Graham Bonnet is currently a frequent feature of the early 80s Top Of The Pops repeats, fronting Rainbow. He never really looks quite the metal part, though, and these releases of the Skegness-born singer hint that while his expansive, unmodulated delivery made him an ideal stadium rock vocalist, he had other hankerings too.
Back Row In The Stalls (6⁄10) features mid-70s recordings off the back of a film appearance he made in the 1975 film Three For All, alongside then-wife Adrienne Posta, some of whose work features on the bonus CD.
Although the Bonnet pipes are familiar, the arrangements of Here Comes The Rain and Saturday’s Over fall somewhere between The Beach Boys, Leo Sayer and Paul Nicholas, eclectic (cod doo-wop, cod reggae) but very 70s MOR pop of a kind no longer made.
The double-CD edition Graham Bonnet/No Bad Habits (5⁄10) consists largely of cover versions, ranging from a creditable but imitative take on Al Green’s Tired Of Being Alone, a demo of You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling that sounds in danger of becoming Hot Chocolate’s You Sexy Thing, and a cover of the Bee Gees’ Warm Ride, an awkwardly opportunistic venture into disco.
