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The Left Banke, ‘Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina, Left Banke Too’ (Sundazed)

Thrown together in 1966 New York to record a promising song by classically trained pianist Michael Brown, the Left Banke had a fractious history — first-album standouts “Walk Away Renee” and “She May Call You Up Tonight” were rumored love letters by Brown to bandmate Tom Finn’s girlfriend (Brown left, returned, and left again before the second album). Regardless, their music was often as gorgeous and lushly arranged as that of the Beatles or Zombies. Long out-of-print, the two albums are released (separately) here for the first time in their original form.