This album might as well have been named Rock Festival Pt. 2. as it marks the second very bad album in a row from the Youngbloods. "Sugar Babe," "Sunlight." "Get Logether." and "Beautiful" are all vastly inferior to the original studio versions: "The Dolphin" they haven't done before, so it's bad the first time out. "Ride The Wind." the remaining cut, suffices in being 9:10 long and merely boring.

The Youngbloods' failure to do anything even halfway decent since Elephant Mountian, which was hardly their best album by a long shot, has been one of the biggest disappointments of all my many years in rock fandom. As they are now, the Youngbloods are practically a chamber jazz group 30 seconds of singing, then five minutes of uninspired instrumental noodling. When they do sing, it's usually so sloppy you wish they hadn't. Really, they bore me out of my mind just like Chad and Jeremy did in 1965, and I mention that only because it's been that long since I've been so put to sleep in such a similar way.

To also dig the final analogy here out of the dusty past, I'll say this: the Youngbloods' repertoire reminds a lot of Cream or Big Brother and the Holding Company, in that it goes absolutely nowhere. Until the Youngbloods' next studio album, which will be their first since Elephant Mountain and should lend some clues, the same can be said of the Youngbloods' music. (RS 90)

MIKE SAUNDERS