The GoldeBriars - Climbing Stars (Japan Reissue) (2006)

In addition to issuing two collectable folk albums for Epic in 1963 and 1964, the Goldebriars recorded quite a few tracks during their short existence that were never released, as well as a 1965 non-LP single. This Japanese CD compilation has 21 of these rarities, all but two of them (the 1965 single "June Bride Baby"/"I'm Gonna Marry You") previously unissued. The most interesting songs by far are the eight that were recorded with an expanded six-member lineup (including future Music Machine drummer Ron Edgar), including the aforementioned single and eight tracks (two of them alternate takes) recorded for an unreleased third album. These show the group moving from commercial harmonized folk to a tentative, folky sort of pop/rock, though it might be stretching things to call it folk-rock -- if so, it's pre-folk-rock of the mildest sort, none of it written by the band (and "Licorice" owes much more to bubblegumish teen pop than folk or folk-rock of any sort). Still, it was an unusual blend for its time, and a few of these unissued numbers earmarked for the third album are the best things the group ever did. Those highlights include the catchy "Nothing Wrong with You That My Love Can't Cure" (which is rather like the folkish pop-rock Jackie DeShannon was doing around 1964), the similar "Tell It to the Wind" (co-written by Jeff Barry), and the dramatic, if slightly hokey, "Last Two People on Earth." Less exciting, though still of interest to Goldebriars fans, are the earlier outtakes and alternates recorded when they were an acoustic, drumless quartet, which are cleanly harmonized early-'60s folk with an innocent air. All of the 21 tracks on this compilation, incidentally, have been issued as bonus cuts on the expanded CD versions of their two official '60s Epic albums that came out in the US in 2006, one of which (the expanded version of The Goldebriars) also has an alternate take of "Jump Down" that doesn't appear on this Japanese anthology. If you do want virtually all of this rare material on one disc, however, this collection presents it in a neat annotated package, with liner notes by Goldebriar Dottie Holmberg-Waddell and a cover photo (taken by future Music Machine leader Sean Bonniwell) different than the ones used on either of their official LPs.