Left Banke
Left Banke Too - Smash 1968
Tracks: 1. Goodbye Holly / 2. There's Gonna Be a Storm / 3. Sing Little Bird Sing / 4. Nice to See You / 5. Give the Man a Hand / 6. Bryant Hotel / 7. Desiree / 8. Dark is the Bark / 9. In the Morning Light / 10. My Friend Today / 11. Ivy Ivy* / 12. And Suddenly* / 13. Men are Building Sand* / 14. Myrah* / 15. Pedestral* / 16. Foggy Waterfall*
Comments:
This second album from The Left Banke, released in 1968, can't quite measure up to the great debut album. Prior to the release, the group had lost guitarist Rick Brand and more seriously also keyboard player/songwriter Michael Brown. As a replacement, Tom Feher, who had previously worked with the group, had stepped in.
Some of the tracks were released as singles before the album and Brown thus participates on part of the album; Among others, on the fine "Desiree", which he wrote together with Tom Feher.
Another fine Brown track is ”Men are Building Sand” was not on the original version of ”Left Banke Too”, but has been added as a bonus track on some reissues. The same applies to the equally fine "Ivy Ivy", which was released as a single already in 1967.
Without quite reaching Brown's level, Tom Feher shows himself here as an absolutely competent and diligent songwriter with, among others, nice compositions like "Sing Little Bird Sing", "Goodbye Holly" and "Bryant Hotel".
In general, the musical line is less clear than on the debut album and the group comes a long way in terms of genre, and the label baroque-pop is less obvious here.
Of other favorites I can mention Tom Finn's "There's Gonna Be a Storm" and "Nice to See You" - both, however, perhaps a little too heavily instrumented. Also another fine bonus track "Myrah", which was written by Michael Brown and lead singer George Cameron, is worth getting.
Perhaps an initially slightly disappointing album, based on the great debut, but still absolutely a fine album.
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