"Stage Fright" by THE BAND (2000 Capitol 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster of their 3rd album from 1970) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Turned From The Sun...Saw Everyone...Searching..."

With two hugely influential albums already under their belt (1968's "Music From Big Pink" and 1969's "The Band") – it was time for Americana's pioneers to let the side down.

Some felt they did with "Stage Fright". I didn't. I've always loved this album. In fact it's quite probably biblically blasphemous and goat-sacrificial to say that studio platter number three for THE BAND is 'better' in places than its illustrious predecessors. But as Californication's Hank Moody would say to his agent Charlie the Runkalator as they hide even more scantily clad skanky hookers and a blizzard of cocaine from their long-suffering wives - "...I'm going to rock out with my cock out..."

Again - I love this album and this sweet-sounding 2000 CD Remaster only hammers that affection home all of 47 years later. Here are the details and The Shape It's In...

UK released September 2000 (August 2000 in the USA) - "Stage Fright" by THE BAND on Capitol 525 3952 (Barcode 724352539529) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster with Four Bonus Tracks and breaks down as follows (71:57 minutes):

1. Strawberry Wine

2. Sleeping

3. Time To Kill

4. Just Another Whistle Stop

5. All La Glory

6. The Shape I'm In [Side 2]

7. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

8. Daniel And The Sacred Harp

9. Stage Fright

10. The Rumor

Tracks 1 to 10 are their 3rd studio album "Stage Fright" - released August 1970 in the USA on Capitol Records SW-425 and October 1970 in the UK on Capitol Records EA-SW 425. Produced by DICK HIRTHE and Engineered by TODD RUNDGREN - it peaked at No. 5 in the USA and No. 15 in the UK LP charts.

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Daniel And The Sacred Harp (Alternate Take)

12. Time To Kill (Alternate Take)

13. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show (Alternate Mix)

14. Radio Commercial

THE BAND was:

ROBBIE ROBERTSON – Guitars and Vocals

RICHARD MANUEL - Vocals, Piano, Drums, Baritone Sax & Mouth Harp

GARTH HUDSON – Keyboards and Saxophones

RICK DANKO - Vocals, Bass, Violin & Trombone

LEVON HELM - Vocals, Drums, Mandolin & Guitar

Compiled for CD by Cheryl Pawelski and Andrew Sandoval - the 16-page booklet has fantastically comprehensive liner notes by ROB BOWMAN that feature interviews stretching back twelve years (from 2000), repros of the American Promo 45 for "Time To Kill" and "The Shape I'm In" on Capitol P-2870 as well as two photos of The Band on sofas (one at outtake from the LP shoot). There is discussion on Todd Rundgren's pivotal role as Producer giving the LP the polish their 2nd album "The Band" lacked in 1969. Both Glyn Johns and Rundgren mixed the record and this CD offers the album as it was meant to be – differing from the original Remaster by Capitol in 1990 and the subsequent audiophile issue by DCC in 1994. The new 24-bit remaster by ANDREW SANDOVAL and RON McMASTER gives the album the oomph it's needed. It's a triumph to my ears. Let's get to the music...

"Stage Fright" is a group dealing with and being cudgelled by fame. Recording in June 1970 over only two weeks – the ramshackle looseness (musicians and like minds enjoying themselves) that so warmed up the first two albums was already gone. Some felt the overall LP cold and dark and too bleakly personal in places – and it was short too at 35 odd minutes. But the music for me is key. It opens with "Strawberry Wine" by Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson – a rollicking accordion song about drinking with lyrics about never getting any peace of mine (climbing up the walls and laughing in the dark). "Sleeping" is sad for sure - but it’s beautiful too and the remaster has accentuated that lovely piano and Robertson's distant thinny guitar parts (lyrics from it title this review).

Things slide slightly with Robertson's "Time To Kill" - it's good but its also throwaway for me and the happy-wappy vibe Danko and Manuel try to vocally create feels forced. Nice axe work from Robbie on "Just Another Whistle Stop" and the bass on "All La Glory" is so damn clear now - a hymn from Robbie Robertson to his newly born daughter sung by Levon in that utterly unique voice of his (love that keyboard break - so subtle and pretty). "All La Glory" ends Side 1 on a high.

