"They reached out and touched me as no other group has ever done," Dusty Springfield proclaimed in the original liner notes to the debut LP from Liverpool group Arrival.  "They sing with joy, sadness, and wit, and as you listen, they'll reach out and touch you."  Arrival touched U.K. listeners to the tune of two hit singles in 1970: a cover of Terry Reid's "Friends" (No. 8) and an original song entitled "I Will Survive" (No. 16).  But that was it for Arrival's chart successes, and their two LPs - confusingly, both were titled Arrival - failed to register commercially.  Yet the group's harmony pop stylings have aged well, and in 2012, their complete recordings were issued on the RPM label.  Now, a different Cherry Red label, Strawberry, has upgraded that earlier compilation.  The new 3-CD set, Friends: Complete Recordings 1969-1973, boasts everything from the previous set but adds a third disc of nearly a dozen recordings from the BBC archives.

The debut LP of Arrival, on Decca, introduced listeners to the lineup then consisting of vocalists Dyan Birch, Carroll Carter, Paddy McHugh, and Frank Collins as well as musicians Tony O'Malley on keyboards, Don Hume on bass, and Lloyd Courtenay on drums.  Arrival was an eclectic affair, perhaps too eclectic to fully launch the group.  The LP included both sides of the single which preceded it: Terry Reid's "Friends" b/w Frank Collins' "Don't Turn His Love Away."  The A-side had all of the ingredients for a top ten single; Elton John associate Paul Buckmaster's arrangement made ample room for his trademark strings as well as prominent piano and harmony vocals anchored by Dyan Birch's soulful lead.  The B-side was arranged by Nick Harrison, who handled most of the album's charts; while a little less distinctive than "Friends," it conjures an early Carole King-esque vibe thanks to Birch's lead.

Collins ended up penning seven of the songs on Arrival including the buoyant admonition to "Live," the '50s throwback "No-Good Advice" sung in rather twee fashion by Carroll Carter, and jazz-influenced "Sit Down and Float" which approximates a cross between The 5th Dimension and The Free Design.  Thanks to the shifting lead voices and the stylistically varied material, Arrival made for an always-interesting but not quite cohesive listen.  The cover of "Light My Fire," while appropriately different from The Doors' original and the hit cover by Jose Feliciano, seemed to suggest an MOR leaning while the other cover, of Horace Ott and Randie Evretts' "Prove It" (also recorded by Aretha Frankin) indicated a gutsier direction.  Five bonus tracks have been appended to Arrival, including the once-rare Japan-only single "Be You" and the group's solid covers of Leonard Cohen's "Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye" and Melanie's "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)."

Although Arrival had notched two chart singles at home in the U.K., they had their sights on America and changed managers in the hopes of breaking that lucrative market.  Moving from Decca to CBS, the lineup slimmed down: Don Hume, Lloyd Courtenay, and Carroll Carter were all out, leaving Arrival as a four-piece unit.  Once again, a single arrived before the LP, in April 1971.  This time, it was Jimmy Webb's "(Let My Life Be Your) Love Song," introduced on his 1970 Words and Music LP.  Birch gave her all to the typically elegant Webb ballad, supported again by those 5th Dimension-esque harmonies and a dramatic chart by Paul Buckmaster who co-produced with Martin Clarke.  (Somewhat surprisingly, the liner notes by Austin Powell indicate that Birch wondered why Arrival recorded the tune as she was never a fan of Webb's work.)  The single was backed by the group-written "Out of Desperation," a driving, funky number anticipating a more R&B-oriented direction.  Both sides are among the bonus material on CD 2.

