MONTAGE
Montage
(Sundazed)
When songwriting/producing genius Michael Brown left the pioneering 60s pop ensemble the Left Banke, he eventually joined the 70s rock troupe Stories, who had a hit with "Brother Louie" after Brown quit. For most pop rock fans, those are the accomplishments for which Brown is best known. But in 1969, between his adventures with the Banke and Stories, he produced the one-shot New Jersey quartet Montage. The term "produced" doesn't quite do his job justice; he also co-wrote every song with his previous Banke collaborators and crafted arrangements that highlighted his keyboards and orchestrations as much as the vocals and melodies. As such, the only members of Montage itself that are really important are singers Bob Steurer and Vance Chapman. Both possess the kind of pretty male tenors Brown favored with the Banke, though neither has the charisma of Banke frontman Steve Martin. Due to all these factors, Montage sounds so much like a Left Banke album it could probably fool connoisseurs in a blind taste test. "Grand Pianist," "An Audience With Miss Priscilla Gray" and "Tinsel and Ivy" are just as lovely as anything Brown had done previously; the opening "I Shall Call Her Mary" stands as one of his greatest works. He even had the group remake a couple of late Banke tracks, "Desiree" and "Men are Building Sand;" the latter would be superior to the Banke's version if the singer could hit the correct notes. That's the only misstep on this lush, tuneful album, however. The bonus tracks include the pretty studio outtake "The Mirror" and a trio of instrumentals, including the nifty "Thor and On." Fans of baroque American pop music will love this. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Left Banke, the Zombies, the Witch Hazel Sound