| Would You Believe | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Billy Nicholls |
| Cover: | Billy Nicholls - Would You Believe.jpg |
| Released: | April 1968 |
| Recorded: | late 1967 – early 1968 |
| Studio: | Olympic Studios and IBC Studios (London) |
| Genre: | Psychedelic rock, baroque pop |
| Length: | 33:36 |
| Label: | Immediate, Southwest |
| Producer: | Andrew Loog Oldham
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Would You Believe is an album by Billy Nicholls released in 1968.
Billy Nicholls was originally hired by Andrew Loog Oldham as a staff writer for Oldham's Immediate Records. Oldham was so entranced by the Beach Boys' 1966 album, Pet Sounds that he enlisted songwriter Billy Nicholls to record a British response. The Small Faces' Steve Marriott can be heard very prominently on "Would You Believe?," despite Oldham's attempts to drown him out with heavy orchestration. Oldham wanted this to be the British Pet Sounds but financial difficulties with the label caused it to be shelved (it only achieved an initial promotional run of 100 copies, as Immediate IMCP009) before it ever hit the streets.
In 1998, Nicholls re-released it on his own label Southwest Records. It was made more widely available on Sequel Castle Communications (CMQDD1358) records in 1999. Several Sequel/Castle editions have been released since, including a version containing demos from the 60s, also originally first released as Snapshot on Southwest Records in 2000.
Other artists recorded versions of Billy Nicholls' songs from Would You Believe. Like Nicholls, Andrew Loog Oldham also produced the 1967 Del Shannon LP Home and Away. This LP was also unissued at the time. It has been reissued in multiple formats since 1978, first called And The Music Plays On and later as Home and Away (album)|Home and Away on CD. Nicholls' songs also appeared on Dana Gillespie's LP Foolish Seasons, first released in 1968 and later reissued on CD.
Would You Believe was selected for The MOJO Collection as one of the most significant albums in musical history.[1]
All tracks composed by Billy Nicholls; except where indicated