The second Arrival LP, released in 1972, was produced by Martin Clarke with the band.  Guitarist Raphael Pereira, drummer Glen Lefleur, and bassists Philip Chen and Lee Sutherland rounded out the roster while Don Gould was tapped to pen the string arrangements.  Frank Collins wrote or co-wrote seven of its ten tracks, again steering Arrival in various directions such as gospel ("Glory Be"), R&B ("Not Gonna Worry"), folk ("Part of My Dream"), and country-rock ("Have a Drink on Your Father").  In addition to collaborating with Collins on "Not Gonna Worry" and "Have a Drink on Your Father," Birch contributed the midtempo ballad "Not Preconceived."  With swirling flute, primal percussion, and ethereal harmonies, it conjures a vivid atmosphere.  The CBS Arrival is a much less "pop" record than its predecessor; the label selected "Family Tree" by songwriters Marcia De Fren and Glori Nessenson - with a testifying Dyan Birch lead and an earthy backing - as the single but it failed to make any noise.  Arrival's lack of direction at CBS is highlighted by the group's final single A-sides, also appended to the album.  First was the pretty "You're Going Far," written by Broadway tunesmiths Cy Coleman and Sheldon Harnick for the Neil Simon film comedy The Heartbreak Kid; next was a cover of Stevie Wonder's "He's Misstra Know-It-All" in a breezy country-funk vein.  Neither single was punchy or distinguishing enough for radio airplay, and soon the group disbanded.  Dyan Birch, Frank Collins, and Paddy McHugh would continue at CBS as members of Kokomo.

The third disc of the box, BBC Sessions 1969-1970, offers 11 previously unreleased tracks, the highlights of which include a lithe version of "I Never Knew What You Were Up to You" (most famously recorded by Dionne Warwick on her Here Where There Is Love LP) and Harvey Fuqua and Thomas Kemp's "World of Darkness," previously recorded by David Ruffin on My Whole World Ended.  There's an immediacy to the renditions of familiar Arrival material ("Friends," "Family Tree," and even "Light My Fire") here, too.

The three discs are housed within a slipcase in simple sleeves, the first two of which replicate the original album front and back cover artwork.  The 20-page booklet has Austin Powell's liner notes plus photos and memorabilia images.  Simon Murphy has remastered.

Arrival's Friends: Complete Recordings 1969-1973 is available from Cherry Red/Strawberry at the links below.

Arrival, Friends: Complete Recordings 1969-1973 (Cherry Red/Strawberry CRJAM006T, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Arrival (Decca LP SKL 5055, 1970)

1. Live
2. Light My Fire
3. Friends
4. No-Good Advice
5. Prove It
6. See the Lord
7. Sit Down and Float
8. Don't Turn His Love Away
9. Take Me
10. La Virra
11. Not Right Now
12. Hard Road

Bonus Tracks

13. I Will Survive (Decca single F 13026, 1970)
14. Jun (So in Love) (London (Japan) single TOP 1569, 1970)
15. Be You (from The Complete Recordings of Arrival, RPM RETRO D904, 2012)
16. Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (from The Complete Recordings of Arrival, RPM RETRO D904, 2012)
17. Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) (from The Complete Recordings of Arrival, RPM RETRO D904, 2012)

CD 2: Arrival (CBS LP 64733, 1972)

1. Glory Be
2. So It Is Written
3. Not Gonna Worry
4. You, Love and Me
5. Family Tree (We're Gonna Shake It and Break It 'Cause We're Gonna Make It Alone)
6. Part of My Dream
7. Not Preconceived
8. Have a Drink on Your Father
9. Understanding
10. Weary Sad, Weary Down
11. (Let My Life Be Your) Love Song (CBS single 7035, 1971)
12. Out of Desperation (CBS single 7035, 1971)
13. Theme from The Heartbreak Kid (You're Going Far) (CBS single 1350, 1973)
14. Sweet Summer (CBS single 1350, 1973)
15. He's MIsstra-Know-It-All (Epic single S EPC 1821, 1973)

CD 3: BBC Sessions 1969-1970

1. I Never Knew What You Were Up To
2. Family Tree
3. Friends
4. Light My Fire
5. World of Darkness
6. Don't Turn His Love Away
7. Hard Road
8. Sit Down and Float
9. Take Me
10. I Will Survive
11. Not Right Now

All tracks previously unreleased.