I don't know how many times you played this in our apartment in Cosin Court. Perhaps it was only two or three. But it's more infectious than the common cold, and much harder to shake off. Annoyingly so. In particular, I have resented for many decades the fact that, as soon as anyone even mentions On the Waterfront, it's the "I coulda been a contender" scene that springs to mind, it's not Karl Malden's or Lee Cobb's fantastic faces, and it's not the Hoboken roofscape. It's that bloody hook of a line that goes, "She looks like Eva Marie Saint, in On the Waterfront." And the nuisance isn't even restricted to On the Waterfront: it infects North by Northwest as well.
Same goes for Simone de Beauvoir (and her blessed "American circumstance"), though thankfully you don't hear so much about her these days.
Anyway, fifteen or so years later, I decided it was time to stop fighting the itch of these songs, and just scratch it. So I bought the album when I saw it cheap, and I do enjoy giving it a spin now and again.
My copy comes with four extra tracks, and, by rights, they ought to be rubbish, because the standard of the rest of the songs is so high, and extra tracks are always rubbish. But, no, they're just as a catchy and hummable as the others. Infuriating.
And probably quite a millstone for Mr Cole, who looks good now that his hair is flecked with grey and his jowls are getting a little flabby. He always gave the impression that that look would suit him. I read an interview recently where he was moaning about problems with Apple software and the impact of a lot of golf-playing on his knee, or vice-versa.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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