Initial copies of Veronica Falls' majestic "Waithing For Something To Happen" sold through Monorail came with a cd-r compiled, I think, by James Hoare from the group. It was almost entirely great but the song which pinned itself to my heart was The Easybeats' "Land of Make Believe". The Easybeats are one of those 60s acts who I've always vaguely liked but never truly loved. Sure, I get a little frisson when Brian Matthew plays "Friday On My Mind" on Sounds of the Sixties and I've danced cheerfully to a few of their other songs over the years but nothing has come close to hitting me as hard as "Land of Make Believe" has. Its intro and first 2 lines are so plaintive and brilliant:
In the land of make believe I'm doin' fine
The melody is to die for, too. Some of the details in the production shouldn't work but do such as the rippling piano, for instance; ordinarily I'd hate that. The Italian 7" of "The Land of Make Believe" I bought recently features a slightly different arrangement with some dramatic strings added that slightly diminish the impact of the chugging guitar bit towards the end (~2mins 12secs) for me. It's still a topper but the (album?) version on James Hoare's compilation is somehow the more romantic and hence better version.
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