Fantastic piece of gentle soft rock, filled with simple and effective bittersweet lyrics. Soundwise, delicado appropriately described it in his review as a "cooler and classier take on the Chad & Jeremy sound with superior performances, songwriting and arrangements". I can absolutely subscribe to that description, the whole album is a long lost softrock gem.
from Daybreak (Rev-Ola CR REV 80), available on CD
The perfect example of the kind of soft pop song I love. Heavy with melencholy. The strings and clarinet on this track break my heart. The fadeout is one of the greatest in history.
from Roger Nichols@ The Small Circle Of Friends (A&M) available on CD - The Complete Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends
06 Mar 05 ·olli: hmm, just made me curious. i generally hate fadeouts..they always seem to obscure some kind of interesting or trippy stuff that was starting happen in the studio:)
gotta check it out though, thanks. 07 Mar 05 ·eftimihn: This one was arranged by Bob Thompson not Nick DeCaro. Actually i just wanted to recommend this, because today i received my newly reissued copy by Rev-Ola. An even more complete 20 track edition, fantastic remastering, extensive essay and at a reasonable price tag. Awesome. 07 Mar 05 ·laughingmood: Thanks for the info on Bob Thompson's arrangment on this track. All I've ever had is the Japanese reissue and I've never been able to fully read all the info! I'll have to change that. I really need to get that new reissue. I've heard the liners and photos are all really nice. 07 Mar 05 ·delicado: I also have the japanese issue. Are there extra tracks on the Rev-Ola one? 07 Mar 05 ·eftimihn: The Rev-Ola one has one additional track compared to the japanese 19-track version and it's "St. Bernie The Sno-Dog". It was Roger Nichols' first ever recording in 1964 and is, quite frankly, absolutely forgettable (waltzing child-like song, with yodeling and funny voices, makes you feel rather uncomfortable after the preceding soft rock bliss). Nichols refers to this as "a pile of crap" in the essay/liner notes, a track he never really wanted to do. Just read the essay and must say it's wonderfully done. I have to stress that the sound quality on the new Rev-Ola issue is absolutely amazing, surpassing the japanese one on every level: Virtually no background noise, clearer highs, bass is rendered deeper and better, the harmonies got even silkier, overall better dynamics and resolution. It just won't get any better than this. So, kudos to Rev-Ola... 07 Mar 05 ·laughingmood: Wow! That is very cool. Generally I think Rev-Ola's remasters tend to be a bit on the trebley side but of course I'll pick this up. Mainly for the liners by Steve Stanley. This album has been in my top five since I heard it, yet...I know very little of the detailed background because of the japanese liners. Steven Stanley also did the Bergen White reissue liners and is the head of LA-based pop act, The Now People. 07 Mar 05 ·konsu: Hmmm... Once again no mention of Smokey Roberds. He was in the closely related A&M group The Parade. He claims partial writing credits for this in an interview : http://www.doctorroberds.com/parade.html ... If you like this album you owe yourself a listen of that "other" great one-off long player. They do a great version of "Kinda Wasted Without You" thats more raw with less overdubs. Really a magical time at A&M!
Ahhh...so many great Sandpipers songs to choose from. I'll recommend more later but for now I'll start with the title cut from their "Softly" LP. Superb production by the great Tommy Li Puma and arrangement by Nick De Caro. This track is a great example of what Li Puma added to bossa nova music. Primarily...lots of harpsichords. It's what I consider 'pop bossa nova" and is my favorite type. Once again, the Sandpipers vocals are peerless and this track just takes me away whenever I hear it. As do most of the Sandpipers material.
This is an astonishing song! The band from New Jersey was closely related to Timothy Leary's community for which they performed gigs, like on 4th of July 1967.This song wasn't even published, only one acetate is left of the recording session which was in Apostolic studios in N.Y in 1968. Billy Barth which was the member, recalls that this was the only song recoreded.There is an instrumental "Flesh Kingdom" which was issued by TV Toy Billy's brother's band.
The song has a marvelous organ introduction and it has love relation lyrics which fit very well to melody.Apparently this band did not have appropriate management because he deserved a much better fate.
14 Jul 06 ·billybarth: hello to Merko I m the guy who wrote
"Strangers Calling" I don't live in New Jersey any more, but in Bucharest, Romania.
How did you get to hear the song? There are only two acetates, and Allan Landon, my partner in songwriting in our group Aluminum Dream, has one, and me the other.
Is the song on the web, or what. If it is, great. I just want to know what's up.
please contact me here: [email protected]
your right about bad management....we never got a record deal, though we went on to do other things..
hear my newer stuff at soundclick.com searching Billy London UK.....latest song is "Porno Baby"
This is a classic garage tune from New York mid sixties band.The rythm is catching and it treats the problems of lower class folks with their classy dates.
The sixties garage at it's best.
