's second album, , was recorded 18 months after their debut long-player, -- but even though the two albums shared one song (actually, one-and-a-half songs) in common, the sound here seemed a million miles away from the gentle harmonizing and unassuming acoustic accompaniment on the first record. In between, there had been a minor earthquake in the pop/rock world called "folk-rock," which resulted in the transformation of their acoustic rendition of into a classic of the new genre, complete with jangling electric guitars and an amplified beat that helped carry it to the top of the charts. The duo hastily re-formed, returning from an extended stay in England with a large song bag (part of which he had already committed to vinyl, on his U.K. album ). rushed into the studio in the fall of 1965 to come up with a folk-rock album in a hurry: fortunately, they'd already recorded two sides, (actually, 's rewrite of their first album's title track) and both featuring a band accompaniment. 's bluesy a rare instrumental outing by , filled another slot, and filled another. The latter, 's adaptation of poet 's work, was a sincere effort at relevance -- Richard Cory has every material thing a man could want but still takes his own life, a hint at one aspect of middle-class teenaged angst of the mid-'60s; high school English teachers were still using it to motivate students in the '70s. Though a rushed effort, this was a far stronger album than their debut, mostly thanks to 's compositions; indeed, in one fell swoop, the world learned not only of the existence of a superb song-poet in , but, in 's harmonizing with , the finest singing duo since . But it also had flaws, some of which only became fully apparent as their audience matured: the snide, youthful sensibilities of and haven't aged well. And the musical concessions, on those tracks and to folk-rock amplification have also worn poorly; even in 1966, the electric guitars, piano, organ, and drums, sounded awkward in context with the duo's singing, like something grafted on, though in fairness, those sounds did sell the album. The parts that work best, two of the most personal songs in 's output, were similar to the stripped-down originals had cut solo in England, and among the most affecting (as opposed to affected) folk-style records of their era; similarly, 's rendition of the folk-blues instrumental is close to composer 's original, just recorded hotter, while is pleasantly if unobtrusively ornamented with electric harpsichord, rhythm guitar, and bass. ~ Bruce Eder