David SoulLooking Back: The Very Best Of David SoulReview

Somewhere between televising of the Muppet Show and the premiere of Grease, came David Soul's pop supremacy. As a 10-year-old, Starsky And Hutch was simply remarkably cool. Although the boys all made a point of checking out Paul Michael Glaser as he seemed hipper than Soul, they also kept an eye on Soul, as they knew the only way to get a snog from Helen Giles was to pretend they wanted to have a 'quiet night in' and show a little sensitivity.

Now a UK citizen and, at the time of writing, on our tellies in Maestro, Soul was an unassailable phenomenon in 1977. Don't Give Up On Us was the first new No.1 of that year, and wasn't stylistically a million miles away from Chicago's If You Leave Me Now, from the previous November. With its pensive ''the angel and the dreamer who sometimes plays the fool'' line, it was able to provide male listeners a universal apology for a myriad of sins.

But Soul was no hasty cash-in. He'd been a singer in the Midwest for years, opening for acts such as the Byrds, the Doors and the Ramsey Lewis Trio. He'd recorded an album that was sitting in Private Stock's vaults, produced by Neil Young's producer Elliot Mazer and featuring none other than Taj Mahal. Soul even appeared on the cover with a moustache. It was however, bereft of singles. Tony Macaulay (the man who gave the world Build Me Up Buttercup), came up with the goods and Don't Give Up On Us, Going In With My Eyes Open et al. followed. By the time Silver Lady came out in autumn 1977, it was all down pat. It is a perfect slice of blue-eyed AOR that has survived the Guilty Pleasure phenomenon and is still officially None Too Shabby.

Looking Back is, of course, a mixed bag – Macaulay's bright confections are commercial sheen next to the down-home stylings of Soul – it's a bit like Boyce and Hart's work next to Mike Nesmith on the Monkees' albums. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to hear Hutch singing Bird On A Wire, go no further.