Big-voiced
Ed Ames followed up his highly successful album
My Cup Runneth Over with
Time, Time, a similar set of traditional pop and show tunes beautifully arranged and impeccably performed. The title track sounds like an attempt to create another "My Cup Runneth Over" -- the two songs even share, briefly, a string melody -- and the single gave
Ames another adult contemporary chart-topper.
Ames capably handles dramatic Broadway tunes like "Cabaret" and "Sunrise, Sunset" as well as
the Beatles' "Michelle," in an arrangement that makes the song sound like an old pop chestnut. In fact,
Ames' evergreen approach makes everything sound as though it hails from no particular period in time; when he's finished with a recent hit like "What the World Needs Now Is Love" it sounds as much like a pop standard as "Pretend," an actual oldie. A cast of well-known arrangers and conductors including
Anita Kerr and
Marty Gold split the orchestral chores, but the album is seamless as if the work of one mind. As exemplary as the arrangements and
Ames' performances may be, the material could be better, and
Time, Time is inferior to both
My Cup Runneth Over and the album
Ames would make next,
When the Snow Is on the Roses. ~ Greg Adams