Sunshine Psych/Sunshine Pop

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From the Talking about Psych thread - give me some recommendations about the best sunshine pop albums and artists (Boettcher et al, Sundazed label, Association etc etc) Especially interested in good compilations. Thanks!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Saturday, 23 November 2002 21:13 (10 years ago) Permalink

Good question! Three recent reissues come immediately to mind. None were big commercial hits in their time (1968-69), but have gained quite a following of late. These were not elaborate productions - the latter two border on amateurish in places, yet they're harmonically very daring and loaded with charm. (I gotta run, but I'll add more tomorrow.)

Margo Guryan - Take a Picture
Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis
The Feminine Complex Livin' Love

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 24 November 2002 00:48 (10 years ago) Permalink

Oh, and the compilation to start with is the Sunshine Days 60s series, which mixes chart hits with harder to find stuff.

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 24 November 2002 01:01 (10 years ago) Permalink

Anyway.....compilations should be the way to go with this genre, if only there were more good ones*. Obviously, it was made for singles, and when the songs aren't first rate, all that sunny harmony can become grating in a hurry. Even with the Boettcher/Millennium albums, genius production can't save the dodgier songs, so I like to keep the fast-forward close by. Also, quite a few artists who produced one or two sunshine pop classics worked primarily in other styles (Box Tops, N. Sinatra).

Unfortunately, Sunshine Days is about all I'm aware of. It's good, but would it have killed them to put more than 14 songs on a disc? I'm not sure why there aren't more such comps. Perhaps because so many of the radio hits are already available on general pop compilations?

*Good multi-artists comps, I'm saying. Plenty of good "Best ofs" are out there.

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 24 November 2002 19:26 (10 years ago) Permalink

anyone want to buy a mint condition Sagittarius "The Blue Marble"??

Features Gary Usher, co-writer of Beach Boys songs, producer of Byrds albums and Curt Boettcher

email me if you do

― JasonD (JasonD), Sunday, 24 November 2002 20:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

dr c gonna link you up....

www.revola.co.uk

really, on this site, is all that you can order and read about sunshine pop.

― doom-e, Sunday, 24 November 2002 20:04 (10 years ago) Permalink

The first Millennium reissue that Poptones put out is a gd way into 'em, I think - a collection of demos that lack the fab florid production gloss of finished Boettcher sunshine, but that also avoid most of the naffer hippy-psych-tweeisms that sometimes deforms the 'official' stuff. A lot of it reminds me of GOOD Moby Grape - the same balancing/contrast between different singing voices, the nice acoustic gtr playing - only from a slightly more post-Spector/Wilson pop perspective. The Sandy Salisbury and Boettcher disks on Poptones are also well worth seeking out. I'm not so keen on that Sagitarrius alb that Sundazed put out.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Sunday, 24 November 2002 20:57 (10 years ago) Permalink

Roger Nichols and the small circle of friends
Tradewinds
Paul Williams - Someday man

― Jens (brighter), Sunday, 24 November 2002 21:09 (10 years ago) Permalink

Happy music sucks.

― Callum (Callum), Sunday, 24 November 2002 21:11 (10 years ago) Permalink

callum: but that leads to radiohead and you REALLY don't want to go there.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 24 November 2002 21:17 (10 years ago) Permalink

I love Radiohead, but they're actually one of the happier bands I listen to. Radiohead really aren't as depressing as most people say. I find OK Computer very uplifting.

― Callum (Callum), Sunday, 24 November 2002 21:26 (10 years ago) Permalink

You guys are not being at all groovy.

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 24 November 2002 22:47 (10 years ago) Permalink

A fair bit of the Girls In The Garage stuff veers into Sunshine Pop territory. I've only got a couple of the comps but they're wonderful stuff.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 24 November 2002 22:51 (10 years ago) Permalink

How about recent stuff? I like Linus of Hollywood's releases, very sunshiney california pop.. and you can pick them up on vinyl for 5 bucks a pop (I did have trouble with one of the records being warped slightly and the vinyl is not the best quality)..but the SONGS are great.

