Consumer Guide Album

Melanie: Four Sides of Melanie [Buddah, 1972]
Two of which you can skip: the formless formative stuff (she's eternally callow so who needs it, though "I Really Loved Harold" and "Somebody Loves Me" are nice) and the unspeakable contemporary covers (Dylan, Taylor, and Jagger as Blake, Keats, and Coleridge). But even without "Brand New Key" her hits have their charms--"What Have They Done to My Song Ma" and "Nickel Song" on one theme and "Lay Down" and "Peace Will Come" on the other. And except for the labored "Psychotherapy" the weird stuff is quite amusing. She ought to ask herself, though, why the two best cuts on her best-of are the aforementioned tune, and "Christopher Robin," by A.A. Milne. B-