Everything for You

Album Review

Sandy Salisbury was the most prolific member of the Millennium collective. Under the wing of mastermind and producer Curt Boettcher, Salisbury spent his days recording demos in his Hollywood Hills home thinking they were going to be taken around for possible use by other artists. Unbeknownst to him, Boettcher kept the songs under wraps for use on future Millennium releases that never came to pass. Thanks to fervent fans like Joe Foster of Rev-Ola and fellow Millennium cohort Joey Stec of Sonic Past, the demos Salisbury recorded have been unearthed bit by bit. Everything for You is a 25-track collection of recordings made both in Salisbury's home studio and in various studios around L.A. A few of the tracks have been on other releases ("So Close to Heaven," "Candy Kisses," "Here Comes That Feeling"), but the rest have never been on record before. This collection is a step below those that have come out already, as many of the songs are slight and a few are even uninteresting, a charge that can't be leveled against his other collections. The main offenders are the tracks recorded in studios that have little or no production values; the songs he recorded at home and put some sonic care into come off the best. That being said, there are still a healthy number of gems to be found; "A Lot of Love in Me" is a silly ditty that would have been perfect for Tommy Roe, "Bring Me On Home Again" is a sweet lullaby with wonderful vocals, "Pretty As a Picture" is a fine slice of beach bubblegum, and "Together in the End" and "Some Other Place" are driving folk-rock love songs that someone like the Hollies could have made into hits. Unfortunately, the best songs are the three that were already released; "So Close to Heaven" is a pounding countrified bubblegum track with a great chorus, "Candy Kisses" sports a huge hook and again would have been right for Tommy Roe, and "Here Comes That Feeling" is a tough rocker with a killer chorus. It is a pity none of these three, or any of the rest, found a home outside of Boettcher's vault. It is also a pity that Stec didn't do a little judicious trimming of the tracks here. At 25 tracks, it is overlong. At 17 or 18, it would have been very, very solid. Still, anything that Salisbury was involved with is worth hearing, and fans of sweet pop music should be very grateful that he wasn't forgotten forever.