Audiopile Review: After a couple limited expanded pressings, we finally get a long overdue standalone reissue of Would You Believe, Billy Nicholls’ incredible 1968 debut. This’ll be buy-on-sight for a few of you out there already familiar with the album’s lore but who maybe missed the small-run reissues. But the short story for the uninitiated goes like this; a Beach Boys obsessed British singer-songwriter teen signs to Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records, Oldham teaming him up with a supergroup comprised of The Small Faces, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins to help realize his vision, one well beyond his meagre 18 years. To be released in 1968 at the height of psychedelic pop, Would You Believe would only ever be issued as a promo, never seeing a proper release due to financial constraints at Immediate. It now ranks among one of the most expensive LPs ever to be sold on Discogs. Sure, rare doesn’t always mean good, but Would You Believe stands right alongside all the usual suspects from the era. And while the Beach Boys and Beatles chased each other through the sixties, Nicholls was able to fully synthesize both the ornate harmonies of Wilson’s Pet Sounds and the inventive studio psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper’s, arguably crafting a superior album. Yet the discussion surrounding rarity of this album seems to supersede the actual music here. WYB is simply bursting with breezy brass and string sections, serene vocal harmonies, tactful baroque pomposity and the exquisite, melancholy pop melodies of Nicholls. An album that would surely be spoken of alongside the greats if it had had the chance. 10/10 impeachable pop classic. Legit and fully authorized reissue.

YES, BELIEVE IT! The highly prized Immediate treasure finally gets an official worldwide release almost sixty years after the 100 advance promotional copies landed on radio station desks. Charly records, kick-off their Immediate Records 60th Anniversary celebrations with this landmark album by the then teenager, and still little-known, Billy Nicholls. This cult-status, 12 track, album is drenched in sunshine psych-rock and is often cited as Swinging London’s answer to the Beachboys’ masterpiece Pet Sounds. The lavish arrangements were presided over by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones with input from the Small Faces and Arthur Greenslade with Ronnie Lane producing. In retrospect, Would You Believe, is an astonishing accomplishment that was conceived and crafted by a 16-years old kid from Shepherds Bush and on its journey rubbed shoulders with George Harrison, Beatles publisher Dick James, Immediate impresario Andrew Loog Oldham and a host of British rock royalty.