As I recall the 16-days in the jailhouse tale of monetary woe that is "The Shape I'm In" was relegated to the B-side of "Time To Kill" in the States (October 1970) - when I can't help feeling it was an obvious A with its pounding keyboard funk. In March 1971 the British side of Capitol got it right and issued "The Shape I'm In" with "The Rumor" as its flipside on Capitol CL 15675 - not that the public noticed. "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" was the kind of tune that would have sounded fresh on "Music From Big Pink" - here for some reason it feels old already. Better is "Daniel And The Sacred Harp" - a religious procession song sung as if its a love song to some in the Old Testament. There's beautiful sound on it - those slides and strummed acoustic. The album's title track "Stage Fright" remained a live staple for the band for years - culminating in 1979's "The Last Waltz" where it seemed to come into its own. Although some think it a downer - I've always found the very Harvest-sounding "The Rumor" to be a huge grower - that piano and guitar duetting and the vocals. And you can so hear today's Americana seeping out its every pore...

"...Should I come in there...with that back beat..." - the boys joke in some studio banter after a false start. Amidst the bonus tracks is a thrill for Band fans - an Alternate Mix of one of the album's strong points "Daniel And The Sacred Heart". The audio is gorgeous - clear Bass and Acoustic Guitar - less clutter than the finished version. I might actually prefer the new Alternate Mix to "Time To Kill" to the released version - and again on here with fabulous audio. Great guitar opens "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" where the Alternate has more pronounced vocals and brass - and the one-minute po-faced sounding "Radio Commercial" uses snippets from "Stage Fright", "Strawberry Wine" and "The Shape I'm In" to sell 'the third album from The Band on Capitol'...

I know some see it as a four-star record but with that renewed audio and those genuinely cool extras - "Stage Fright" is one of those occasions where you don't have to pay through the CD nose to get that great combo of top music, quality sound and a cheap price (their first two album outings are the same and mots are online for less than a fiver).

"...The storm is past...there's peace at last..." – Richard Manuel sang on the many mood shades of "Sleeping" – lost in his music – lost in the game. Lost or not - I've so enjoyed joining him there once again...

"Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround Part 1 & Percy: Deluxe Edition" by THE KINKS (2014 Sony/Legacy/BMG 2CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2014 'Deluxe Edition' 2CD REISSUE ***

"...I see that Union Man walking down the street...

He’s the man who decides if I live or I die...if I starve or I eat..."

For a band so intrinsically linked with the Sixties - as ever Ray Davies refused to be pigeonholed by its sentiment and started the new Seventies decade with a musical hand-grenade – something of a kick in the nadge for the hippy dream. Yet despite being a bit of a caustic brute (especially lyrically) – November 1970's album "Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part 1" also contained huge popular hits like "Lola" and "Apeman" – provocatively charged sexpot songs that felt all grown up and mature and even gender-bender risky. The Kinks' "Lola..." has always been a great album and its arrival on DE has been much anticipated...

But after the thrilling CD reissue ride their 60ts catalogue received at the hands of Universal's double-disc 'Deluxe Editions' in 2011 - this August 2014 Sony/Legacy 2CD addition sounds better for sure but is actually incomplete. Although we get the "Percy" Soundtrack from 1971 on Disc 2 as a bonus along with many other outtakes on both CDs (some superb unreleased stuff amidst the 12 new cuts like "Anytime") - we lose two tracks that were on the previous 2004 issue - and it comes in a forgettable double jewel case instead of a foldout card digipak that would have matched the other spines in the series. Still - despite the packaging and content niggles - there's so much on here to love and want - there really is. Let's get physical...

UK released August 2014 - "Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround & Percy: Deluxe Edition" by THE KINKS on Sony Legacy/BMG 88843089592 (Barcode 0888430895928) is a 43-Track 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' Reissue and Remaster with 12 Previously Unreleased tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (64:48 minutes):

1. The Contenders

2. Strangers

3. Denmark Street

4. Get Back In Line

5. Lola

6. Top Of The Pops

7. The Moneygoround

8. This Time Tomorrow [Side 2]

9. A Long Way From Home

10. Rats

11. Apeman

12. Powerman

13. Got To Be Free

Tracks 1 to 13 are the album "Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One" - released 27 November 1970 in the UK on Pye Records NSPL 18359 and 2 December 1970 in the USA on Reprise RS 6423 in Stereo. It peaked at No. 35 on the US LP charts.

