As can be expected with a collection that spans the years 1966 to 1971, a time when the stylistic curve changed by the month, is wildly inconsistent. The music is certainly derivative, but the songs are fairly accomplished derivations, so much so that listening to the collection becomes an exercise in "pick the influence." pounds like a garage outtake (and, thus, not on a level with actual ); is subpar folk-rock (and as the "in sound" of 1967, received considerable local airplay); is an answer to 's with a bit of and thrown in; is a post- , sitar-singed raga dirge, completely of its time, but still enjoyable; and betrays debts, as does much of the recorded output here, to . really began coming into their own as writers and musicians in 1968, reaching its undeniable early peak with Despite the wall of guitars that opens the song, is a fine piece of soulful pop/rock, like without horns, but it is even more complex, adding a nice section in the middle as well as a coda coated in / harmonies. There was more decent music to follow, namely a personal narrative on main songwriter 's difficult year (but also a walk through a -styled, late- rocker) and which marries the pretty acoustic work of circa . But even those were disjointed in parts, as the band began fracturing. won't change anyone's world, but it is a visible window into the changing face of pop music during the Vietnam era. ~ Stanton Swihart