1999 911: A Little Bit More

Another Brit boy band who by and large passed me by, a quick scan of the stats show that 911 had ten top ten hits in the latter part of the nineties. Impressive, but I can't own up to knowing the first thing about any of them. 'A Little Bit More', their sole number one, is one of the few songs of theirs that I am familiar with, though that's due to it being a cover of a Dr Hook song. I say Dr Hook cover because they released by far the most famous version of it (which was all over the radio in the seventies as I recall), and I doubt anybody involved in this current recording paid much heed to Bobby Gosh's original.

In truth there's not much to choose between any of them; Gosh recorded it as a piano ballad, the good Dr gave it a country spin while 911 present it as a last song slowdance. None of which matters really - your attitude to all of them will depend mainly on your attitude toward whether you see any merit in Gosh's male dominated lyric of sexual stamina. At least, that's what I think it's about; "When your body's had enough of me and I'm layin' flat out on the floor. When you think I've loved you all I can, I'm gonna love you a little bit more" - Dr Hook always had a sly wink about them to suggest that under any ambivalence, a saucy interpretation was on the cards, but Gosh's own vocal in comparison is too straight as the gate to project any dimension other than the literal.

In other words, I've no doubt he means exactly what he says (though it's made more upsetting by him sounding uncannily like a toothless pensioner sucking on a fistful of viagra). Which means that whether a 'tender ballad' from the point of view of an alpha male with a raging hard on ("Look into my eyes and give me that smile, the one that always turns me on. And let me take your hair down, 'cause we're stayin' up to greet the sun") is your 'thing' or not will be down to your own personal taste. I can't say it's mine, but each to their own.

So where does that leave 911? Nowhere really; it's a slick and game recording with the trio are singing like three lads who can't believe their luck. But really, this is all so lazy and emotion free I'm amazed all involved found the energy to get out of bed to record it. Maybe they didn't. That would explain a lot anyway. And as I honestly can't think of a single good thing to say about it, I'll let my silence be my review.