Bobby Vinton was on his way to being THE crooner of the Sixties and when 1964 began he had his third #1 hit with "There! I've Said it Again!" The next thing he knew the Beatles exploded on the American music scene and took over the Billboard charts for the next fourteen weeks with three different songs. From that point on Vinton had just a final #1 hit ("Mr. Lonely") as the face of pop music was changed forever.

What we have on this CD are a pair of albums from later on in Vinton's career. "Please Love Me Forever" was a 1967 album that was quickly recorded when the song of that name made it to the Top 5 (remember back in the Sixties singles often gave birth to albums, instead of the other way around). In three days Vinton recorded songs to go along with the title track and its follow-up, "Just as Much as Ever" (which made it to the Top 20). However, the song you are most likely to recognize is the remake of the old song "Who's' Sorry Now." The performances are, forgive the phrase, vintage Vinton. The musical accompaniment is the lightest sort of rock music, with simple choruses supporting Vinton's boyish tenor voice. In many ways, these songs ran completely counter to the dominant trends in rock 'n' roll.

"My Elusive Dreams" was released in 1970 has a similar history. Vinton released a cover of the David Houston & Tammy Wynette somber country hit "My Elusive Dreams," (also recorded by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood), and while not a pop success it made the Top 10 of the Easy Listening chart and even appeared on the Country list. Again, Vinton was hurriedly sent into the studio to record songs to make up an album. This time the strategy was to cover a bunch of recent hit songs such as "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," and even, ironically, the Beatles' song "Something" (although that was a George Harrison song and not one by the Lennon & McCartney team that blew Vinton off the charts in 1964). There was also the add inclusion of "Camelot" song "If Ever I Would Leave You" (Vinton's tenor seems odd after the song was established by Robert Goulet's bass-baritone), and a couple of covers of early Sixties hits, "I Will Follow You" and "Baby I'm Yours."

This second album is the more interesting of the two because the songs are, overall, more contemporary. Vinton is not a dynamic singer, but he is a pleasant sounding, professional singer. It is ironic that what would end up being Vinton's signature song would be his early hit "Blue Velvet" because of its association with the David Lynch film of that title, which certainly puts a twist on the meaning of the song.