― insectifly (insectifly), Monday, 25 November 2002 14:17 (10 years ago) Permalink

The Free Design must be mentioned in this category as well. Bubbles is the most consistent of the three Siesta reissues, although it doesn't have "Kites Are Fun."

― mike a (mike a), Monday, 25 November 2002 15:47 (10 years ago) Permalink

It's a real shame that there aren't many good light pop-sike comps around,there is SO much out there waiting to be put onto CD.I've got quite a few that I've made myself from my own vinyl & from other collectors.I'm looking forward to the Mark Eric CD coming out on Re-vola.

― Paul R (paul R), Monday, 25 November 2002 16:37 (10 years ago) Permalink

I have Kites Are Fun: The Best of the Free Design, which distills it down to a single disc.

I've also enjoyed a couple of 2-CD sets I never would have thought were warranted...
5th Dimension - Up Up & Away: The Definitive Collection
Grass Roots - Anthology: 1965-1975

...and one that is long overdue...
Mamas & the Papas - All the Leaves Are Brown: The Golden Era Collection

All three have incredible sound compared to what was on CD before for these groups.

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 25 November 2002 17:19 (10 years ago) Permalink

I've been curious about Linus of Hollywood for awhile now, I know he's got something to do with the resurrection of margo guruyan which is pretty cool. never see his records anywhere though.

the free design creeps me out like the stepford wives or if you were eight and your next door neighbour babysitter in a miniskirt started talking about jesus or acid or something while she was fixing you a grilled cheeze sandwich. if you were out in a boat on a lake and your dad started to rock it to freak you out and then he got carried away and it actually capsized, the sound you'd hear as you sunk like a stone would be the free design. raymond pettibon should do their album covers. i really can't listen to them.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 25 November 2002 17:29 (10 years ago) Permalink

Fritz you make them sound awesome! Great memory of your babysitter, too.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 25 November 2002 17:37 (10 years ago) Permalink

I have Kites Are Fun: The Best of the Free Design, which distills it down to a single disc
Dr C - if you like this Varese disc (I fear it may a bit too soft for your tastes, but maybe not) then get the comp on Siesta records, "Raindrops", next.

There used to be some good, informed discussions of The Association and related artists on a Free Design message board, with lots of potentially great-sounding recommendations. But the moderator's just taken the board down and started a new forum in its place. I'll ask him if the archives still exist.

― Jeff W, Monday, 25 November 2002 17:40 (10 years ago) Permalink

sean! beware! they'll flip you the freak out!

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 25 November 2002 17:49 (10 years ago) Permalink

Linus of Hollywood to me sounds more like mid-70s pop acts who drew from Sunshine Pop among other styles.

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 25 November 2002 18:21 (10 years ago) Permalink

OK, I got mailed a link to the 'old' FD message board, but it's a bit hard to navigate, so I've just combed it for the recommendations I was talking about upthread, and here they are. Some things already mentioned by others.

LPs
Jeffrey Comanor: Sure Hope You Like It
OST "Midnight Cowboy"
Stu Phillips: OST "Follow Me" (esp. 'Thru spray colored glasses' by Dino, Desi & Billy)
Stu Phillips: OST "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls"
Margo Guryan: Take A Picture
Wendy & Bonnie: Genesis
5th Dimension: Magic Garden
The Millennium: Begin
Sagittarius: Present Tense; Blue Marble
Claudine Longet: Colors
Spanky & Our Gang: Like To Get To Know You
The Cowsills: We Can Fly
Eternity's Children: s/t
Chad & Jeremy: Distant Shores
Paul Williams: Someday Man

other artists
Alan Copeland Singers (esp. a surreal arrangement of 'Norwegian Wood' to a backing track of the 'Mission Impossible' theme)
The Lettermen
Roger Nichols & the Small Circle of Friends
Singers' Unlimited
The Carnivals
The Real Group
Electric Prunes / David Axelrod

― Jeff W, Monday, 25 November 2002 18:34 (10 years ago) Permalink

Great list Jeff,all the classics,nice to see Stu Phillips''Follow Me'Soundtrack get a mention.I got a copy of the master from the man himself,sounds amazing.I also got a 3CD volume of his work which has some great softpop on it.The Match's version of 'Thru Spray Coloured Glasses'is as good if not better than Dino,Desi & Billy's.

