Emitt Rhodes, Mirror (side A)

The 1971 follow-up to Rhodes's self-titled debut, Mirror contains some great songs but isn't quite as consistent in its songwriting.  Rhodes still did an impressive job recording himself (it was again mixed in the studio) and playing all of the instruments.  His vocals and melodic bass playing seem to be his greatest strengths.  He seems to have had less material ready for the album—the melodies and lyrics both seem to have been written quickly on some of the album's weaker material.  Fortunately, even the weaker material is fun to listen to, thanks to Rhodes's intuition for every aspect of making a pop song.  The cover design's 60s references are appropriate and the back cover photo is quite nice, but I can't figure out why he printed the lyrics when they're often quite mundane.