BONUS TRACKS (All PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED):

14. Anytime

15. The Contenders (instrumental Demo)

16. The Good Life

17. Lola (Alternate Version)

18. This Time Tomorrow (Instrumental)

19. Apeman (Alternate Version, Stereo) - originally appeared on the April 1971 Japanese LP of "Lola..." on Reprise YS-2456-Y

20. Got To Be Free (Alternate Version) - originally broadcast in the UK 15 Oct 1970 on BBC 1 Television

Disc 2 (63:25 minutes):

1. God's Children

2. Lola (Instrumental)

3. The Way Love Used To Be

4. Completely

5. Running Round Town

6. Moments

7. Animals In The Zoo

8. Just Friends

9. Whip Lady

10. Dreams

11. Helga

12. Willesden Green

13. God's Children (End)

Tracks 1 to 13 are the Soundtrack LP "Percy" - released March 1971 in the UK on Pye Records NSPL 18365 in Stereo. No US LP - but "God's Children" and "The Way Love Used To Be" was released as an American 7" single on Reprise REP 1017 in July 1971.

BONUS TRACKS:

14. Dreams (Remix) - Previously Unreleased

15. Lola (Mono Single) - 12 June 1970 UK 7" single on Pye International 7N 17961 - 12 June 1970 US 7" single on Reprise 0930 with "cherry cola" lyric

16. Apeman (Mono Single) - 20 Nov 1970 UK 7" single on Pye International 7N 45016, A-side

17. Rats (Mono Single)  - 20 Nov 1970 UK 7" single on Pye International 7N 45016, B-side of "Apeman" - 16 Dec 1970 US 7" single on Reprise 0979

18. Powerman (Mono) - first issued May 1998 in the UK on the CD reissue of "Lola..." on Essential ESM CD 509

19. The Moneygoround (Alternate Version, Mono) - first issued August 2012 in the UK on the 5CD/1DVD Box Set "The Kinks At The BBC" on Sanctuary/UMC 279 721-8 as part of the DVD - Audio here for the first time - Previously Unreleased

20. Apeman (Alternate Version, Mono) - first issued December 1970 on a Denmark 7" single on Pye 7N 45016, A-side - Previously Unreleased

21. God's Children (Mono Film Mix) - Previously Unreleased

22. The Way Love Used To Be (Mono Film Mix) - first released May 1998 in the UK on the CD Reissue of "Percy" on Essential ESM CD 510

23. Gold's Children (End) (Mono Film Mix) - Previously Unreleased

The 24-page booklet is the usual feast of colour photos, picture sleeves, repro'd memorabilia and in-depth recording/release date factoids you've come to expect from these DE releases. The second half of the booklet features racy stills from the iffy movie "Percy" - a superb 15-strong picture array of rare 45 single-sleeves from around the world ("Lola, "Apeman", "God's Children" and "Animals In The Zoo") - while the final few pages feature the handwritten lyrics to the "Lola" LP that graced the inner gatefold of British and American albums on Pye and Reprise. Noted writer and author PETER DOGGETT gives a detailed analysis of the band's leap into the heavy rock decade and their dubious involvement in a dubious movie. It's beautifully laid out. Unfortunately the "Apeman" and "Powerman" Demos that were unreleased extras on the 2004 reissue CD are AWOL when there was clearly room on either disc for them - so docked a star for that and the boring jewel case presentation.

But there's better news for fans in the CD transfers. A team of three trusted names have tackled the new 2014 Remasters - ANDREW SANDOVAL, DAN HERSCH and ANDY PEARCE. Sandoval was involved with all of the Universal DE's for The Kinks and much praised for it - Dan Hersch has been Rhino's go-to guy for decades and Andy Pearce (along with Matt Wortham) has a growing rep for fabulously realistic transfers that just keeps getting better (Thin Lizzy, Wishbone Ash, Budgie, the 2016 Free reissues and the much-anticipated new versions of Deep Purple's catalogue in 2017). The moment you hear the 40-second Acoustic into to "The Contenders" or the sheer punch to the riffage of "Powerman" or the 'Yes It's No. 1!' "Top Of The Pops" and you can 'feel' the punch. Great stuff. Let's get to the music...

