Pledging My Love

Although Lou Christie's hit-making career is a long one, stretching back to the early 1960s, he hadn't really cut a new album in quite some time until this 1997 effort. It was worth the wait, as Christie didn't opt for the obvious and do a lame album of oldie covers, or worse yet, update recuts of his oldies but goodies. Instead, we're treated to an album of new material, most of it penned by Christie himself, presented in a contemporary manner without being buried in maddening dance-mix sludge. Songs like "What Happened to the Nights," "Techno Pop" (despite the title, an excellent diatribe about the loss of communication in our lives), and "I Sure Fell in Love" are as strong as anything he's ever recorded, and his well-chosen covers of the Critters' "Mr. Dieingly Sad" and Johnny Ace's title tune are equally as fine. Here's an album with "loaded with AOR hits" written all over it.