Roger Nichols and The Small Circle Of Friends - Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends 1967

Well, not quite complete, depending upon how one feels about "St. Bennie the Sno-Dog," which later turned up on the Rev-Ola Records CD re-release of the group's one album along with everything else on this CD -- but since Roger Nichols regards that 1964 Ava Records issue as a much too early experiment by something that wasn't really the Small Circle of Friends, the title here is still valid. This Japanese CD was for most of a decade the best (and only) way to obtain this music. As to the latter, the mastering brings out the most delicate textures of the singing and the lightly orchestrated accompaniment -- the price is worth it just for the splendors, vocal and instrumental, brought out in the version of "Snow Queen" featured here, the best of a string of great ones by co-author Carole King herself as well as the Association and Blood, Sweat & Tears, and also their folk-rock/sunshine pop rendition of the Beatles' Merseybeat-era "I'll Be Back." The bonus tracks include the early work of the Roger Nichols Trio, precursor to the Small Circle of Friends, among them "I'll Be Back," "Just Beyond Your Smile," "Our Day Will Come," and "Love Song, Love Song," which is attractive folky pop/rock but not nearly as well put-together as the work of the later group, and the subsequent work of Nichols and his new collaborator,Paul Williams -- the latter seems, for 1969, even more out of place in its elegant production than the stuff off of the original LP, a strange hybrid of singer/songwriter material and sunshine pop that was far removed from the strife-laden end of the 1960s. The notes are in Japanese, of course, but the music is pretty enough and the mastering so clean and sharp that the price is not out of line for those who appreciate such matters. The 2005 Rev-Ola release, however, significantly reduces the appeal of this import, though the inclusion of "St. Bennie the Sno-Dog" is more for completists than for real music listeners. AMG.

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