Michael Fennelly - Love Can Change Everything 1967-72 (2013 Sundazed)

If you're a fan of the band Millennium and their album "Begin" you're no doubt familiar with Michael Fennelly's work. So this review is aimed more at the people who might not have heard that unique album. More people should hear this wonderful set (67+ minutes) of demos (in good sounding mono) Sundazed has collected. I've always had a soft spot for the album "Begin", by Millennium from the late '60s which included Michael Fennelly. It was a great example of one of the many different sounding types of music that was in L.A. during that era. These demos are all from 1967-1972, recorded in L.A. with a bare-bones rhythm section which morphed into Millennium. But listening to these songs (except for a couple of tracks) you'd be hard-pressed to think these are demos, recorded to hopefully gain some attention (and money) from artists/labels looking for songs.

Fennelly has a nice light voice (plus dig the harmony vocals here and there) along with his guitar work. And the stripped down band and the tight arrangements fits these tunes perfectly. For a bunch of demos this is a pretty seamless collection of performances. Some may hear some (or most) of these songs as a bit fey sounding. But they're good examples of that late '60s/early '70s/L.A./soft-rock/sunny-pop sound/folk-rock. From Byrds-like songs ("I've Been Found"), to Simon & Garfunkel ("Dancing Dandelions"), to sunshine-pop ("Never Met A Girl"), to slightly harder guitar-rock ("Breakdown"), to something reminiscent of a Love/"Forever Changes" song "Some Madness", and other cross-genre arrangements, this set of performances is a bit of a surprise--try "Over My Dead Body"--definitely not all that "sunny". Some of these tunes ("Peace by Peace", "Go Back", "Try") are loosely reminiscent (to my ears at least) of Brewer & Shipley's great "Down In L.A." album, with that same period feel.

Using mostly acoustic guitars with a sprinkling of electric guitar for definition, Fennelly's voice floats above his songs. The harmonies are suitably gorgeous making the very best of these songs Millennium-like, and that's a good thing. "Leanna" is a nice example of laid back, L.A. rock-pop circa late '60s. "I Don't Need A Map" is L. A. folk-rock with 12-sttring guitar courtesy of Fennelly. And here I have to say that the rhythm section is pretty stellar all through these tracks, backing Fennelly with a solid yet unobtrusive sound.

Hopefully people new to Millennium/Michael Fennelly will give this set of songs a listen. One after another--these early working recordings will impress you with how good they sound--vocally and instrumentally. Fennelly would go on to join Millennium, and after they split up, form the band Crabby Appleton and record for L.A.'s Elektra label. But it's here, with these demos, that Fennelly was honing his songwriting chops and the refreshing, bare sound makes these tunes stand out as prime examples of a certain sound and approach from that period when L.A. was full of a number of different sounds. What an era.

If you like this album, check out Fennelly's album (reissued on Wounded Bird) "Lane Changer", from '73. Recorded in England, the rhythm section is The Zombies along with Rod Argent and Russ Ballard helping out occasionally on background vocals. This album has Fennelly plugging in his guitar with amp on full and smokin'. There's just a couple of songs that hark back to his earlier work. But for something different it's another side of Fennelly that people might want to hear. He's a good electric guitarist, and his vocals still have that same tone--just not as quietly delivered. And don't forget Millennium's "Begin" and "Pieces", which is, as the title suggests, just that.(Stuart Jefferson,customer review on amazon 2015. (Thanks.))

 Enjoy :-). (Frank)
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