― Paul R (paul R), Monday, 25 November 2002 19:05 (10 years ago) Permalink

I recommend getting some records with covers like this:

The Love Generation - including "Groovy Summertime"

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 25 November 2002 21:59 (10 years ago) Permalink

Tom Bahler ROCKS!

― Paul R (paul R), Monday, 25 November 2002 22:09 (10 years ago) Permalink

Thanks everyone - I'll see what I can find!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 10:05 (10 years ago) Permalink

Fritz! I dreamed about the Free Design last night! Since I have no fear about pushing the outer limits of creepiness, I have to hear them now.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 16:16 (10 years ago) Permalink

Damn, this thread was made for me and I missed it. I agree with most of the recommendations above, get the Free Design comps on Siesta, unless you want to shell out $$ for the Japanese CD reissues or original LPs. The siesta comps have some nice design too. Get the Millenium. Get the Joey Stec album while you are at it (not sunshine pop but a great record, procduced by jimmy miller, pop tones reissue stil available I'm sure). Definitely get the Margo Guryan album (and the 25 Demos CD is decent too if you like the album). You would think you should get the Sunshine Company albums, but I find them a bit incosistent actually, I imagine the new comp on rev-ola is good though. There is some other good looking rev-ola stuff that I have yet to hear. As for the Assocaiation, avoid the ubiquitous Greatest Hits budget CD (bad sound) and maybe give the new 2 disc compilation a try. Finally, it starts to cross into bubblegum territory, but The Clique, Yellow Balloon, and Tommy Roe are all good too. Oh yeah, the three Andy Kim records on Steed are awesome, but somewhat hard to find. Someone should re-issue them but if you want, I can burn a CDR. You can find info on all this stuff on AMG, but email me if you have any questions...

― g (graysonlane), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 16:50 (10 years ago) Permalink

I LIKE the Free Design's subtle spookiness the same way I liked the Langley Schools Music Project.

― mike a (mike a), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 17:14 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm frightened by the Lettermen.

― Curt (cgould), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 19:44 (10 years ago) Permalink

Also to be recommended: the Thomas & Richard Frost (re)release just out on Revola is simply the best music I've heard all year. Imagine if the Bee Gees (late-60s model) had been more pop-driven, less ballad-centric & you've just about got it. Keening harmonies, sumptuous arrangements, melodies melodies melodies. You'll love it.

In addition to those mentioned by others: The Smoke LP on Tower (a Michael Lloyd (WCPAExpBand) side project); Heaven Bound with Tony Scotti; Fifth Dimension's The Magic Garden; Harmony Grass-This Is Us; The Cyrkle-Neon; Chad & Jeremy-The Ark & 3 In The Attic soundtrack; The Groop-well, anything really.

Another vote for: Paul Williams's 1st, Roger Nichols SCOFriends, Eternity's Children's 1st, Millennium's Begin (tho most of the demos CDs can be passed over), Free Design Sing For Very Important People, The Association-Birthday & Greatest Hits.

Greatest 45 of the whole genre: Tell Someone You Love Them by Dino, Desi & Billy.

― harvey williams, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 20:48 (10 years ago) Permalink

Wow! Good stuff Harvey - I'll certainly lookout for the Frosts thing - I saw it reviewed, but (sorry Doom-e!) I didn't take much notice because it was on Rev-Ola.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 20:54 (10 years ago) Permalink

I woke up dreaming that I had to put pinecones on top of my alarm clock to stop it from buzzing! No Free Design angle there, but I thought you'd like to know.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 21:44 (10 years ago) Permalink

I just came across a compilation on Soulseek, Alan Zweig's Mr. Dieingly Sad - US Psychedelic & Bubblegum 60s Collection. It appears to be MP3 only. In my book, not much of it is either psych or bubblegum. I would call it a cross between Sunshine Pop and Now Sounds, suggestive of dorky 'Up With People' type kids in matching sweaters tellin' the world how swingin' it is. Rather disturbing and fascinating, and redeemed by some truly beautiful arrangements.

