Pop music history - as well as the earworm - is littered with stacks of "original versions" that undeservedly sank without a trace and left in the shadows of more successful interpretations and Lou Johnson's "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" is a fine addition to the pile. Sandie Shaw's version is considered the definitive in the UK while in the US, Dionne's gets the nod. Throw in a fine synthpop version by Naked Eyes nearly twenty years later and it's no surprise that Lou has been left in the dust.
But for me, Lou owns it. There is something in his hesitant delivery of the verses that makes him seem continuously surprised to still be reminded of what he long thought was finished. Add in that twangin' guitar that mirrors the feeling my stomach gets whenever I recognize the definition of "bittersweet" and I forget all others.
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