ALBUM: The History of the Left Banke (1985)
MVC Rating: 3.5/$$
Rhino Records knows how to make something from not much. This decidedly minor group gets a cover with lots of photos, a plastic cover sleeve with Rhino’s catalog: Best of Troggs, the Nazz, the Standells, the Box Tops, and so on.
Then there is a history on a sheet inside that is everything you would ever want to know about four anonymous guys in a band you’ve hardly ever heard of. That’s Rhino! I love them. Who knows? We document their history and some time in the future there is a Left Banke revival? Nah, but they did one thing that put them on the pop-rock map: ‘Walk Away Renee.’ It’s a pop classic, strings and all. (The version by the Cowsills on their live album is awesome and where I first heard it at about 11 years old.)
‘Pretty Ballerina’ was their other hit and it’s not so much. Two tracks are from the group Stories, which had a cool song about interracial dating/love affairs that was likely bold for its day called Brother Louie. Stories morphed out of the Left Banke in early 1970s.