Tracklist:

1. Critters - Mr. Dieingly Sad
2. Cyrkle - How Can I Leave Her
3. Sunrays - A Little Dog and His Boy
4. Match - Don't Take Your Time
5. Love Generation - Not Be Found
6. Elephant Candy - Close to Carmel
7. Cowsills - A Time for Remembrance
8. Sugar Shoppe - Privilege
9. Tokens - It's a Happening World
10. Fifth Dimension - Pattern People
11. American Breed - Before and After
12. Happenings - I Believe in Nothing
13. Brooklyn Bridge - Minstral Sunday
14. Bergen White - Look at Me
15. Peppermint Rainbow - I'll Be There
16. Association - Everything That Touches You
17. Hardtimes - Under the Sunlight
18. Blades of Grass - Happy
19. Orpheus - I've Never Seen a Love Like This
20. Harper's Bizarre - Come Love
21. First Edition - If I Could Change
22. Jay and the American - Something in My Eye
23. Thee Prophets - They Call Her Sorrow
24. Love Generation - Hey Look Around
25. Cowsills - Thinking 'Bout the Other Side
26. Association - The Time It Is Today
27. Match - Spray Colored Glasses

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 4 December 2002 17:10 (10 years ago) Permalink

revola is releasing the love generation. dr c there is a cool thread on i love everything with tim hopkins and i talking about revola and sunshine pop.

and there is a competition to win sunshine pop albums on www.revola.co.uk!

i heart revola.

― doom-e, Wednesday, 4 December 2002 17:14 (10 years ago) Permalink

(ILX is shortly to be renamed i love revola, incidentally)

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 4 December 2002 17:17 (10 years ago) Permalink

Alan Zweig is a collector who is on a private CD mail ring that I was on for a while. He made a film called "Vinyl" which is about collectors and is supposed to be good - it's for sale on the web if you're interested. Anyway, those comps circulated on the ring I was on and I think I've got them on tape somewhere. He just has tons and tons of that stuff and made several of those comps for us.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 4 December 2002 17:56 (10 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

tell me about super stocks

― *@*.* (gareth), Friday, 12 November 2004 20:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

has anyone heard the Turn of the Century album?

― charltonlido (gareth), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 10:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

What is it?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 17:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

sorry to follow a question with a question, but does anyone have the Rhino Handmade thing? Either of them.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 18:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

im not sure what it is, but someone mentioned it the other day, when i was out. i think its from 1970

― charltonlido (gareth), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 19:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ken - yes I have Hallucinations. Absolutely fantastic! Worth the price for the WCPAEB, Glass Family and Next Exit tracks. I have shitloads of psych/freakbeat etc etc, but this album goes instantly into the top 5 best ever comps. I will have to get the other one asap.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Sunday, 6 March 2005 12:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

The Sunshine Company, anyone?

― zeus, Sunday, 6 March 2005 14:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

I have both Hallucinations and Come to the Sunshine, and they're both good, although I'm not quite as ecstatic as Dr. C is over the former, highlights excepted. The sound quality, of course, is superb.

There's been a ton of new compilations and reissues in the 2-1/2 years since this thread left off, especially in the Sunshine Pop/Soft Pop vein. Anybody who goes weak-kneed for Boettcher and Nichols should get the Bergen White and Mark Eric reissues on Rev Ola. I've been disappointed by much of the Soft Sounds for Gentle People series, but about half of Vol. 2 is fairly breathtaking.

