- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- The Left Banke had two gorgeous hit songs, “Walk Away Renée” (a #5 hit single in 1966) and “Pretty Ballerina” (#15 in the U.S. and #4 in Canada).
The Left Banke – And Suddenly it’s the Left Banke (1983): The Left Banke had two gorgeous hit songs, “Walk Away Renée” (a #5 hit single in 1966) and “Pretty Ballerina” (#15 in the U.S. and #4 in Canada). “Walk Away Renée” in particular is regarded as the quintessence of the baroque pop genre due to the lush orchestral string section, plus harpsichord parts and a flute solo. Influenced by British Invasion bands, particularly the Zombies who have a similar sound, the Left Banke really didn’t sound like anybody else on the scene in the 1960’s, either American or British.
While the rest of the album doesn’t quite measure up to their two hits – well, “Let Go of You Girl” certainly does – all of the songs are enjoyable. The band name is taken from the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) of Paris, described in Wikipedia as “the Paris of an earlier era: the Paris of artists, writers, and philosophers, implying a sense of bohemianism, counterculture, and creativity”.