What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Andrew Gold’s 1976 second album produced the major hit ‘Lonely Boy’. A graduate of Linda Ronstadt’s band, he brings an affable voice and bright guitar playing to a Southern Californian atmosphere quite different from the Eagles, another group of Ronstadt alumni. The straightforward feel of his 1960s pop roots includes an especially strong Beatles and Beach Boys flavour: he is an entertainer whose music can be enjoyed without fuss.

Perhaps he had done enough showing off his many instrumental talents on the first album. Here he entrusts most instruments other than keyboards to his regular touring musicians and stays closely with producer Peter Asher. Covers of Manfred Mann’s ‘Do Wah Diddy’, Buddy Holly’s ‘Learning Game’ and Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs’ ‘Stay’ are pure pleasure; the original songs range from lyrical piano ballads to mechanical-sounding rock ’n’ roll, making an album of catchy, self-contained little worlds. Even the mistakes hidden in the sleeve, as the title suggests, reflect his eye for detail.