas 1975. Their album, ‘Fantasy Girls’, did fairly well for a debut album both here and abroad but failed to capture the listening public’s imagination sufficiently to establish the band as real front runners among the new talent.
This second album should correct this situation — it’s far more varied and adventurous than its predecessor — but the distinctive style which is potentially Charlie’s greatest asset still acts as something of a limitation, if one which is gradually being overcome.
Part of the broadening of musical horizons which ‘No Second Chance’ reveals is probably due to the presence of keyboard player Julian Colbeck who replaced second guitarist Martin Smith last August. But guitarist Terry Thomas still writes all the material and, I suspect, controls the complex and tight vocal harmonies, so it is his distinctive style which is still the trademark of this band.
Side one opens with the title track which introduces the listener straight away to the Genesis-style harmonies of the band. Of the nine trakcs on the album, one of the others which, to me, stands out is ‘Turning To You’, which I seem to remember was recorded as a single. It has a chord sequence which made me think immediately of Steely Dan, and it ends with a neat series of timing tricks which makes you think your brain has forgotten how to count in fours.
If this band has a fault, it’s in the tendency to overuse two things. One is vocal harmonies, which are excellently executed but not always necessary, and the other is a particular type of chord modulation which Terry is obviously very fond of. The last album had the same problem — that while the chord sequences were not simplistic, they were nevertheless rather samey: The new ideas creeping into this album suggest that Terry already knows he can’t really get any more songs out of this particular modulation, and I think the overall effect is one of great promise. If they just develop their image a bit, I think they’ll probably be made. The album cover’s excellent as well.
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