Of all the cult west coast 1960's groups, perhaps the most talked about and referenced over the last few years have been The Merry Go Round, though bizarrely, the last reissue of their work was a Rhino vinyl best of in 1984!Boy genius Emmit Rhodes left the drum seat in The Palace Guard to front his own band recruited from the disbanding Gene Clark Group among others. Signing to A&M they quickly scored two hits "Live" and "You're A Very Lovely Woman", and a superb album, getting Emmit covers by such as Fairport Convention, before themselves disbanding as Emmit became more and more interested in recording in his home studio than touring. They had, however, cut a large quantity of material, and when Emmitt briefly became a solo star with his home recorded albums on Dunhill, some of it was released by A&M. Here for the first time ever, is a comprehensive anthology of the work of this most enigmatic of LA pop groups - one whose links to Gene Clark, The Grass Roots, Paul McCartney, Curt Boettcher and Herb Alpert (on whose 1967 TV special they featured) emerge in the detailed notes. A superb collection and one of the greatest releases of the year, I'll bet!
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