She Needs Love
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"She Needs Love" is a song written by Clint Ballard Jr. for
Wayne Fontana Glyn Geoffrey Ellis (28 October 19456 August 2020),
and
the Mindbenders The Mindbenders were an English beat group from Manchester. Originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana, they were one of several acts that were successful in the mid-1960s British Invasion of the US charts, achieving major chart hits wi ...
. It was the third and final song written by him that the group recorded, following " The Game of Love" and "
It's Just a Little Bit Too Late "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late" is a song written by Clint Ballard Jr. and Les Ledo, which was originally recorded by Clyde McPhatter in 1963. A British beat group named the Druids would release their version in 1964 before the definitive vers ...
". Upon release, the single only reached number 32 in the UK, which prompted Fontana to pursue a solo career while the Mindbenders continued as a trio.


Background and release

Wayne Fontana Glyn Geoffrey Ellis (28 October 19456 August 2020),
and
the Mindbenders The Mindbenders were an English beat group from Manchester. Originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana, they were one of several acts that were successful in the mid-1960s British Invasion of the US charts, achieving major chart hits wi ...
had enjoyed a cross-atlantic hit with the song " The Game of Love", which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached number two in the UK's ''
Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The ti ...
'' in mid-1965.''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' - The song was composed by Clint Ballard Jr., who with it proved that he could pursue a career in songwriting. Knowing that the Mindbenders had made it big, he offered them another of his compositions, "
It's Just a Little Bit Too Late "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late" is a song written by Clint Ballard Jr. and Les Ledo, which was originally recorded by Clyde McPhatter in 1963. A British beat group named the Druids would release their version in 1964 before the definitive vers ...
" which was released in the summer of 1965 and became a minor hit on both ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ''Record Retailer''. Unlike "The Game Of Love", "It's Just A Bit Too Late" failed to reach the top-ten, peaking at number twenty on the latter chart. This led to suspicion of the group becoming a one-hit wonder or eventually breaking up. In a last resort, they gave another Ballard Jr. composition a chance, this being "She Needs Love" being produced by
Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. Fontana Distribution, an independent label distributor, takes its name from the label. History Fontana began in the 1950s as a subsidi ...
house producer Jack Baverstock. The single was eventually released on 10 September 1965 through Fontana. The single entered the ''Record Retailer'' chart on 6 October 1965 at a position of number 44, before reaching its peak the following week at number 32. It exited the chart on 11 November of that year at a position of 45. The single only spent six weeks in the charts. Although the record was released in both the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, it failed to chart in both territories. According to Dave Thompson of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, the group's "magic had already dissipated" with the low charting of the single. Wayne Fontana had long had dreams of going solo and with the release of "She Needs Love", both he and his management felt that it was reasonable. Without informing the band, he continued to perform with them until he suddenly walked off-stage during a show in October of that year, saying to their guitarist
Eric Stewart Eric Michael Stewart (born 20 January 1945) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of ...
"it's all yours. The Mindbenders would eventually continue after the departure of Fontana, with Steward taking the role as a lead vocalist. "She Needs Love" was never included on any albums by the group, but the album ''Eric, Rick, Wayne and Bob – It's Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders'' was issued during the same time, and the B-side "Like I Did" is included on it. The song was released in January 1966's ''Walking On Air'' EP, which was the last release by the band billed as Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders in their original incarnation. Its first album release came through the Fontana Records compilation ''Beat Scene Now'' in 1967.


Reception

Upon release in the United Kingdom, the single received positive reviews. Reviewing for ''
New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'', Derek Johnson states that the single "has a simply constructed melody that registers quickly", stating that he found himself
whistling Whistling, without the use of an artificial whistle, is achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips, usually after applying moisture (licking one's lips or placing water upon them) and then blowing or sucking air through the space. Th ...
to it after a few repeats. He states that Fontana "sings competently" and states that the Mindbenders are "bumming in the background". He emphasises the song's beat, stating that the shake rhythm is complemented by "cymbal crashing and heavy handed drumming". He ends by believing that it will do better in the charts than "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late." ''
Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...
'''s Norman Jopling and Peter Jones states that "She Needs Love" has a "powerhouse instrumental opening", which "settles into a swing-
beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...
ballad." He praises Fontana's
falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...
in the "big-ranged melody". He states that the backing is rudimentary and simple, but effective enough, claiming it gets melodically tricky towards the middle. In ''Disc Weekly'', Penny Valentine praises songwriter Clint Ballard Jr. for providing the Mindbenders with yet another hit single. She compliments the heavy beat of the song, comparing the drumming to "The Game Of Love", which she believes fits perfectly together with the guitar riff. She states that Fontana sings the song in a very delicate manner but doesn't know whether it will become a hit or not. Though it didn't chart in the United States, it still got positively reviewed in the press. In ''Billboard'' magazine it's described as a "much awaited and hot rhythm follow-up to their past hit" and states that the single will certainly reach the charts without problem. ''Cash Box'' magazine calls it a "potent follow-up stanza" to "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late". They write that the single has strong potential of charting with an "easy-going, rhythmic blues-tinged" influence and note the love-related lyrics of the song. In ''
Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...
'', the connection to "The Game of Love" is referenced both through the title and the songwriter and is referred to as a "sweet rockaballad". However, not everybody was positive about the single.
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...
writes that it is a "sub-par" follow-up to their two previous hit singles which deserved not to chart.


Charts


Other versions

* British duo
Peter and Gordon Peter and Gordon were a British pop duo, composed of Peter Asher (b. 1944) and Gordon Waller (1945–2009), who achieved international fame in 1964 with their first single, the million-selling "A World Without Love". The duo had several subseq ...
recorded it for their 1967 album ''Hot, Cold & Custard.''


References

{{Reflist 1965 songs 1965 singles The Mindbenders songs Songs written by Clint Ballard Jr. Fontana Records singles