by Stephen Thomas Erlewine 　　The third of Ray Conniff's three albums of contemporary pop hits in 1972, Alone Again (Naturally) is the one that feels most like contemporary AM pop from the early '70s, partially because Conniff spices up his arrangements a little and partially because there's a wider variety of styles on this album, from Gilbert O'Sullivan's deceptively catchy title song to Donna Fargo's country-pop "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA"; Anthony Newley's show-stopping kitsch "The Candy Man," and Looking Glass' quintessential "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)." Since there's more variety here than there was on the preceding Love Theme from "The Godfather," Conniff has the opportunity to write some more interesting arrangements -- the spare electric guitar opening of "Song Sung Blue," the punctuating horns on "Where Is the Love" -- which makes this a more engaging listen than its predecessor. Nevertheless, this album, like the last, is firmly entrenched in MOR easy listening, designed to be background listening and succeeding at that. And that means that those listeners looking for a campy piece of kitsch will be sorely disappointed -- Conniff and crew never take enough chances to do something truly, memorably silly here, and it all glides by without making much of an impression. As period background music, it isn't bad, but neither is it particularly good, and outside of a quick dose of nostalgia, there isn't much of a reason to listen to it now. It's a period piece, nothing more, nothing less.