Rupert Holmes
' swinging '70s sound only occupied a small portion of his career, as
Hip-O
's 18-track 2000 collection
Greatest Hits
illustrates. He had a yen to be a little bit more than a
soft rock
craftsman -- he drew heavily from
Brill Building
and
Tin Pan Alley
, plus Hollywood
musicals
, wryly obvious social commentary, and
soft pop
to create a distinctive blend. It's often overly ambitious -- even his biggest hit,
Partners in Crime
, is a sociological portrait of Me-era dating -- and it can be a little fussy, particularly in the years after
, when his recordings gained the antiseptic cleanliness of '80s
adult contemporary
(even on his nostalgic theme song for "Remember WENN").
contains all these aspects, perhaps downplaying the appealingly weird early '70s recordings a bit too much (those are collected on
Varese
's
Epoch Collection
), but giving a good idea of what
Holmes
' career was all about. And be forewarned -- it's not just about Pina Coladas, and not a lot of these songs sound like that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine