Customer Reviews

Would You Believe

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

who would've thought? a "lost masterpiece" that actually lives up to the hyperbole? wow. this is one of the rarest occurences in the record-geek world, a genuine obscurity that's actually as good as everyone says it is. "pet sounds" comparisons are apt, as far as the gorgeously gooey overproduction goes, but this record lacks the introspective depth of "pet sounds" - this is "just" an album of pop songs. but what songs! buried in monolithic spectoresque echo, sweeping strings and soaring harmonies, this album is a distillation of a time - whatever made swinging london swing is captured in these tracks. from the happy-go-lucky pop of "would you believe" to the gorgeously aching pastoralism of "feeling easy," the pilled-up finger to the establishment in "london social degree," and the purple-hearted teeth-grinding savagery of steve marriott's guitar on "girl from new york," this is an amazing album, and every bit the "lost masterpiece" it's been trumpeted as. if you dig the beatles, the zombies, the left banke, or immediate-era small faces - this is for you. an absolutely essentual artifact of 60s britpop.

I buy a LOT of 60s reissues, especially lost classics, and this one is by far the best. It doesn't really sound like Pet Sounds. It's more like great 66/67 UK Freakbeat and pop. It's Andrew Loog Oldham's finest production job. Great songs, singing, vocal arrangements, killer guitar playing and beautiful strings. If you like Love's Forever Changes and Revolver-era Beatles, you'll love this album.

without a doubt a forgotten masterpiece of pop music, would you believe is the child of pet sounds and the mod backbeat of carnaby street(think zombies or the creation).Not only do the small faces play on it, but a young john paul jones of led zeppelin arranges and plays bass! What a line up! It sounds so good and fresh all your friends will think its a new recording. Listen as you hear strains of todays britpop- the charlatans uk and oasis wish they could sound like Billy Nicholls!

I read about Billy Nicholls about 5 years ago in some magazine. It said something about "Would You Believe" being the British version of "Pet Sounds". I had to order it from England, which was a bit steep money wise, but at the time, it had just been issued on CD so I went for it and I'm glad I did. He has been sort of my little secret because no one I know owns this disc except for myself.

The first song is a little disarming because it features backup vocals by Steve Marriott of The Small Faces. I love Steve Marriott's vocals with The Small Faces, but they sound out of place here. The rest of the album is wonderful and haunting. Pretty amazing stuff for a 17 year old. As a songwriter, this album has had some influence on me to be sure. Anyone who is a fan of mid to late 60's psychedelic music should check this album out, you won't regret it.

If you want to dig a little deeper after this one, check out Pete Townshend's first solo record, "Who Came First", which features some excellent vocals by Billy Nicholls on one track. Also, Del Shannon covered the second song on "Would You Believe" called "Cut And Come Again". His version is also really cool.

i am a man of music. i pride myself on my ability to discern slight differences in pitch and tonality which mortal humans cannot. i am moved by the mixolydian glissindo's that bubble under the surface of most Bach chorales. I appreciate spandex. With that said, i present to you 'Would You Believe?", perhaps the ...sunshine pop record i heard last year (with the possible exception of The Yellow Balloon). This record, literally, causes sunburn it's so full of sunshine. but unlike the beach boys to which he is oft compared, billy nicholls particular sun hangs over the British Isles and not the palmed climes of Southern California. this record is quitessentially english. while there are many obvious overtures to the West Coast sound of Brian Wilson and others, Nicholls mini-masterpiece of twee celebrates psychedelic pop with a puss-full of Day Glo makeup and a wardrobe of Kings Road fineries. this album truly is a treasure for us psych fans that love the work of Curt Boettcher and similarly likeminded psych/pop geniuses. if you are stranded on a desert island and you can only bring one record, don't bring 'Would You Believe?", bring sunscreen or some protective clothing, perhaps de-saltening tablets for sea water, etc. however, if your killing time in your one prostitute hamlet off Highway 666 anywhere across this crazy old world, buy this record and watch the bottom of your pants grow wider and your hair grow longer.

Like Love's Forever Changes, this album by Billy Nicholls is one of the few in the post-Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper flood that works.

Would You Beleive features Nicholls' own songs, full of strings, tuba, sleigh chimes, all the bells and whistles you would expect on a 1968 barouque pop album.

Most of these tracks are condenced songs with a folk-pop base, which Nicholls filters through his orchestrations. Everyone after Sgt. Pepper, from Frank Sinatra to the Stones, tried to make an album to fill the mandate the mighty Beatles set.

The differance is the writting. Nicholls' constructions are solid and simple, and these bare bones lend themselves perfectly to his tasteful, layerd arranging. The strings are classical, not easy listening, and the chimes melodic, not sappy. This creates beautiful, high end pop.

If there is a weak spot here, and this is debatable, it is the mix. Would You Beleive has a big, Spectoresqe eccho. There is an argument for this. Nicholls' mixes everything a step back, and the music almost sounds like it is comming down from the sky. A heavenly sound for heavenly music. This does not nessaseraly detract, but giving Would Yo Beleive the upfront sound of, say, Revolver, may have made for a cozier, more inntimate listen. This music is as comforting as hot chocolate, so why the distance?

Still, any fan of good 1960s music needs to own this as much as Forever Changes, Sgt Pepper or Pet Sounds.

This CD is a real gem and it shines so much you must put your RayBan on.

The album delivers, if the Small Faces (who contributed as the backing band on a lot of tracks) are even half as good, its time for me to buy a Small Faces Album. I like a lot of far out stuff, and in actuality, I would give this 5 stars except I have to consider the masses who might not appreciate it as much. Absolutely the best British shot (outside of Sgt. Pepper) at Pet Sounds and West Coast Sunshine Pop in general. Its a classic along the lines that Clear Light (from the one-ablum Clear Light) is a classic... a relatively unheard album with great music. I think its a little steep in price, but maybe they're trying to make up for lost time and lack of album sales.

I bought this CD after reading a review in a music mag, having never heard of Nicholls or any or any of the songs. The Billy Nicholl's story itself is very intriguing since he was early in his teens a songwriter for Andrew Loog Oldham, the manager of the Rolling Stones. At some point Oldham decided to release an album's worth of Nicholls but only got to the DJ demo stage when the LP met with less than stellar reviews. One critic in particular described it as "the most over-produced album of the 60s", which is not too far from the truth. Oldham appears to have included virtually every "instrument" that he could find laying around the studio to produce a mix of strings, horns, bells, whistles etc. with vocal overdubs galore. Members of the Small Faces provide some background vocals as well. The result initially turned me off but after giving it a few listens I was hooked. This album, though certainly not everyone's cup of tea, has become one of my favorites for just chilling out.

How many times are we going to fall for the kind of absurd hyperbole that accompanied the release of this forgotten rarity? Sure, the praise is always well-meant, but it inevitably does a huge disservice to both artist and fan. So one more time, people: layered vocals don't make an album Pet Sounds, having Nicky Hopkins playing harpsichord all over the place doesn't make it The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and participation by various Small Faces doesn't make it Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. And, most of all, having an ethereal,breathy groove certainly does NOT make it --- moment of hushed reverence --- Odessey and Oracle. If Billy Nicholls were Brian Wilson or Ray Davies, they wouldn't be exhuming his barely-released, alleged masterwork 32 years later. Having said that, though, this is,ultimately, a charming period piece of ultra-British psychedelia. Though way overproduced, it makes its acidhead point most of the time --- and it's hard not to feel a tug of the heart when Steve Marriott's voice comes crashing in like a bull in a china shop on the title track.