How about any of these comps, anybody:
Piccadilly Sunshine
Spinning Wheel
Colour Me Pop
Pop In

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 6 March 2005 20:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

So far Hallucinations is OK, but I'm not digging it nearly as much as the regular 4-disc Nuggets and Nuggets II.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 17 March 2005 01:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

i've put a shitload of sunshine psych mp3s up here

www.poptones.co.uk/webcast.htm

― doomie x, Thursday, 17 March 2005 11:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

doomie, that chris lucey, is he related in some way to the groop? not the midnight cowboy groop, but the groop that released jet song? it all seems a bit foggy and unclear

― charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 17 March 2005 12:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

flowerpot men - peace album/past imperfect

john carter's lost '69/'70 masterpieces. rueful anti-war sunset psych with vox pop interviews in between tracks. like if the beach boys had done an explicit anti-vietnam record (as opposed to "student demonstration time").

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 17 March 2005 13:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 6 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

xpost to Stu -- are you really Stu Phillips? You produced all those records you mentioned, right? That is very, very cool.

― Sang Freud (jeff_s), Thursday, 21 July 2005 19:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

The Electric Flag were NOT sunshine pop, but "Groovin' Is Easy" sounds like an odd attempt to cash in on it. Buddy Miles' drums are a little too heavy, and the song itself is kinda brooding, but the title and production sounds like they're trying to sound like a subversive Cowsills or something. I seem to remember Flag guitarist Michael Bloomfield telling Rolling Stone at the time that he was specifically trying to target the Top 40 charts with this tune.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Friday, 22 July 2005 02:32 (7 years ago) Permalink

All Hail Al Kooper & Mike Bloomfield!

― SoHoLa (SoHoLa), Friday, 22 July 2005 03:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

Even though Kooper wasn't a member of the Electric Flag (who I was talking about up above), he's cool with me - All Hail Kooper & Bloomfield!!!!

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Friday, 22 July 2005 11:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

It must be "autistic people post her entire music collection online day".

Or is it "let's re-live the nineties" day, because lord knows the nineties weren't awful enough the first time around.

― crown victoria (dymaxia), Friday, 22 July 2005 16:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

what a fantastic page

― Thorben Petersen, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 14:28 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

A heads up that the two Rhino Handmade CDs mentioned upthread have just been put out again by Warners with different titles* in standard jewel cases but a budget price. (Fopp has them both for £5 each!)

*e.g. the "Come To The Sunshine" one has been retitled "A Whole Lot of Rainbows" - seems to be the exact same track list tho'.

― Jeff W (zebedee), Tuesday, 15 November 2005 19:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

I just want to brag that I bought What Can The Matter Be/Evil Overshadows Joe by the Poppy Family this weekend in a 2nd hand shop in Gibsons, BC for $1. Best part is it's signed by both Terry and Susan Jacks.

― everything, Tuesday, 15 November 2005 20:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

that's so awesome! i love them.

― carly (carly), Tuesday, 15 November 2005 20:38 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Stu Phillips posted on this thread

Do you like the Michele album? its a bit folkier/hippier than the softpop i like, but song to magic frog is nice

should i pick up the love generation's montage LP?

― Storefront Church (688), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 09:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

i like the montage album. i don't know if you would love it though. it should be cheap.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:17 (6 years ago) Permalink

do you own the chaemeleon church album, gareth? such a dreamy record. that list is pretty good up top. has some clunkers on it though. that timothy clover record is pretty clunky. same with the cashman, pistili, and west if its the one i'm thinking of.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:22 (6 years ago) Permalink

well it has theme from how sweet it is, and a beautiful sleeve, just hope the rest of it is as good

― Storefront Church (688), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

i've been enjoying those white whale singles comps that rev-ola put out. not everything is great, but still a pretty cool time-capsule.

vol 1:

