Billy Nicholls' stillborn 1968 album does indeed recall
the Beach Boys' 1966-19 67 era, not just due to
Nicholls' melodies and high, versatile vocals, but also the production of
Andrew Oldham, an avowed fan of
Phil Spector and
Pet Sounds. Although very attractive, however, the songs and production do not have the depth and emotional resonance of
Pet Sounds. This is not a knock;
Nicholls was very young at the time, after all, and it's hard to match
Brian Wilson, though
Oldham pulled out a bunch of tricks with baroque keyboards, tasteful brass, and airy multi-part harmonies. As with the
Oldham-produced cuts done by
Del Shannon in the same era, the deftly elaborate L.A.-meets-London semi-Wall of Sound is more impressive than the pretty but often rather slight material. It's still a pleasurable listen, with the more acoustic and darker "Come Again" slightly foreshadowing the kind of sound
Pete Townshend would employ on much of
Who Came First, and "Girl from New York" (with
Steve Marriott on lead guitar) going for a gutsier British rock vibe. The CD reissue (on the Immediate imprint, but actually put out by the British reissue label Sequel) includes mono single versions of "Would You Believe?" and "Daytime Girl" as bonus tracks.