Retrospective Dreams is a somewhat unusual choice as a Dirty Linen Classic, as R.J. Fox is a band that was virtually unknown outside ot Marin County, and had no recordings released other than a limited-issue EP. However, the 39 tracks on this double CD show that the group was as good an acoustic-rock band as any that came out of Califomia at the beginning of the 70s.

The core of R.J. Fox was singer-songwriters (R)ichard Hovey, (J)oel Siegel, and Sherry (Fox), who perfected a light, airy mix of stacked vocals and ringing acoustic guitars, oflen augmented by drums, bass, and the hypnotic electric leads of John Garlac or (later) John Yeager.

The bright, clean sound of these recordings can be attributed largely to the efforts of producer Stephen Barncard, who worked similar studio magic for a slew of classic recordings that came out of Marin during the same period, notably David Crosby's memorable first solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name, one of the Grateful Dead's best studio albums, American Beauty, and the first (and best by far) album by the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The first eight tracks here comprise an unreleased album that R.J. Fox made for Atlantic records in 1971. One can only wonder what strange corporate decision kept this album in the can; it is certainly light years better than a lot of the high-harmony acoustic dreck that came out in the wake of the first Crosby, Stills, and Nash album.

The opening track, Hovey's "Cheesecake", exemplifies the band's strengths: angelic harmonies on the chorus alternate with driving instrumental passages fueled by Marty Lewis' supple lead electric bass and the percussive onslaught of the album's drummers, the Dead's Bill Kreuzman and then-New Rider Spencer Dryden, joined by Zakir Hussain on tabla. On "3-D", Hovey's voice and dramatic, hammonic-laden acoustic stnumming bear an eerie resemblance to Crosby's solo work of the same period. The close three-part hammonies and breezy melody of Hovey's "Amanda" suggests that the group might have been able to tap into the same AM market that bought America's early work. The last Atlantic track, Siegel's driving "Parallel Trains", again features some marvelous ensemble play ing showcasing Lewis, Garlac, and the drummers.

The rest of the material on the two discs was recorded over the ensuing seven years. "Time of Prophets" sounds like some mutant Incredible String Band track, with Fox singing some strange ethereal Iyncs over Hovey's quasi-Delta fingerpicking. Fox's solo "Nobody's Home" highlights her piano work and the range and letter-perfect vibrato of her mezzo-soprano, which here sounds like Carole King crossed with Joni Mitchell.

The second disc is more electric, and doesn't quite reach the heights of the Atlantic album material, but it does include some fine material, such as Hovey's "Daybreak" (with Valerie Carter subbing vocally for Fox), Fox's lush "To Be Born Again", and "Stories of Two", an urgent solo acoustic track by Siegel. The closing track is an uptempo reprise of "Parallel Trains" recorded at Winterland in May, 1971, that shows that the group had no problem recreating their lush sound in a concert setting. After years of relative inactivity, R.J. Fox is back in the studio, working on new material. In the meantime, these two discs serve as a powerful, if belated, testimony to the strength of the group's earlier, unrecognized, work.