Rock band California have been overflowing with new music this year, and their recently released compilation album, Postcard From London is a godsend for fans seeking a fresh sound to sink into – collecting a staggering 22 songs, recorded in collaboration with a multitude of special guests. The band notes that the 22-song length is intentional — designed not as a quick playlist-style release, but as a full “day in the life,” where originals and covers are interwoven so closely that listeners often pause and wonder which is which.
Featuring 13 original tunes, California grace their latest record with nine exciting covers of vintage pop rock hits, including “Brown Eyed Girl” (which Ark of Music had the pleasure of reviewing a couple months back), The Beatles’ “I Need You”, and The Honeycombs’ “Have I The Right?” The band explains the covers aren’t meant as replicas — they’re reinterpretations presented through California’s own modern sonic framework, “how we would tell this story today,” as reviewer Phil Gottlieb observed.
But as epic as California’s covers may be, anchoring us back down in the golden age of pop, it’s California’s originals that steal the limelight: “Come Fly To Fall In Love” fits seamlessly within the band’s retro aesthetic, with a sound like a 60s/70s chart topper stolen from a parallel world. “You Belong To Me” brings janky rhythms, nostalgic backing vocals, brass sections, and Beatlesy chords, crafting the ultimate uplift to dispel any grey day. The band selected these originals from a catalog of over 500 copyrights they currently own — narrowing them down only after aligning on the album’s overarching narrative about time, memory, and musical legacy.
Not too enthused about a compilation album? California has also included two new originals in this release — the festive “Christmas Vacation” and the reflective “A Christmas Gone Too Soon.”
And let’s not forget Postcard From London’s album cover, shot on the iconic zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios; not just a recreation of The Beatles’ 1969 original but a throwback to the same time period that California frontman Les Fradkin worked at the legendary studios himself.
Now to shout out California’s special guests (and we weren’t lying when we said there was a multitude): Joe Pecorino, Mitch Weissman, Justin McNeill, Jim Dessey, Rick Bloom, Mick Ronson, Phil Spector, Hilly Michaels, John Hawken, Dave Stalheim, and, last but not least, Joe Rotondo. Except that’s not all. Postcard From London also features contributions from all Les Fradkin’s friends in The Left Banke: the late Tom Finn, Steve Martin Caro, George Cameron, and Michael Brown. Many of these collaborators worked with Les during his time performing as “George Harrison” in the original Broadway cast of Beatlemania.
Adding to the lore behind this stunning new album, Postcard From London features two new collaborations with Michael Brown, which are also the final two songs he co-wrote before his passing. Originally recorded as instrumentals for the 2015 collaborative Les & Michael release “Finale,” these compositions were reimagined by Les and Loretta with new lyrics and arrangements specifically for Postcard From London — making them not just archival work, but living pieces of California’s ongoing story.
Postcard From London doesn’t just revisit California’s history — it chronicles it, binding the band’s early Beatles lineage, the evolution of its lineup, and Les and Loretta’s shared life story into a single continuous arc. Our verdict? Recommended.
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BELOW: Listen to California and check out their music on Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube Music and more. Please support California by visiting their website and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing their music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.
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