We should have a long talk ... about the shoulda-been-a-hit "Say Those Magic Words", written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. The McCoys open the oration with a very twangy sound - there's more guitar hooks here than the Fishin' Musician! It's bubble-gummy, but also a little bit psych, what with the delay effect at the end of the chorus. The Birds (the ones from England with Ron Wood) present their rebuttal at (45:15). A cool guitar tone that sounds like a Hammond Organ and a very vampy vocal performance from Ali McKenzie makes the song more mature, with some changes to the aforementioned words, and a cool vocal hook in the chorus. The third "Words" comes from The Blox (1:17:01). These Yanx speed up the tempo and copy the McCoys arrangement, but you don't get to hear those neat flourishes Rick's boys had - nevertheless, this version has us thinking about passwords and encryption - themes concomitant with the song's titular focus on communication. The final word comes from ... The Birds?!?! (1:38:15) These aren't the same blokes as heard in #2 - these are some Australian remittance men who tried to ride (or fly?) on the latter's coattails. Anyways, their number takes the Britbirds' vocal hook and turns it into the guitar line, and it sounds great (unlike the drums, sez Weldon). What ya gonna say now?
