Joe, the 2 CD collection you refer to is a singles compilation; the majority of their A Sides from '65 to '67 are overly orchestrated slush. The better tracks are generally to be found on the flip sides.
I have the MGM LP from '68; pretty sure it's the mono pressing. Have not dug it out in a while but it definitely has some good tracks on it. Both albums are very much in the "mixed bag" category.
Thanks Scott. It seems that was the fate of many sixties bands that had a lot of different forces guiding their careers. I'm thinking of Herman's Hermits who had this whole image thing to be cute and sing music hall numbers but then there's the stuff that has a psych or "bendy" sound to it. Seems like Paul & Barry Ryan could vacillate between genres.
You're right, it's the singles collection I have, and it does have "Madrigal", "Pictures of Today" and "Glad To Know You" (all in a row) so it's not all bad, but there are a lot of songs on there that didn't do anything for me at all. I agree with your slush assessment of a lot of those CDs. But when they were good they could be very good!
Yes Stuart, I did the liners but then Joe at Revola decided to write his own instead. I hav the Italian and German issues of some of Barry Ryan's solo LPs as well which had a couple of different tracks to the UK issues which were used as bonus tracks.