Sunshine Pop: Part 2
Well, it's officially summer and the weather is fantastic in Southern California (my apologizes to those suffering in the heat waves across the country), so looks like it's only appropriate to continue with this sunny series.
One of the essential Sunshine pop tunes from this era is definitely "Up, Up And Away" by The 5th Dimension. Themed around images of hot air ballooning, this single was a breakthrough hit for the Los Angeles-based group, reaching #7 in mid-1967 and earning the vocal quintet several big Grammy Awards including Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Written by young songwriter Jimmy Webb (while actually skipping a Music Theory class!), this song also features those excellent session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew (to be featured soon), including Tommy Tedesco and his Latin-flavored flourishes on nylon-string guitar. With those beautiful leading ladies Marilyn McCoo and Florence LaRue, this airy anthem is pure '60s sunshine pop.
From Delevan, New York, The Free Design was vocal group known for their sunshine pop and baroque pop music. Made up of siblings from the Dedrick family (originally Chris, Sandy, and Bruce, and later, sisters Ellen and Stefanie), their trademark sound incorporated complex vocal harmonies with folk, jazz, and classical elements. Although Chris did most of the songwriting, this ironically sunny tune, "Umbrellas," was written by brother Bruce and was featured on their debut album Kits Are Fun in 1967. Unfortunately, no live performance here, but you will hear how effectively this song evokes the subject matter with light sprinkles in the beginning, a cloudburst in the middle, followed by the sun coming out and the rain fading away at the end.
From the East Coast, The Cyrkle also fall into the sunshine pop genre, particularly with their biggest hit "Red Rubber Ball" in 1966 (previously featured here). That same year, they followed up with that #2 hit with "Turn Down Day," which managed the Top-20 at #16. Although this tune sounds a bit more melancholic than most sunshine pop songs, it still fits the category (as well as drawing from folk rock and surf rock) with its well-arranged production, extensive pop smarts, and warm harmonies. Although their career was short-lived in the mid-'60s, this "summer goof-off" anthem is another essential Cyrkle song. Plus, check out that multi-neck guitar (actually a Gretch guitar/bass combo, pretty cool!), and although it's a mimed performance, you gotta love the drummer's showmanship.
Created by Curt Boettcher (who worked with Sagittarius from our last post), The Millennium was an L.A.-based group consisting of psychedelic rock musicians that incorporated sunshine pop harmonies. In 1968, they released their first and only album, Begin, which became notorious for being the most expensive album that Columbia Records had released at the time. Despite its poor sales, critics agree that it was money well spent, and it is now generally considered to be a classic of sunshine pop. Featuring the first two tracks from the album in this audio clip, you'll notice "Prelude" begins with a very harpischord-heavy, baroque pop-ish sound (turning into a dream-like carnival), but around around 1:20, "To Claudia on Thursday" starts subtle and evolves into an impressive and beautiful work of sunshine pop.
Today's final group associated with the sunshine pop genre is, well, The Association, of course, also based in California. A benchmark in this style of pop music, their 1966 debut album released two singles that gave the six-man group their national break: "Along Comes Mary" (#7), followed by the even more successful "Cherish." Skillfully produced by Curt Boettcher (hey, there's that name again!), "Cherish" reached #1 on the Billboard chart for three weeks, and features their trademark sound of tight vocal harmonies and lush instrumentation (much like the amazing "Never My Love," previously featured here). Written by founding member Terry Kirkman, this shimmering tune is widely regarded as one of the greatest love songs ever written, and their original version still receives a lot of airplay today. Although members of this multi-instrumentalist group were classically trained, the Wrecking Crew studio musicians were used in most of The Associations' recordings. However, here's a truly live performance from 1967 (although the video quality is a little dark).
Baroque Pop Week: Part 2
So continuing with the Baroque Pop theme of the week, I probably should mention other terms interchangeable with this genre include Baroque Rock, Bach Rock, and Chamber Pop/Rock. Also, a related sidenote, the use of classical instrumentation in rock music eventually evolved into another subgenre that developed in the late-1960's called Progressive Rock, which then began drawing influence from jazz and Eastern music, in addition to classical. Prog rock is much more complex in song structure, which eventually led to the development of concept albums and "art rock." (Early progressive rock artists include The Beatles and The Beach Boys, followed by Pink Floyd, Yes, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Frank Zappa, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, and Electric Light Orchestra in the 1970's.) Okay, so this genre is in need of it's own post on another day, but just wanted to distinguish between the two for now.
And now back to Baroque Pop. If you're not sick of it yet, this post is going just slightly hog-wild (again) with more videos from this genre!
I've recently discovered that the English group The Zombies are an extremely under-rated band from the 1960's, seriously. In fact, I'm probably going to dedicate a post to their final album very soon. From May 1969, "Imagine the Swan" was The Zombies' last single, and they had actually long disbanded by the time it was released. During the first part of the verses, you'll notice another Bach-flavored (i.e. The Well-Tempered Clavier) harpsichord accompaniment, played by keyboard wiz Rod Argent, who was also one of the group's principle songwriters with member Chris White. There are no live performances of this swansong, so here's the audio/slide-show video:
Next up, it's The Move, one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960's (and a main originator of Power Pop) who unfortunately never found much success in the U.S. until the group transitioned into the 1970's group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) with the help of Jeff Lynne (yeah, that same guy also from The Traveling Wilburys). "Beautiful Daughter" is one of those songs that is on the border between Baroque Rock and early Progressive Rock. Released in February 1970 (I know, I just ventured two months out of the '60s!), this well-written beauty has wonderful vocals by Carl Wayne and was composed by the group's leader and guitarist, Roy Wood. Here is a great live performance, unfortunately, it doesn't include the string accompaniment (no other video available on YouTube).
And now for something completely different, this is 1967's "Proper Ornaments" by the New York-based vocal group The Free Design. Made up of members of the Dedrick family (brothers Chris and Bruce and sister Sandy as the original line-up, and later joined by younger sisters Ellen and Stephanie), The Free Design sang jazzy pop music, as well as baroque pop and sunshine pop. With a classically-trained background, they are known for their complex harmonies, jazz-like chord progressions, and off-beat time signatures. It's unfortunate this talented group did not gain much commercial success.
Now an absolute classic from 1967 is "Different Drum" by Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys, written by Michael Nesmith prior to his joining of The Monkees. Although The Stone Poneys were typically a folk-rock group, this song crosses into the baroque pop/sunshine pop territory with the harpsichord/string accompaniment throughout, especially the classical-inspired instrumental interlude. With the fantastic vocals by "The First Lady of Rock," it's no wonder this song remains Linda Ronstadt's most popular recording.
Later this week, check back in to read about one of the most significant songs of the 1960's that shaped rock 'n' roll! Hint: I'm feeling some 'good vibes' about this one.
