Peter Wyngarde When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head CD

Wyngarde's entry into the celebrity-vocal sweepstakes was stranger than most, but no more enduring than the average TV actor cash-in release. "Rape" may be hailed as a taboo-breaking cut in its zealous description of the crime -- Wyngarde in parts sounds like a TV host explaining the construction of his favorite martinis -- but in reality it's tasteless, offensive, and socially irredeemable. Most of the time, though, it's just silly, whether Wyngarde is fumbling through "La Ronde de L'Amour" or offering dramatic vignettes against treacly orchestral-pop arrangements. Certainly it'll do the trick for post-moderns looking for ironic, occasionally surreal lights-low makeout music, but as a listening experience it's not all that interesting or amusing. Detailed liner notes are here if you do take the plunge, complete with detailed comments by Wyngarde himself. ~ Richie Unterberger

Digitally remastered edition of the French actor's 1970 album. A collection of contemporary standards, it most certainly was not. The album included songs which exploded into rampant rages of male sexuality, couched in an aesthetic abandon that set off alarm bells even in those permissive times. The record's outrageousness often overwhelms what would still be one of the more bizarre episodes in popular music. The listener is unlikely to forget 'Hippie And The Skinhead', where Wyngarde reads out a letter written to "The Times" by two Home Counties skinhead girls, or the tale of "Billy the Queer, Pilly Sexy Hippie", sung over an incongruous, Nashville backing. And there's even something for discerning lovers of late '60s English Rock as he takes on the Attack's 'Neville Thumbcatch', written by Vic Smith. RPM. 2009.

Liner Note Author: Christopher Valentine.