The heyday of American baroque pop - or chamber pop - lasted from 1966 to the early 1970s. It used string quartets, harpsichords and woodwinds to create a summer-to-fall melancholy that was quite new and quite far removed from generic rock music. The musicians often came from a folk background and had a preference for acoustic instruments. Linda Ronstadt's first band, Stone Poneys, had added the autoharp to their line-up in 1965, while Bonnie Dobson and Nico were experimenting with string quartets and looking for other, post-electric Dylan directions. Left Banke created a sound that was gentle but persistently sad - where were the guitars! There was no single blueprint for the American baroque sound - it could verge on the gothic (Russ Gigueres' extraordinary "My Plan") or be as small and precise as a music box (Tom Northcott's "Other Times"). Here is an atmospheric and original selection of tracks from the late 60s. It was compiled by Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne) and includes a booklet full of rare photos as well as detailed and insightful liner notes. Also available is a high quality double LP on black vinyl.