A Little Bit of Paul Davis in Bloomington, MN

The very title of
Paul Davis'
1971 debut is a nod toward
Bert Berns
, the founder of
Bang
records and author of
"A Little Bit of Soap,"
the 1961
Jarmels
single
Davis
covered and brought within flirting distance of the Top 40 in 1970. Ironically enough,
"A Little Bit of Soap"
winds up being the song that seems out of step with the rest of the bubblegum pop-soul on
A Little Bit of Paul Davis
, as
recasts it as a bit of a sleepy groover -- nice enough, but not as appealing as the bright, snappy pop of the rest of the record. Like a lot of
's late-'60s/early-'70s output -- think
Neil Diamond
and
Andy Kim
-- this walks a curious line between AM bubblegum and adult contemporary soft rock, with the hooks coming from the former and the smoothness coming from the latter.
gives this a dash of Georgian soul in his phrasing, but that's just flavoring on this batch of bubblegum pop. Impressively, most of the record is written by
himself -- only three cuts come from other writers -- and he shows a real talent for propulsive, cheerful pop, but even this has a touch of the laid-back delivery that would become his trademarkâ?¦just enough to make this distinctive from other
LPs and other early-'70s AM pop, and just enough to make this something of an undiscovered little gem of its time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine