"Here are slices of California '60s and '70s pop that never were -- at least not then. Guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Sandy Salisbury of California almost-legends the Millennium wrote dozens of songs and recorded them demo-style on a sound-on-sound tape recorder in his California beach house before turning them over to his publisher, who did absolutely nothing with them because he was instructed by the band's producer and arranger, Curt Boettcher, to shelve them for further band productions. What Boettcher essentially accomplished was keeping under wraps pop songs that would have -- if "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes" is any indication -- landed Salisbury near the top of the pop heap. The sense of hook, the clean, gorgeous vocals, the sappy melodies, and the Baroque stylings of these songs make them all ready for pop heaven. This collection brings 17 such songs -- and in some cases actual demos -- together in a portrait of Sandy Salisbury as an equal of people like P.F. Sloan and John Phillips, if not Brian Wilson. And the injustice continues, because this music isn't available in the U.S.A., where it was made, but on this expensive Japanese import that's not likely to make its way into the hands of anyone who isn't seeking it out like the Holy Grail. Here's the deal: this is magical, beautiful, and yes, sappy pop music. It's lush, textured, and overly sentimental, as innocent as it gets, and as pretty as it gets. I can see someone like Beck freaking out over music like this -- and he should. Falling to Pieces is for anyone interested in the glories of late-'60s through mid-'70s pop. This is the real stuff; find it at all costs. The 2002 version of Falling to Pieces on Rev-Ola adds half a dozen additional cuts from the same era, though oddly it also removes one, "Married to the Wind", that appeared on the 2000 Archive edition.

Present Tense by Sagittarius