Doris Troy: "Just One Look"

August 5, 1963 (3 weeks)

I've recently written in this space about songs that I've enjoyed but which end up leaving little to no impression on me — and here is yet another example. In fact, this may well be THE example. Everything about "Just One Look" is lovely and yet nothing of it stays with me. I can barely remember the name Doris Troy and the title is even more forgettable. The melody, too, keeps escaping me. It does sound vaguely like something I've heard before but I typically have no idea where. I was fourteen back in 1991 when Cindy Crawford appeared in a Pepsi commercial and so it was burned into my brain. (The boys in the ad may have been trying to get a glimpse of Pepsi's new design for the nineties but that sure as hell wasn't where I was looking!) But could I have told you the song that soundtracked it?

One-hit wonders are supposed to be more memorable than this: by definition, they are all that the average person remembers about them. But somehow or other Doris Troy doesn't fit in with the likes of Minnie Ripperton, The Buggles or Chumbawamba. I suppose it didn't help her cause that 1963 was well before the music video age but I'm not so sure that's the only thing going on. Highly competent though it all is, there isn't a whole lot that makes "Just One Look" stand out. While it is a far better song than, say, "Turning Japanese", it's certainly nowhere near as memorable.

But why not? Well, everything is present and correct but nothing stands out. Troy is a fine vocalist but it is just a little generic, a bit of Nina Simone, a bit of Etta James and, frankly, a whole lot of jobbing singer in search of a break. There's similarly nothing showy about the music but these studio cats were meant to stay out of Troy's way and they did their job as well as can be expected. The tune floats by, easing its way into the mind but fails to leave much of an impression. A memorable hook would've done the trick. In any case, I've never encountered such an enjoyable song that left me so empty afterwards.

Some, however, never forgot about Doris Troy and her one big hit. In 1970, she was given a boost when George Harrison decided to produce a comeback album for her which ended up getting released on The Beatles' Apple label. In addition to the Quiet One, an all-star cast join in, including Ringo Starr, Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton and Billy Preston. Well publicized layoffs at the company combined with the breakup of the world's most popular group likely conspired to torpedo the Doris Troy album even further but it's hard to imagine there was much demand to begin with. Again, Troy performs on it in a perfectly respectable fashion albeit without any reason for anyone to get excited over it.

This has been yet another one that has been difficult to evaluate. My sheer indifference to writing about it can't quite overcome just how much I like to have it on. I can totally understand why someone would give "Just One Look" a much more generous score than mine (had it got to number one in the States, I would not have been surprised had Tom Breihan given it a 10) but I would object to anything lower. I'd even have it at least two points higher when I have playing. But, I'm sorry, this has to be the most forgettable great song ever released — and to think, one-hit wonders are normally memorable but terrible.

Score: 6

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Hey! Where's...?

In a rare example of an artist living up to the hype — and then some — Little Stevie Wonder emerged in the summer of '63 with the irresistible "Fingertips Part 2", a single which took the thirteen-year-old all the way to the top of the Hot 100. It somehow didn't do quite as well up north though, peaking at number seven. "Fingertips" had been a six minute recording that had been chopped in half with the first part going on side 1 and the second over on the flip side. Energetic and loads of fun, it is also an odd duck of a record. The prodigy does a call-and-response ("Everybody say yeah!") with the live audience, he plays Old McDonald's Farm on a harmonica and then has to be literally pulled off the stage for going long. Honestly, though, if you listen to the thing in full, it's understandable why everyone opted for the B side: it takes a long time to get going and Little Stevie barely utters a word. Flip it over and you get nothing but joy. It isn't much of a song as such but it's a good time and a lot more memorable than "Just One Look".