Who Will Answer? – ED AMES***

Who Will Answer/Blowin’ In The Wind/Yesterday/Monday Monday/Pale Venetian Blind/Massachusetts/I Wanna Be Free/Cherish/The Other Man’s Grass/Can’t Take My Eyes Off You/There’s A Kind Of Hush

By the late 1960s the album charts became increasingly dominated by rock acts. However, there was still a place for more traditional artists albeit with more uptempo material, such as Ed Ames's Who Will Answer? with the title track a US No. 19 hit single. (US:13)

"Nine of the album's eleven tracks were 'adult-pop' covers of recent 'young people's' hits. Monday Monday, I Wanna Be Free and Massachusetts come off best; Ed overdoes it on Blowin' In The Wind and Yesterday, and seems uncomfortable with The Other Man's Grass, And though he does his best with it, Cherish just isn't suited to a solo voice. As 'adult' renditions of 'young sounds' go, this isn't bad; Ed actually seemed to have some feel for the music."

"While Ames sounds out of place on Blowin' In The Wind, Yesterday and Monday Monday, the overall quality of the material is quite high."

"Who Will Answer is a series of bad cover versions of pop songs. It's not Ed Ames' fault that the cover versions are bad; in most cases the songs are associated closely with the original groups that performed them. Who Will Answer is an easy-listening protest song which sounds almost laughable today."

"Ed Ames' deep voice offers male vocals at their best. The immensely thoughtful and reflective Who Will Answer? provides a stunning target for his talent." "A lot of these are songs made famous by others. He brings a great touch to them."

"The title song is a strong and forceful protest song, with a very clever arrangement that varied from Gregorian chant-like sections to a pounding modern beat. And I give Ed Ames (and staid old RCA) credit for recording such a hip (for the time) protest single. Ed's voice is tremendous. Monday Monday and Massachusetts are also very good and relatively reminiscent of the original recordings by the original artists to be familiar and feel good. All in all this is a great album that showcases a strong, rich baritone."