Dalton And Montgomery - All At Once
The Brothers - The Girl’s Alright
The Clique - Soul Mates
Liz Damon’s Orient Express - You’re Falling In Love
Dalton And Montgomery - Tomorrow’s Women
Nino And April - You’ll Be Needin’ Me Baby
Lyme And Cybelle - Song #7/ Lyme And Cybelle - Write If You Get Work
The Everpesent Fullness - Darlin' You Can Count On Me
Laughing Gravy - Vegetables
Triste Janero - Rene De Marie
Triste Janero - In The Garden
The Committee - If It Weren’t For You
Sugar And Spice - Not To Return
Bittersweet - The Shadow Of You Love
The Dillards - One Too Many Mornings
Nino And April - The Habit Of Lovin’ You Baby
The Brothers - Love Story
Keith Colley - Enamorado
Dobie Gray - Do You Really Have A Heart
Horses - Freight Train
Matthew Moore Plus 4 Codyne
Matthew Moore Plus 4 You've Never Loved Before
Freddie Allen - We’ve Only Just Begun
The Hangtown Fry - The Quiet Side Of Love

vol.2

“Little Girl, Little Boy” - The Odyssey
“I’ll Be In” – The Answer
“Blackmail” - Dalton and Montgomery
“Superman (45 mix)” - The Clique
“Fine and Dandy (45 mix)” - Everpresent Fullness
“Why Do You Smile” - The Answer
“Goin' It Alone” - The Bears
“Work It Out That Way” - The Bears
“(It'll All Wash Away) With The Rain” - The Brothers
“Today Is Today” - The Brothers
“Out Of Nowhere” - Nino and April
“Break OF Dawn” - JK and Co.
“Little Children” - JK and Co.
“Make Me Laugh” - The Rainy Daze
“Space Walker” - The Space Walkers
“Just You Wait” - Walter Scott
“Honey, You Can Take It back” - Dobie Gray
“What A Way To Go” - Dobie Gray
“Beautiful People” - Kenny O'Dell
“Groovy Relationship” - Kenny O'Dell
“Cheyenne” – Horses
“Two Of Us” – Shake
“Christmas Is my Time Of Year” - The Christmas Spirit
“Will You Still Believe In Me?” - The Christmas Spirit
“The Room” - The New FBI Band

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

i havent heard any of those but it looks like my heart would be filled with a single ray of sunshine from each and every track

― Storefront Church (688), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is WAY, WAY off the beaten path, but have you ever heard "Groovin' Is Easy" by the Electric Flag?

I know no band which counted Buddy Miles, Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites as members should even REMOTELY be considered sunshine pop, but this track sounds like a hamfisted attempt at shooting for Spanky & Our Gang's crowd. The drums are heavier and the vocals sound a little too cynical, but otherwise, you can tell that the sunshine market is what they had in mind. Bloomfield even implicitly admitted, in Rolling Stone, that he was going for the flower-pop thing with this one (he said that since "groovin'" seemed to be the Top 40 catchword at the time it was recorded, in late '67 or early '68, he figured it would be a natural for the AM airwaves). It's on their A LONG TIME COMING album, and was the first single.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 13:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

Rev-ola has a new Sunshine Company comp out. I love their albums. I don't know if its all their studio work on the cd. The albums aren't that pricey in any case.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

hey, this sounds interesting:

We're also extremely excited to be releasing the very first (and unreleased) solo outing from The Free Design frontman, Chris Dedrick titled, "Be Free". Chris's musical career began in the late '60s, at the age of 19, as a singer and principal songwriter in sibling vocal group The Free Design. In the midst of one of the most creative and competitive climates in pop music history, The Free Design produced seven albums (from 1967-1973) that stand among the most inventive and melodically seductive of their era. Of the group's hit debut single, "Kites Are Fun," New York Times critic Alec Wilder wrote: "...It was so fine that I literally wept when I heard it." Recorded just after his tenure in the seminal Enoch Light produced sunshine pop band, "Be Free" shows Dedrick extending himself into slightly more intimate and personal territory while staying true to the uniquely catchy melodic sense that he developed in his early days. A lost gem finally available after all these years.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 04:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

that's from that download only label. anthology recordings.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 04:52 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is WAY, WAY off the beaten path, but have you ever heard "Groovin' Is Easy" by the Electric Flag?

yes, it's great.

do you own the chaemeleon church album, gareth?

i am not gareth, but i have this on mp3. it's ok, not essential.

