Rev-Ola
2002
That's The Way It's Gonna Be
About This Album
Although there are liner notes to this 20-song compilation, complete with quotes from Mallory himself, the track listings are so vague as to give the impression that someone's trying to keep secrets. No dates, no recording release information, no data on what was officially released or previously unreleased, though there are plenty of listings for personnel, songwriting, and production credits. A press release does clarify that it's a collection of 1966-1970 demos, including four songs that were re-recorded for Mallory's pair of official Valiant 45s. The haziness gets a bit in the way of evaluating the music, which is pretty fair, though not astounding, sunshine pop. The melodies are attractive but not stellar, and the harmonies and production elaborately crafted but kind of cloying, as is the case with many recordings with which Curt Boettcher was associated (and he was involved in the production of virtually all of this stuff). The best cut is certainly "That's the Way It's Gonna Be," which (redone as a Valiant single) made the bottom of the Top 100, and has a pretty supercharged Southern California sunshine pop stomp, particularly for a song co-written by folkys Phil Ochs and Bob Gibson.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15)

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