'When' first came to my attention via Showaddywaddy's 1977 revival. If that band were good at anything, it was stripping out the superfluities on older numbers and reducing them to the power of the tune alone with no excess baggage. Sure enough in their hands 'When' becomes an almost Northern Soul-like floorshaker, but in its original form the song that The Kalin Twins were purveying is a less gutsy affair all round. With a biscuit tin drum beat and plastic Palitoy saxophone squawk, 'When' is an overly fussy trinket that throws in a lot of eggs but never manages to create a decent omelette out of the mix. The tune follows the same route from A-Z as Showaddywaddy's take, but there's a lot less fun to be had on the journey - if the latter created a house of bricks from the raw material then The Kalin Twins abode is one made of straw just waiting for one good strong puff to blow it all over. It's still a catchy tune, but sometimes that's not enough. Like here.
On a trivia note, a pair of genuine twins wouldn't reach the UK number one spot again until The Proclaimers managed it in 2007 with 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)'
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