Search - Captain & Tennille :: Love Will Keep Us Together

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Tamara J. Griffin | Granger, IN | 02/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up on this kind of music; my Mom and Dad had their albums and recorded them onto cassettes so we could listen to them when we traveled. Having them again in my own home brings back alot of memories (although my teenager just rolls her eyes!)about what music used to be like. I really couldn't beat the price either. Thank you for such wonderful service!"

The debut album for the keyboard pop duo Captain and Tennill

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 06/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The story is that Daryl Dragon joined the band for "Mother Earth," an ecologically minded musical review that was written by Toni Tennille. When the show closed Dragon went backup musician for the Beach Boys when they went on tour, and got Tennile hired as a pianist and backup singer. Nicknamed "Captain Keyboard" by Mike Love because he appeared on stage wearing a yachting cap, Dragon became romantically involved with Tennille. He left the Beach Boys, and the duo started performing in Los Angeles Clubs as "Captain & Tennille." The pair would not marry until 1975, which was actually two years after their debut album came out.



"Love Will Keep Us Together" was both the title of the album, which went to #2, and the hit single written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka, which went to #1 and also won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year (Sedaka has already recorded the song on his "Sedaka's Back" comeback album). However, the song that got them the record deal was the Tennille original, "The Way I Want to Touch You," which made it to #4 on the pop chart, but like the title track was #1 in the Adult Contemporary category. Once you get past the two hits on the album, you find several songs that have links to the Beach Boys, which is really not surprising. Former Beach Boy Bruce Johnston wrote both "Disney Girls" and "I Write the Songs," the latter actually preferable to the Barry Manilow version in my eyes (or ears, I guess). Dragon and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson co-wrote "Cuddle Up," and there is a rather dramatic cover of "God Only Knows" that is one of the albums stand out tracks.



For the most part the original compositions stand up in comparison to these other songs. Together the duo wrote "The Good Songs," "Honey Come Love Me," "Feel Like a Man," and "Gentle Stranger," which show their strength in coming up with romantic songs that smack of more maturity than you expect from pop singers. Dragon also penned an instrumental ditty, "Broddy Bounce." The key things here are that Tennille sounds like a mature woman singing love songs and Dragon knows how to arrange songs for multiple keyboards. She is playing piano (and having her sisters sing backup), while he is playing organ, synthesizer, pinao, celeste, chimes, clavichord, Hammond organ, clavinet, Wurlitzer, clavietta, Mini Moog, and pretty much anything else with keys that he could get his hands on, which serves as a reminder that both halves of this duo contributed to the success of their debut album. Critics at the time could not believe this was happening, but I liked these songs then and I like them now."

A nice trip down memory lane

Randal Bice | Geneva, IL | 02/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Light, interesting production, Toni Tenille's strong voice, all remind you of the best of 70's AM radio."