1973 Peters & Lee: Welcome Home

Ask someone to reel off a quick list of seventies pop stars and the chances are it will be stuffed full of your Bowies, Bolans and Abbas. And no wonder; those artists (and others from any decade other than the current one) transcended the decade to pass into the rough generic canon labelled 'stuff that's worth remembering'. Though evidently of another time, forever preserved in aspic they're also timeless in form either through their own inherent quality or else the kitsch/retro factor that keeps them alive as 'golden oldies' or via the DJ at the local theme pub.

But there's an argument to be made that Peters & Lee are a greater 'seventies act' than the lot of them, simply because they have never quite managed to break loose of the decade's grip. Forever left behind, Peters & Lee haven't so much been airbrushed out of history as quietly slipped down the back of it's sofa where they lie forgotten and covered in dust. Surprising really, the seven times Opportunity Knocks winners were the Pop Idols of their day with their own TV series and so media visible that not many comedy shows of the time were complete without a skit featuring a Lennie Peters look-alike ambling blindly over the stage before falling head first into the orchestra pit (Peters was blind from a young age).

And yet their songs are now rarely played or rarely revived, even in an ironic way. There are no Peters & Lee tribute acts doing the rounds and as a final slap in the face they don't even appear on those rather arch 'Guilty Pleasures' compilations. Not that I'm going to suggest that therein lies a treasure trove of riches just waiting to be discovered you understand, but there is much to enjoy here, particularly in 'Welcome Home', a song that though just a country tinged pop singalong at heart has an inherent unpretentious sincerity and genuine genuineness that's difficult to truly dislike.

The voices of the duo complement each other well with Peters' warm baritone contrasting vividly with Diane Lee's sharper soprano interjections - there's no fault with the vocals, but what lets 'Welcome Home' down badly is the bland by numbers musical backing. The slack muzak wash sounds cheap and off the peg when 'Welcome Home' could have done with a full orchestra arrangement that spiralled and spilled over into a crescendo on the chorus to blow it out of its comfy slippers.

I can picture it now (and for some reason I'm using Suede's 'Still Life' as a guide track in my head so humour me), after the "When you come back, and you're beside me. These are the words I'll say to you" that closes the verse there's a pause until violins start up and build, a kettledrum rolls ever louder until the whole brass section kicks in with a thumpfull of release on the chorus until "Welcome home, welcome. Come on in, and close the door" sounds like glorious celebration rather than armchair observation.

Admittedly, Peters and Lee were never out to rock any boats, but they deserved a better vessel than they got on here, and in this state 'Welcome Home' is likeable rather than loveable. Likeable was more than enough to carry it to number one, but loveable would have carried it a whole lot further as the years rolled by.