"...On the verge of a nervous breakdown...I went to see a solicitor..." Ray sings bitterly on "The Moneygoround" as he (like so many musicians of the day) wonder - there's all this fame so why is there so little cash to go with it? No one at the record label is answering the phone. That kind of probing angst imbibes songs like "This Time Tomorrow" and the 'where are you going' cries in "Strangers" - each tune filled with cool music unpinned by a weary pathos. The audio on the Stereo "Lola" and "Apeman" makes them huge - those brilliant and fun lyrics still raising a smile after 46 years. I'd forgotten just how New York Dolls the "Rats" track is (B-side to the "Apeman” 45 in most territories) – a hard-hitting little rocker where slick and aggressive city types are crowding our Ray's personal space. It ends on the brilliant and upbeat "Got To Be Free".

Fans will love the newest find - "Anytime" - a 3:30 minute amble that feels epic. Probably the very guitar-based feel excluded it from the LP - but there's no doubt in my mind that it's the premium find on here - brilliant and exciting. The Instrumental of "The Contenders" is truly fascinating stuff - half Gary Moore's Skid Row when the guitars dominate - half Chicken Shack when the piano gets a look in. Just when you think it's going to descend into filler - "The Good Life" chugs its Havana Cigar way across your speakers - a wickedly good rocker that makes you wonder why it wasn't used as a B-side. There's Take 11 dialogue before the Alternate Take of "Lola" and a slower intro - and again - it's impressive stuff even for such a familiar song. Fans are going to eat up an instrumental of their LP fave "This Time Tomorrow" - piano and rhythm acting as a backing track as you hum along to the words in your head. The car sounds at the beginning of the Stereo "Apeman" are still intact - but after being used to the Mono Single - the 'nuclear war' instruments and lyrics feel 'massive' - an amazing listen. But the most radically different take is "Got To Be Free" where Ray sounds like he's channelling his inner Alan Price as he plinks away on a childlike piano - shame it's not better recorded and fades out too fast...

CD2 gives us the "Percy" Soundtrack - a much-maligned beast that's far better than I remember it - with some shining moments like the obvious upbeat single "God's Children" and its lovely flipside "The Way Love Used To Be". With lyrics like "...I want to go back to the way the good Lord made me..." - Davies gives "God's Children" a hopeful feel complete with choruses and strings. I've always thought the funked-up guitar version of "Lola" to be cool even if the cheesy organ that follows the opening kind of ruins the vibe. I also dig the chugging Bluesy guitar-and-harmonica instrumental "Completely" - like The Kinks forgot who they were for a moment and went all Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac for one song. "Moments" is pretty too - remembering things the main characters have forgotten. You can hear why "Animals In The Zoo" was chosen as a leadoff single - funky acoustic to begin with - yet so Kinks in its rhythms as it boogies along in a very catchy way. Of the unreleased on Disc 2 "The Moneygoround" and the Alternate Mono of "Apeman" come off the best - an impressive end to an impressive release.

"...It might even turn into a steady job..." - our Ray roared on "Top Of The Pops" (number 11 with a bullet) about the life of a Rock Musician. And on the evidence of this 2CD reissue - thank God it did...

"The Band" by THE BAND (2000 Capitol 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster of their 2nd album) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"The Band" by THE BAND - UK LP on Capitol Records E-ST 132 in January 1970

"...Ain't No Reason To Hang My Head..."

Sounding like it was recorded in Uncle Bob's Basement and Garage (they used a house in the Hollywood Hills owned by Sammy Davis, Jr and padded it out with blankets and wood) - The Band's self-titled second album delivered on the promise of their 1968 debut "Music From Big Pink" in a huge way. Today it's revered as an Americana classic and this cool little CD Remaster from 2000 hammers that home big time. Here are the rag mama rags...

