by Jason Ankeny
While the Drifters' first Bell label release The Drifters Now proved a commercially successful update of their signature sound, There Goes My First Love simply reeks of desperation. With songwriting and production partner Roger Cook AWOL, Roger Greenaway assumes full control of the session, but arrives with few of the tools necessary to patch up the group's creaky sound for a new generation of listeners. Greenaway's wan production and paint-by-numbers originals do little to showcase the Drifters' signature harmonies in a positive light, and for that matter, the harmonies themselves are ragged and uninspired. A disappointing album by any metric, even moreso because the Drifters' name is attached. [The 7T label's 2007 CD reissue appends the bonus cuts &It Looks Like I'm the Clown Again& and &Closely Guarded Secret.&)]