3 September 1988
Hold onto your hats: it’s a good 1988 Stock, Aitken and Waterman single! This is what was so infuriating about SAW: they were well able to make good records when they wanted. Their two biggest 1987 hits, Mel and Kim’s ‘Respectable’ and Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, were genuinely distinctive: the singers had personality; the songs each had multiple hooks and memorable lyrics. By the following year, though, SAW were cynically churning out re-writes of earlier songs for the same acts: Rick Astley’s ‘Together Forever’ is a re-hash of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, and Kylie’s first two SAW singles, ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ and ‘Got To Be Certain’, are almost literally identical. Kylie had her own star quality to see her through: others didn’t.
So, I really like ‘The Harder I Try’. Yes, it’s by-the-numbers Motown pop, as evinced by that out-of-the-box strings flourish in the chorus, but you can tell that SAW have actually put work into this one. That chorus is undeniably catchy and pretty, and the verses have a punch and a drive to them. While Nathan Moore’s thin, bubbly voice would otherwise be a negative, here it suits a song sung by someone hopelessly smitten and desperate but also ever-so-slightly thrilled by the chase. Brother Beyond also being an actual band with a flesh-and-blood drummer and guitarist means we hear something like actual drums and guitars, which further helps beef up the track. If only Stock, Aitken and Waterman would try this much harder elsewhere.
