Working On A Good Thing – The Outlet
Working On A Good Thing – The Outlet
The Outlet were a band featuring Clive Clader (who went on to produce loads of stuff), Neil Herbert (who had a number 1 hit with ‘She’s A Woman), Robert Schroder (who wrote and produced loads of other hits), Greg Brown and Howie Jones (who were both in The Attraction) and Peter Vee (who had solo hits and hits as part of Buffalo). With this line-up, it was no surprise that they had a couple of Springbok Top 20 hits.
The second of these hits was ‘Working On A Good Thing’ and was the more successful of the 2 hits, going to number 2 and spending 14 weeks on the charts. Calder and Vee wrote the song which has the same cheeky rhythm as The Beatles’ ‘Ob La Di Ob La Da’. It is self abandoned pop that has no shame in being so. The gentle lilt of the music dances playfully with the almost understated vocals and that all sits nicely in a catchy groove.
As with songs of that era (1970), it is a short piece, clocking in at just over 2 minutes 15 seconds so is almost over just as you’re getting into it. One wonders if, when The Outlet recorded it, they knew that they were working on a good thing. The whoops and yelps in the background of the song seem to indicate that a bit of a party was going on in the studio, so I suspect they knew.
Where to find it:
Various Artists – The Best of SA Pop Volume 2 (1994) GMP, CDGMPD 40486 (CD)
Video:
1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf 