by Richie Unterberger
Paul McCartney produced this debut album of twee but pretty, romantic pop-folk. Besides &Those Were the Days& (which actually originally appeared only on the British version, though it's on the CD reissue now available throughout the world), the highlights are Donovan's &Lord of the Reedy River& and &The Honeymoon Song,& which McCartney himself had sung with the Beatles way back in 1963 on the BBC. If there's a fault to be found, it's that there's too high a percentage of pre-rock/pop standards à la &There's No Business Like Show Business.& As it turns out this was more due to the leanings of McCartney than Hopkin, who preferred the more simply arranged folk numbers such as the Donovan covers and the Welsh &Y Blodyn Gwyn.& Also on board is a rather nice composition, &The Game,& by Beatles producer George Martin, who contributed some piano and orchestra conducting to the album. The CD reissue includes George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin's &Someone to Watch Over Me& (which was on the original U.K. version of the LP, but was taken off the American counterpart), as well as the &Those Were the Days& B-side &Turn! Turn! Turn!& and versions of &Those Were the Days& that Hopkin sang in Italian and Spanish.