I had the CD of the original album but recently purchased a reissued limited-edition double-set, with the extra songs being demos and stuff that didn't make it on the original release in 1968. "Would You Believe" is incredible. Imagine the Psychedelic sounds of The Small Faces meeting The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," and that equals Billy Nicholls. I don't have that much information on Nicholls, but I believe he is sort of like Speedy Keen of Thunderclap Newman, who was a pal of Pete Townshend and helped out in the studio here and there. Billy did the same thing for The Who in the 70s and afterward. This comes to mind perhaps Pete hires people more talented than him!
The Small Faces helped out with the production and arrangement for the song "Would You Believe," and it clearly has their sound, but Nicholls' talent doesn't disappear in the mix whatsoever. This album is full of brilliant British musicians of its time, with great arrangements by John Paul Jones and Arthur Greenslade, who even worked with Serge Gainsbourg. My favorite cut here is "Girl From New York," which is the perfect combination of power pop melody with heavy 60s guitar groove that is total Mod-tastic. The album comes from the sensibility of British Mod-era music as it went into the late 60s. This album is the perfect sound and example of what was happening at that time, especially in London. Try to find the double-album set, with the demos attached, because they to are fantastic. Perfect record.
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