Going to Pieces Without

These two slightly later efforts are actually more consistently interesting than the duo's first two albums, mostly because they stop trying to sound like the Beatles or the Everly Brothers, and sound more distinctive and soulful - that's doubly true of the material off of the True Love Ways album. They rely more on their voices, which show more flexibility - P&G were never going to be blues singers, but they're far less embarrassing and more directly attuned to what they're singing here, which includes Otis Blackwell's "All Shook Up" and Leadbelly's "Good Morning Blues." The results are sometimes successful within the context of the duo's work; "Cry to Me" is a good cover and one of their better records of this era, even if the Rolling Stones did it better, and their cover of Smokey Robinson's "Who's Loving You" is astonishing. The sound is consistently good-to-excellent, though the notes are sketchy.