Released September 2000 - "The Band" by THE BAND on Capitol 525 3892 (Barcode 724352538928) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster and breaks down as follows (71:57 minutes):

1. Across The Great Divide

2. Rag Mama Rag

3. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

4. When You Awake

5. Up On Cripple Creek

6. Whispering Pines

7. Jemima Surrender [Side 2]

8. Rockin' Chair

9. Look Out Cleveland

10. Jawbone

11. The Unfaithful Servant

12. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Tracks 1 to 12 are their 2nd album "The Band" - released September 1969 in the USA on Capitol Records STAO-132 and January 1970 in the UK on capitol Records E-ST 132.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Get Up Jake (Outtake - Stereo Mix)

14. Raga Mama Rag (Alternate Vocal Take - Rough Mix)

15. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Alternate Mix)

16. Up On Cripple Creek (Alternate Take)

17. Whispering Pines (Alternate Take)

18. Jemima Surrender (Alternate Take)

19. King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Alternate Performance)

THE BAND was:

GARTH HUDSON - Organ, Clavinette, Piano, Accordion, Soprano Tenor & Baritone Sax and Slide Trumpet

RICHARD MANUEL - Vocals, Piano, Drums, Baritone Sax & Mouth Harp

LEVON HELM - Vocals, Drums, Mandolin & Guitar

RICK DANKO - Vocals, Bass, Violin & Trombone

ROBBIE ROBERTSON - Guitar

Compiled by Cheryl Pawelski and Andrew Sandoval - the 16-page booklet has fantastically comprehensive liner notes by ROB BOWMAN that feature interviews stretching back twelve years (from 2000), photos of tracking sheets, mix instructions, American 45s and Picture Sleeves, trade adverts, colour snaps from the session in the house - and even a Time Magazine cover from January 1970. It's very well done as befits an album of this stature. But the big news is a great remaster by DAN HERSCH and ANDREW SANDOVAL. Recorded outside of a conventional studio in a loose manner and with `feel' being all-important - the tracks vary in sound quality. And you have to say that this remaster allows the whole lot to `breathe'. On tracks like "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" and the beautiful "Whispering Pines" where hiss is more than evident - the transfers haven't tried to supress it - but given it space to shine - it's properly lovely.

Almost a mission statement as to `this is how we sound - love it or lump it' - the openers "Across The Great Divide" and the single "Raga Mama Rag" establishes that `Band' sound and feel. The joviality abates for the epic "Virgil Cane" Civil War ballad "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" with Levon Helm sounding literally like a beaten soldier from the South. It's one of Robbie Robertson's finest songwriting moments. Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson do a great vocal trade off on "When You Awake" but Manuel's lead on "Whispering Pines" is probably most people's crave - a gorgeous melody with all those croaking voices harmonizing and that organ giving it a church on Sunday backdrop. It ends Side One perfectly.

We go into boogie mode for "Jemima Surrender" - a top-notch chugger with the group sounding like they're enjoying themselves while discovering a special chemistry ("I'll bring over my Fender and play all night for you..."). But the biggies are the two finishers - Rick Danko sings "The Unfaithful Servant" where "that train is comin'..." and the malevolent "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" is handled by Richard Manuel. There's even traces of Little Feat's funky sound in its 1969 grooves. The extra tracks provide a fabulous insight into the recording process - beginning with a real find - an outtake called "Get Up Jake" considered at the time as one too many for the album - its great. Listening to a string of Alternate Takes of songs you've known for decades is a strange and exhilarating experience - the acoustic "Dixie" is unbelievably intimate with its false starts and great sound. A keyboard-funky "Up On Cripple Creek" follows - but the real prize has to be another version of "Whispering Pines" which is just as achingly beautiful as the finished cut (even when it breaks down mid-take because of a `squeaky chair'). The loose guitar jam of "King Harvest" feels like eavesdropping on "union man" Americana. Wicked...

Dirt cheap from most online retailers - this is one of those occasions where you don't have to pay through the CD nose to get that great combo of top music and quality sound. And if ever a group deserved such a sweet outcome - then The Band are it...

