Wendy & Bonnie

Wendy & Bonnie's only album is a nice, if not truly necessary, relic of the late 1960s. It's the sort of unconventional yet accessible project that might have had trouble finding its way into release in any other era, but managed to at least get issued, even if it was largely undiscovered until cult listeners unearthed it decades later. The sisters' harmonies have the sweet-sour major minor blend typical of many San Francisco rock artists of the time, yet with a more homespun, intimate flavor than those of many a heavily produced band. Their songs have the sort of slightly askew lyrics that, again, were prevalent in their time and place, glowing with anticipation of an era of greater love and less social constraints, and also imbued with a certain innocent naïveté. ("The Paisley Window Pane" is a particularly priceless song title.) There are sometimes jazzier accents to their singing and chord progressions than there were in most psychedelic or harmony pop/rock groups; "The Paisley Window Pane" sounds like it might have absorbed lessons from José Feliciano's cover of "Light My Fire." Sundazed's 2001 CD reissue of this album added several bonus tracks, including a garage-psych acetate ("The Night Behind Us") from their earlier rock group Crystal Fountain, and four acoustic home demos of songs that were not on the LP. Sundazed's 2008 two-CD deluxe edition, however, goes even deeper into the vaults, including not only all five bonus cuts from the single-disc version, but a good 19 additional tracks. Those items not found on the previous edition include seven alternates and outtakes from the Genesis LP sessions; a half-dozen more acoustic home demos; three live tracks; a couple more songs from Crystal Fountain acetates; and even a recording of the sisters' father, Art Flowers, conducting the Gratton Middle School Band and Glee Club's not-very-good version of Wendy & Bonnie's "Children Laughing" (from a 1969 Christmas pageant). This wealth of bonus material isn't up to the level of the studio LP, of course, and might strike some less fanatical listeners as excessive. Listeners likely to discover Wendy & Bonnie in the first place, however, are more likely than the average consumer to be fanatical in their devotion. The acoustic demos offer chances to hear their relatively unadorned harmonies; the five studio outtakes displaying some notably different vocal arrangements; and the revised, updated liner notes offer some comments from Wendy & Bonnie on the tracks added especially for this deluxe edition. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide