Curt Boettcher
"There's An Innocent Face"
(Sundazed)

Fans of Boettcher's Sunshine Pop production work of the Association and later work with the Millennium, Ballroom and Sagittarius will probably be disappointed not to find more of the same here.

There's an Innocent Face originally released on Decca with production by Gary Usher was released in 1973 and captures the California sounds in vogue at that time, not 1966. That means we're talking country rock, ala the Eagles, Poco, etc. There's a lot of steel guitars and country ballads--all very produced.

There are some touches of Boettcher's previous pop glory. "The Choice is Yours," for example, features some great Beach Boys-style backing vocals and there's a White Album-era Beatles lope to "Malachi Star," which also features some Moog. But, by-and-large, fans hoping for a lost Sagittarius-type masterwork are out of luck. Completists may object, but this is one probably best left out of print.