Art Garfunkel's first regular studio album in nearly seven years was a pleasant enough exercise that did nothing to arrest his commercial or artistic decline. The idea of covering "I Have a Love" from
West Side Story was a good one, the obligatory '50s cover, "So Much in Love," was well performed, and "Love Is the Only Chain" was a good piece of material, even if better performed by authors
Pam Rose and
Mary Ann Kennedy (who joined
Garfunkel on this recording). The version of "When a Man Loves a Woman," so far away from
Percy Sledge's emotional original, served to illustrate
Garfunkel's detached approach to his material. But much of the album consisted of second-rate songs, frequently written by
Stephen Bishop.