"Sunflower/Surf's Up" by THE BEACH BOYS (2000 Capitol/Brother '2LPs on 1CD' Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Get Yourself Some Cool, Cool Water..."

In 2016 - both 1970's "Sunflower" and 1971's "Surf's Up" are considered the best of The Beach Boys 70's output - and rightly so. But at the time America’s Joe Public couldn't have cared less about the first and showed only casual interest in the second - especially considering how big and influential the band had been only years earlier.

Having jumped contractual ship from their spiritual home since 1962 (Capitol Records) - and especially given the melodic strength of the new material - big things was expected of The Beach Boys and their clean break to Brother Records in 1970 (distributed by the then mighty Warner Brothers). But it just didn't happen. Released Monday 31 August 1970 - "Sunflower" lasted only four weeks on Billboard's Top 200 peaking at a miserable No. 151. Apparently its sales figures were embarrassing in the USA (it fared better in the UK on EMI's Stateside label where it made No. 29 on the LP charts). 

Maybe "Sunflower" was perceived as being out-of-sync girly surfin' music - their Beach Boys sound 'old hat' against the emerging Hard Rock explosion that was engulfing music towards the end of the Sixties and into the first two years of that redefining decade - the Seventies. 

At least 1971's follow through "Surf's Up" cracked the USA Top 30 - finally landing at No. 29 - and managed a four months stay on the LP charts as opposed to one. With a weary warrior crouched over his beaten horse on the front cover and song titles like "Student Demonstration Time" and "Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)" - at least "Surf's Up" seemed more in step with a fractured and hurting America - so it did better.

Whatever way you interpret history - re-listening to these two remarkable albums on this wickedly good CD Remaster and I’m reminded in emphatic style that sometimes Joe Public needs to be just that - reminded. I say knob to those original embarrassing sales numbers – the musical brilliance on display here is indeed embarrassing - but for all the right reasons. Let's break down those brilliant harmonies...

UK released 14 August 2000 - "Sunflower/Surf's Up" by THE BEACH BOYS on Capitol/Brother 525 6922 (Barcode 724352569229) offers up 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (70:22 minutes):

1. Slip On Through

2. This Whole World

3. Add Some Music To Your Day

4. Got To Know The Woman

5. Deirdre

6. It's About Time

7. Tears In The Morning [Side 2]

8. All I Wanna Do

9. Forever

10. Our Sweet Love

11. At My Window

12. Cool, Cool Water

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Sunflower" - released 31 August 1970 in the USA on Brother Records/Reprise RS 6382 and November 1970 in the UK on Stateside SSL 8251.

13. Don't Go Near The Water

14. Long Promised Road

15. Take A Load Off Your Feet

16. Disney Girls (1957)

17. Student Demonstration Time

18. Feel Flows [Side 2]

19. Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)

20. A Day In The Life Of A Tree

21. 'Til I Die

22. Surf's Up

Tracks 13 to 22 are their album "Surf's Up" - released 30 August 1971 in the USA on Brother/Reprise RS 6453 and November 1971 in the UK on Stateside SSL 10313.

The properly chunky 22-page booklet offers fans liner notes from Beach Boys authority TIMOTHY WHITE adapted from his acclaimed book "The Nearest Far Away Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys And The Southern California Experience". His song-by-song analysis and critique is both honest and affectionate and much of it peppered with Brian's 'selective' memories. There's the inner gatefold sleeve for "Sunflower" (no lyrics unfortunately), period photos, alternate artwork, original recording and reissue credits as well as lyrics to the "Surf's Up" album. But the big news is 24-Bit Digital Remasters from original tapes by two hugely respected Audio Engineers - ANDREW SANDOVAL and DAN HERSCH. Sandoval handled the acclaimed 2CD 'Deluxe Editions' of The Kinks and Small Faces (amongst many others) - whilst Dan Hersch (along with Bill Inglot) has been at the heart of Rhino's Vinyl and CD Reissue machine for over two decades - having handled literally hundreds of prestigious catalogues across a huge range of genres. These guys know their way around tape boxes and it shows. Beautifully and carefully recorded at the time - all that technical expertise and innovation comes shining through on these wonderful-sounding transfers. Top stuff...

