The Young Rascals’ 1967 sophomore LP Collections was an uncommonly strong follow-up to their self-titled debut effort. In addition to showcasing the band’s rapidly evolving songwriting skills, Collections finds the Rascals stretching out stylistically and moving towards a more sophisticated, yet still infectiously energetic, approach. The album shows off the quartet’s formidable skills as a performing unit, as well as the talent and charisma of dual frontmen Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere, who also wrote most of the band’s original material.

Collections combines the rough-and-ready attitude of a teen garage combo, the sweat-soaked grit of an old-school soul revue, and an open-minded sense of musical curiosity that drove the band to explore all manner of unexpected stylistic avenues. In addition to the magnificent hits “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long,” “Come On Up” and “Love Is a Beautiful Thing,” the band delivers high-intensity workouts on the Chris Kenner/Wilson Pickett anthem “Land of 1000 Dances” and the Motown standards “Mickey’s Monkey” and “Too Many Fish in the Sea.” On the more exotic side, Eddie Brigati scores with an inventive reading of the Euro MOR hit “More,” while guitarist Gene Cornish checks in with the uncharacteristically low-key, introspective “No Love to Give.”

Original vinyl copies of this beloved LP are exceedingly hard to come by these days. But Sundazed has meticulously restored the original album, reproducing its complete original cover art and mastering the music from the original stereo analog tapes. Now pressed on pristine High-Definition Vinyl, the Rascals sound better than ever!