After 10 years of inactivity, the decision of the second-generation Californians to return with an album of cover versions of songs by their parents and other 1960s and 1970s West Coast luminaries seems misguided, to say the least. Yet the failures - they can't get to grips with the idiosyncrasies of Joni Mitchell's California, and the update of Turn Turn Turn is just silly - are outweighed by the successes. Carnie Wilson, amazingly, nails Neil Young's Old Man. The slowing down of Go Your Own Way is brave and clever. Chynna Phillips hurls herself confidently into her parents' Monday Monday, while the Wilson girls sweeten their dad's In My Room (with Brian duetting). On its own - resolutely mainstream and unashamedly nostalgic - terms, California is a surprisingly likeable album.
Columbia