Released towards the end of June 1970 on Brother 0929 - the second 45 from the "Sunflower" LP was the Side 1 openers "Slip On Through" b/w "This Whole World" - Dennis Wilson writing the A and Brian the flip-side (no UK issue). But despite the edgy groove - it tanked. Earlier in February 1970 - Brother had issued the Beach Boys debut 45 on the label - the pretty "Add Some Music To Your Day" b/w "Susie Cincinnati". At one point it appears that "Add Some Music..." was considered as an album title. Even better is the gorgeous "Deirdre" - a happy song with wonderful layered vocals and an almost jingle-bells Christmas feel to it (when Brother put out "Long Promised Road" in June 1971 as a single off "Surf's Up" - they used "Deirdre" as its B-side). The straight up bopper and "...I used to throw my mind sky high..." confessions of "It's About Time" (the Side 1 ender) give it incredible edge - and that Bass/Vocal middle-eight break is pure Beach Boys genius (Dennis Wilson, Bob Burchman and Alan Jardine wrote it).

Side 2 opens just as strongly with Bruce Johnston's hurting but beautiful "Tears In The Morning" where he keeps a hold on his sorrow as those string arrangements soar behind his 'missing you' vocal pleading. Brian Wilson and Mike Love's "All I Wanna Do" is the closest the LP gets to a "Pet Sounds" outtake (Todd Rundgren was surely listening to this). "Forever" is probably the album's most revered and beloved song - yet when Brother Records put out another 45 in February 1971 (Brother 0998) - they relegated "Forever" to the flip-side of "Cool, Cool Water" - a commercial mistake methinks. The 'sparrow came flying down' song "At My Window" is a fitting lead-in to the amazing "Cool, Cool Water" - a song that's synonymous with Beach Boys melodic brilliance. That build-up of trippy voices as the song makes its way to those ‘now now now’ chants – like Sigur Ros 30 years before the event - wow...

The Surf's Up" opener "Don't Go Near The Water" warns of polluted oceans and the same pouring out of your facet. An animated Carl Wilson fronts "Long Promised Land" wanting to throw off 'shackles that are binding me down' (lyrics he sings with a passion and desperation you can literally feel). The hippy wistful 'take good care of your feet' and 'watch what you eat' lyrics in "Take A Load Off Your Feet" feel like the theme song to a Californian whole-food store that sells any manner of mushrooms. Better is "Disney Girls (1957)" - a genuinely lovely melody beautifully played and sung by Brian Johnston where he pines for 'Patti Page and summer days...' Things take a decidedly heavy turn with the out-and-out Neil Young guitar rock of "Student Demonstration Time" where they incorporate 'there's a riot going on' and change 'cell block number nine' into 'student demonstration time'. It's brilliant and the kind of song CSYN might have produced on a third studio album if they'd made one...

Side 2 opens with the fazed vocals of "Feel Flows" where we're 'unbending never-ending tablets of time' - a fab yeah man moment with brilliant guitar laced with flute. I often cite "Feel Flows" as one of the album's layered masterpieces. The hurt disconnectedness of returning war-vets fills the equally trippy and acoustic-driven "Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)" - where men can't find work sweeping floors but can find substances on the street corner to dull the ache. Tweeting birds and a seaside/church organ fill the equally trippy "A Day In The Life Of A Tree" - a plea for the environment choking on 'pollution and slow death'. The beautiful but damaged "'Til I Die" has Brian wondering 'how long will the wind blow' before something darker takes him (he fought to have the song's dark subject matter on the album). The 'Smile Sessions' 2CD set showed us four variants of the album's centrepiece "Surf's Up" - one of them stretching back to a lovely 1967 piano demo. The finished "Surf's Up' is simply exquisite in its arrangement and delivery - where you can 'so' hear Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates and so many other melody giants in its 4:11 minutes.

For me "Surf's Up" is a huge leap forward and "Sunflower" was great anyway - so any listener is on a winner either way. In fact some have argued that this Beach Boys twofer may indeed be the best '2LPs onto 1CD' value-for-money remaster ever released. And damn - but I think they're absolutely on the harmony money...