1975 Bay City Rollers: Bye Bye Baby

'Bye Bye Baby' was originally written and recorded by The Four Seasons in 1965. The Roller's version is a faithful cover in essence, but in substance it's like comparing the first little pig's house of straw with the last little pig's house made of bricks. The key is in the execution; Frankie Valli knew he had no small amount of campy bubblegum on his hands yet the tang of his New Jersey doo wop vocal gave the track a shot of street cred that raised the bar of interest for it's whole running time. Les McKeown, on the other hand, treats it as something far more serious from the off (just listen to his spoken intro "If you hate me after what I say, can't put it off anymore. I just gotta tell you anyway" compared to Valli's more tongue in cheek presentation) and in so doing he strips the song of all it's meaning/lack of meaning by sucking out all the hammy joy and replacing it with....well nothing really; the Bay City Rollers are blandness personified and in their hands 'Bye Bye Baby' is chug-a-lug, white bread pop that's as humourless and it's tasteless. I guess you just had to be there.