is keyboard player/singer/arranger 's finest work, an album on which he moves the - amalgamation of into even wider pastures, taking in and elements (including strings and horns), all without losing the essence that makes the hybrid work. This is one of the great albums of the eclectic post- era of the late '60s, a time when you could borrow styles from Greenwich Village to San Francisco acid and mix them into what seemed to have the potential to become a new American musical form. It's 's bluesy songs, such as and his singing that are the primary focus, but the album is an aural delight; listen to the way the bass guitar interacts with the horns on or the charming arrangement and 's vocal on 's Then sings over a delicate, jazzy backing with fluegelhorn/alto saxophone interplay by . This is the sound of a group of virtuosos enjoying itself in the newly open possibilities of music. Maybe it couldn't have lasted; anyway, it didn't. ~ William Ruhlmann