The Montage
The Montage - Laurie 1969
Tracks: 1. I Shall Call Her Mary / 2. She's Alone/ 3. Grand Pianist / 4. Men Are Building Sand / 5. Desiree / 6. The Song Is Love / 7. Tinsel and Ivy / 8. An Audience with Miss Priscilla Gray / 9. My Love / 10. Wake Up Jimmy / 11. The Mirror * / 12. Thor and Or * / 13. The Song Is Love * / 14. Desiree (instrumental ) *
Comments:
Michael Brown left The Left Banke in 1967 in the middle of recording the group's second album. Brown was clearly The Left Banke's main songwriter and although Brown contributes partly to "The Left Banke, Too", the album is somewhat disappointing compared to the excellent debut album "Walk Away Rene/Pretty Ballerina".
Michael Brown immediately after the breakup started a new project, The Montage, who released a few singles and an album during 1968-69.
The group's only album actually sounds like a natural sequel to "Walk Away Rene/Pretty Ballerina" and again demonstrates Brown's great abilities as a songwriter and arranger.
The group's 1969 album is here released with four bonus tracks, of which "The Mirror" in particular is really nice; it reminds me a bit of another contemporary group, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.
In addition to Brown, Tom Feher is also a major songwriter for The Montage, as he was for The Left Banke.
A couple of the songs, "Men Are Building Sand" and "Desiree", were also recorded by The Left Banke and when comparing the two groups, The Left Banke is vocally clearly stronger. However, the tracks on The Montage are for the most part really good, and in addition to the two already mentioned songs, I would like to highlight Tom Feher's "I Shall Call Her Mary" and "TInsel and Ivy" in addition to Michael Brown and Bert Sommer's "Grand Pianist" and " The Song is Love”; the latter makes me think of The Assosciation.
A really fine album that definitely belongs in The Left Banke saga.
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