― your eyes are like a cup of tea (get bent), Thursday, 18 January 2007 05:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

Also...Reprise recently put out a box set containing the first three Bee Gees records. psych/pop at its best.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

This is WAY, WAY off the beaten path

Naw - only about 18 months off, by my calculations! ;)

― M. Agony Von Bontee (M. Agony Von Bontee), Thursday, 18 January 2007 18:18 (6 years ago) Permalink

Along the lines of the Bee Gees, the two Tin Tin albums are for all intents and purposes Bee Gees albums. Sound nearly identical (very close connection between the two groups). Not on legit. CD as far as I know (there was a boot) but the vinyl is cheap. The 2nd one, Astral Taxi, is something of an unsung masterpiece.

― dlp9001 (dlp9001), Thursday, 18 January 2007 20:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

Rev-ola has a new Sunshine Company comp out. I love their albums. I don't know if its all their studio work on the cd. The albums aren't that pricey in any case.
-- scott seward (skotro...), January 17th, 2007.

Sounds good!

― zeus (zeus), Thursday, 18 January 2007 23:44 (6 years ago) Permalink

endlessmike and chocoreve have been posting a lot of pop psych stuff recently (the Pebbles series, among others.)

― don weiner (don weiner), Friday, 19 January 2007 00:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

ok so the 4 Soft Sounds for Gentle People compilations,

...should i?

― 688, Friday, 2 March 2007 12:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

yes. as long as you can accept that they're not all kick-ass all the way through. soft sounds 4, which is probably easiest to get right now, is somewhat spotty but has a handful of excellent tunes.

if you can find the special all-dudes one they did called mystic males it's worth getting.

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Friday, 2 March 2007 12:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

It's all about the Fading Yellow series... And the Pop-In comps too.

― Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 2 March 2007 15:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

well, christ, I didn't mean to kill the thread, it's not ALL about them!

― Saxby D. Elder, Saturday, 3 March 2007 04:57 (6 years ago) Permalink

Dana Gillespie's Foolish Seasons is, in the shallow digging I've done in this area, the best thing I've heard. Looking forward to finding some of this other stuff.

― Devin King., Saturday, 3 March 2007 05:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

the Ripples series is really great too, I forgot that one...

― Saxby D. Elder, Monday, 5 March 2007 04:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

The Tin Tin/Bee Gees connection was basically that Maurice Gibb produced both their albums. "Toast And Marmalade For Tea" came out as a single and was a big radio hit but didn't chart. I agree they deserve rediscovery, along with Sing Sisters Sing which Robin Gibb told Mojo he was going to "look into reissuing" five years ago...

Oh, and if it counts, the newly-reissued In A Beautiful Place by Catherine Howe (from 1971) is something of a sunshine marvel.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 5 March 2007 13:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Toast And Marmalade For Tea" came out as a single and was a big radio hit but didn't chart

It charted pretty big in the U.S., believe it or not...

― Saxby D. Elder, Monday, 5 March 2007 14:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

No, that's easy to believe - the Bee Gees in general were much bigger in the States than they were here in the early seventies.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 5 March 2007 14:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

seconding the Catherine Howe recommendation. In particular "It Comes with the Breezes" is pretty great sunshine pop, sort of English bossa actually. Bobby Scott, who co-wrote "He Ain't Heavy" for the Hollies, plays piano and arranged/produced. It's sort of like a cross between Jackie DeShannon (whose "Brighton Hill" is certainly sunshine pop) and Nick Drake, maybe.

― whisperineddhurt, Monday, 5 March 2007 15:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

According to the sleevenotes she and Scott had a bit of an affair at the time but it got scuppered by distance and the legal issues which arose with the record.

The extra CD track "In The Hot Summer" - the demo which got her the RCA deal, though it's so fully arranged it doesn't sound like a demo - is eerily beautiful and would still be a hit for anyone today.

