20 of the greatest recordings by Benny Gallagher & Graham Lyle, the '70s pop duo that started out as staff songwritersfor the Beatles' Apple label who penned the hit 'And When I Die', the Mary Hopkin hit 'International... more »' & Art Garfunkel's top 40 'Break Away'. Includes their original version of 'Breakaway', plus their U.S. chart hits 'I Wanna Stay With You' & 'Heart On My Sleeve', and more! 1995 Karussell International release.« less
20 of the greatest recordings by Benny Gallagher & Graham Lyle, the '70s pop duo that started out as staff songwritersfor the Beatles' Apple label who penned the hit 'And When I Die', the Mary Hopkin hit 'International' & Art Garfunkel's top 40 'Break Away'. Includes their original version of 'Breakaway', plus their U.S. chart hits 'I Wanna Stay With You' & 'Heart On My Sleeve', and more! 1995 Karussell International release.
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/07/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle were more interested in songwriting than performing and it was as songwriters that they first made an impact. The first song of theirs that anybody recorded was Mr Heartbreak's here again. Dean Ford and the Gaylords (later to become the Marmalade) released it as a single but it flopped. Gallagher and Lyle continued to develop and Mary Hopkin recorded Sparrow
At about that time, Manfred Mann disbanded (later to re-emerge with a different line-up as Manfred Mann's Earth Band) and two of its members, Tom Mc Guinness and Hughie Flint, formed their own group, Mc Guinness Flint. Gallagher and Lyle were offered places in this new group, which they accept. They wrote and performed on two UK top five hits for the group (When I'm dead and gone, Malt and barley blues) but the pressures generated by the success became too great so the group disbanded.
Gallagher and Lyle decided to continue as a duo, working at their own pace. They recorded some fine albums before, in 1976, they released their strongest album, Breakaway. Two UK hits (I wanna stay with you, Heart on my sleeve) both peaked at number six, while the title track was a minor UK hit. Art Garfunkel covered Breakaway and had an American top forty hit with it.
Again, Gallagher and Lyle resisted the commercial pressure to exploit their success although they recorded further albums and had another minor UK hit, Every little teardrop. They continued as songwriters, not always together. Graham Lyle had a huge international hit when he co-wrote What's love got to do with it for Tina Turner.
This compilation contains the best of their music after Mc Guinness Flint disbanded. An earlier (out of print) compilation includes the two Mc Guinness Flint hits, which are omitted from this set. If you enjoy simple melodic pop music, give Gallagher and Lyle a listen."
Correction
Jessa Guy | Anywhere USA | 03/02/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Correction to the album info above--G & L didn't write "And When I Die", Laura Nyro did. They did write "When I'm Dead and Gone", a jaunty minor hit for their previous group, McGuiness Flint. (FYI: Graham Lyle also co-wrote, among other things, "What's love got to do with it" for Tina Turner, for which I believe he won a Grammy.)"
Simply superb !!!!!
Peter Durward Harris | 07/11/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Talent is a precious thing and when two great talents like Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle get together then it produces only one thing - magnificent music. Trust me this is a superb example of musicianship and deserves to be recognised as such. Please listen and appreciate, thanks guys !!!!!"
Gallagher and lyle
john splinter | the netherlands | 08/19/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"this is a group that no many people know of in my country and still they make one fo the finest albums ever made.the last cowboy is for so far i know not on cd so i copied the album .the quality is not very good but thats allright to me. a couple of songs are on the best of,also from breakaway and i compare there music with the best of seals and crofts albums and other related artists.in my top 10 albums is this one of theme.i only hope that the last cowboy will come to the digital world of cd.thank you"
Maybe my taste has changed
John T. | Englishman living in Australia | 06/08/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"As a teenager G&L were one of my favourites, so I bought this to compensate for losing their LPs in a house move many years ago. While some of the tracks are still good (Runaway, Heart on my sleeve, Breakaway) I seem to remember a lot of material that was better than the stuff that has made it onto this 'Best of'."