1969 Amen Corner: (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice

For a song less than three minutes long, I'm left wondering whether '(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice' is a middle distance runner that starts off too fast and runs out of steam or simple a hundred meter sprinter who just isn't fast enough. Certainly, the song is quick out of the traps on it's main "la la la" melody line before hooking up with its chorus in a one/two combination that's an impressive onslaught. Which is fine while it lasts because the melody is a strong one, the sort of tune that Oasis would borrow from in the nineties. Strong, but no knockout, and by the one minute ten mark it all runs out of things to say and instead recycles to an uninspired limp across the finish line. '(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice' is Latin in origin and needs a bit of fire, but Andy Fairweather-Low's vocal, always an acquired taste, doesn't provide the same gutsy filler that Lucio Battisti does on the La Ragazza 77 original or the cod drama of Patty Pravo's version, making Amen Corner's song a limp salad where a bit of beef wouldn't have gone amiss. And though it's usually an uninspiring aspiration, I'd quite like to hear Liam Gallagher have a crack at a souped up version.