She doesn't quite have Dusty's pipes - who does? - but Dusty Sings Drake wouldn't be a bad summation of the mood of the album in general.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 5 March 2007 15:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

yeah no doubt, but fwiw, I don't think anyone here (except maybe within the radio industry) knew that Tin Tin had anything to do with the Bee Gees. It was just one of those top 40 records like Ocean or Mouth & McNeal, no real backstory to the radio listener. Hell, I was 10, for all I know, Creem might have had them on the cover!

Am investigating Catherine Howe as we "speak"... thx for the tip on that! :-)

― Saxby D. Elder, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:17 (6 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

The Split Level's first untitled album has some stunning tracks. Absolutely worth tracking down for an awesome (almost dancey) number called "I'm on the right track" (or "there seems to be a way", maybe?) and the knock-out string-laden female ballad that follows it. The rest is interspersed with some odd interludes, one of which is a bizarre (and quite hilarious) vocal-only not-quite-choral piece that goes 'Shut up, Shut up, Shut up, Shut uhhhp!!!'.

And how about Corliss? Silverbird? Steam?

(just to add to the list of obscure bands on here that are without discussion)

And what about that Maypole album on Anopheles?

― Michael Dudikoff presents Action Adventure Theatre, Monday, 26 November 2007 14:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

the newly-reissued In A Beautiful Place by Catherine Howe
Minor correction: this is called What A Beautiful Place.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 26 November 2007 14:18 (5 years ago) Permalink

other split level cut that i love dearly dearly: "Can't Complain."

― ian, Monday, 26 November 2007 20:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

Don't forget James Taylor's first LP. It's really good soft pop.

― leavethecapital, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 00:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

The Sundowners' "Always You" hasn't been mentioned yet. All sunshine pop, no psych; how it failed to be a hit is beyond me. Airy Association-ist arrangement, fab harmony vox, detailed and tight lyric - one of my favorites.

― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 05:43 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

loving this.

got lured in by the presence of a few david axelrod productions, but to be honest, my fave is the cliche heavy vibes of 'i think i'll go out and find me a flower' by the moonpark intersection (great name !) and the left hand turn @ 15 seconds into this never ceases to give me a happy buzz :

― mark e, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 10:05 (2 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

― ship_rex (+ +), Monday, 7 February 2011 01:32 (2 years ago) Permalink

I would have to go with Sunshine Girl.

― billstevejim, Monday, 7 February 2011 02:00 (2 years ago) Permalink

The Third Wave have a lot in common with Wendy & Bonnie, I think. each group was made up of teenage sisters from California who recorded a single pop album in 1969 with the backing of prominent jazz musicians (George Duke vs. Gabor Szabo) only to vanish shortly after its release. their vocal harmonies are very similar in spots.

the highlights on the Third Wave album tend to be its softer moments. they have an annoying habit on some tracks of harmonizing brashly at the top of their lungs, but when they get into a low-key groove in "Waves Lament" and "Stormy" and "Once There Was a Time", the result is an eerie, amateurish, almost old-timey beauty that doesn't have too many parallels from either then or now.

― unregistered, Monday, 7 February 2011 02:32 (2 years ago) Permalink

almost old-timey

"old-timey" in a '50s soft jazz vocal group sense, I mean. it's hard to tell whether the album was being targeted toward slightly conservative teens or slightly open-minded old people. maybe neither.

― unregistered, Monday, 7 February 2011 02:43 (2 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLa3X3IHXls

― Hans von Jerkoffsky (WilliamC), Thursday, 1 November 2012 15:33 (6 months ago) Permalink

Wow, I am so into this stuff now!! Grooooveee!

― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Dannon's Yogurt Dumplings and Pam Poo (Mount Cleaners), Thursday, 1 November 2012 15:53 (6 months ago) Permalink

haven't seen these guys mentioned here. sunny, upbeat goodness.

― Spectrum, Thursday, 1 November 2012 18:05 (6 months ago) Permalink

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