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The Choir - Choir Practice

Track listing:
  1. I'd Rather You Leave Me 2:08
  2. It's Cold Outside 2:51
  3. When You Wer With Me 2:34
  4. don't Change Your Mind 1:52
  5. Dream Of One's Life 3:29
  6. In Love's Shadow 2:42
  7. I'm Slippin' 2:54
  8. Leave Me Be 3:45
  9. I'd Rather You Leave Me 2:33
  10. Treeberry 2:24
  11. Smile 2:47
  12. A to F (I Don't Want Nobody) 4:50
  13. I Only Did it 'Caouse I Felt So Lonely 2:17
  14. Don't Change Your Mind 2:06
  15. Anyway I Can 3:52
  16. Boris' Lament 2:52
  17. David Watts 2:36
  18. If These Are Men 2:59

Notes


This 18-song CD is the first official compilation of their work that covers their entire career, from 1966 to 1969. As the group cut only a few singles during their lifetime, most of this is previously unissued, culled from their generous vault of demos. Much anticipated by 1960s collectors, it's frankly a bit of a disappointment, despite a fair number of highlights. The Americanized mod-Merseybeat of "It's Cold Outside" is delightful; other originals like "I'd Rather You Leave Me" and "Don't Change Your Mind" show similarly irresistible harmony vocals, crafting a catchy '60s pop-rock sound that avoids sappiness. The final tracks, cut in 1969 after several personnel changes, have slightly updated progressive rock influences, but retain a core of smart pop-rock hooks. Some of the demos, though, are a bit weak, particularly the soul-rockish ones from 1968. Most crucially, though, it fails to include a number of fine previously available tracks, like the version of the beautiful ballad "Treeberry" that was briefly available on a Bomp EP (the sketchy acoustic demo here pales by comparison), and several moody numbers from the 1969 lineup (also available for a time on a cassette-only reissue in the 1980s). The crunchy Stones-ish B-side of "It's Cold Outside," "I'm Going Home," is also inexplicably missing. Perhaps this is because the compilers made every effort to include material from the original master tapes and couldn't locate the masters for those tracks. It's still not a bad compilation for '60s collectors, but it could have been better.