Montage (1969 - Remastered 2001)
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Artist: Montage
Album: Montage
Released: 1969 - remastered with bonus tracks 2001
Sundazed - SC 6172
Genre: Baroque Pop / Soft Rock
Review:
from AMG by Jack Rabid
Since its original, meager issue on Laurie Records in 1969, Montage has been damn hard to find outside of a brief vinyl reissue on Bam Caruso U.K. in the mid-'80s. Yet every admirer of the Left Banke has wanted this bad. In fact, Montage sounds far more like the real follow-up to the Left Banke's first LP, Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina, than the actual one, The Left Banke, Too. This is because after the first LP the band's three singers had sadly parted ways with keyboardist and prime songwriter Michael Brown, who instead became Montage's mentor/mastermind. (It's a long story: Brown's dad was managing the band to the distrust of the other members and Brown, like Brian Wilson, similarly disdained touring in favor of staying home to write and record.) And though Brown was not technically a Montage member, he not only wrote all the music and produced this LP, but he also played all the trademark piano and organ and charted the vocal arrangements. Yet the four New Jersey no-names he found clearly translated his vision of extraordinarily lush, unspeakably beautiful orchestral chart pop. Like Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina, and much like the Zombies' Odessey & Oracle, Montage seizes you from the moment the opening cascade of voices showers you on the fantastic "I Shall Call Her Mary." Then next comes the LP's biggest achievement, the strings-piercing, downbeat bomb "She's Alone" — truly as remarkable as any similar Beatles moment (think "Eleanor Rigby"), so full of its cello mourn and a melody from the gods. But the real story is the enormous handiwork all through this LP. Those fortunate to have the vinyl will delight in the four bonus tracks, of which "The Mirror" is the best find.
Review by Kurt Sampsel
For years, fans of the famed “baroque pop” group the Left Banke have known of Montage, the mysterious group with which Left Banke mastermind Michael Brown collaborated following the breakup of the Banke. The Montage mystery was kept so well simply because few people had ever actually heard the ultra-rare album they released on Laurie Records in 1969. Recently however, the good people at Sundazed put their collective heads together and released this CD, which has finally introduced Montage to a wider audience, and also has given Left Banke fans everywhere exactly what they had been hoping for for years: more baroque pop in the Left Banke mold. Still, although similarities and comparisons to the Left Banke are unavoidable when discussing Montage, the Montage album should probably not be thought of as simply “The Left Banke Three.” Montage was a talented group of musicians in its own right, and although their sound is quite similar to that of the Banke, Montage were not simply Left Banke impressionists. Montage’s music is so very evocative of the Left Banke because Brown produced the group, made the vocal arrangements, and co-wrote nine of the ten songs on the album, including “Desiree” and “Men are Building Sand,” both of which had been previously recorded by the Left Banke. The songs contained on the Montage album are, by and large, lovely, bouncy pop numbers full of melody and atmosphere. Some of the best tunes on the album are the charming opener “I Shall Call Her Mary” (which was released as their debut single), the lively “The Song is Love,” and the curious “Wake Up Jimmy (Something is Happening Outside).” Ironically however, perhaps the most exquisite song on the album, “My Love,” was the only one which Michael Brown didn’t cowrite, having been written instead by colleague Tom Feher. Stylistically, the Montage album would not seem to represent a linear progression from the Left Banke’s work; rather, it seems as though it would fit more comfortably somewhere between the Banke’s two albums—between the more pop-oriented Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina and the more ambitious but varied The Left Banke Too. The Montage album is very good, and although it is certainly reminiscent of the Left Banke’s music, it remains distinctive enough as to maintain its own identity. The much-awaited Sundazed reissue CD adds to the original album tracks four previously unreleased tracks of some value, and, as always for Sundazed, the liners are attractive and informative. Fans of the Left Banke—and of melodic, well-produced pop in general—will likely find this album quite enjoyable.
Track List:
01. I Shall Call Her Mary
02. She's Alone
03. Grand Pianist
04. Men Are Building Sand
05. Desiree
06. The Song Is Love
07. Tinsel And Ivy
08. An Audience With Miss Priscilla Gray
09. My Love
10. Wake Up Jimmy (Something Is Happening Outside)
Bonus Tracks:
11. The Mirror
12. Thor And Or (instrumental)
13. The Song Is Love (instrumental)
14. Desiree (instrumental)
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