The Second Disc

In 1970, Griffin’s “Yours Till Forever,” written by a young songwriter named Kenny Nolan, skyrocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart. A band called The Exception, led by singer/bassist Peter Cetera, became one of the biggest acts of the decade and kicked off their international success with the horn-driven hit “My Mind Goes Traveling.” And, of course, the Lettermen, those pioneers of psychedelic pop, are still remembered for their ode to “Mr. Sun.”

Okay, none of that really happened. But listening to Now Sounds’ new compilation, Book a Trip: The Psych Pop Sounds of Capitol Records, is like spending an hour on an alternate-reality AM band where all of those things were possible. It’s a reality where Neil Young ruled the airwaves with sunshine pop (check out Summer Snow with the Peppermint Trolley Company do “Flying on the Ground (Is Wrong)”) and bands with names like the Carnival Connection, the Burgundy Street Singers and the Tuneful Trolley thrived. Did any other era produce so many groups with names that so accurately reflected how they sounded?

What’s most remarkable about the 26-track CD (CRNOW19) is that far from being dated, these songs still sound fresh. The dense, multilayered harmonies, string-and-horn-enhanced orchestration and bright lyrical spirit may put them squarely in a particular time frame, but their invention and enthusiasm keeps them from being musty time capsules. Melody is the order of the day, and a great melody never grows old. So much of what makes rock exciting is its primal rawness; one quality that makes pure pop so enduring is its polish and craft.

Ready to meet some favorite artists “before they were stars?” Book a Trip gives us the pre-Bread David Gates-penned “Let the Trumpets Sound” – and of course, they do – as sung by a seven-member male/female vocal group, the Lively Set. The Exception’s “My Mind Goes Traveling” has a terrific Peter Cetera vocal, and a horn chart that would have made his later bandmates envious.  Leon Russell is the producer and arranger behind “Hitchhiker,” a Brian Wilson-influenced tune performed by the Four Preps, the 1950s vocal trio seeking to reinvent themselves for a new generation. (Good as this song is, the Lettermen’s similar attempt heard here, “Mr. Sun,” is even better, with an arrangement by Harry Nilsson’s musical compatriot, Perry Botkin, Jr.) The Teddy Neeley Five offers “Autumn Afternoon,” years before Neeley became synonymous with Jesus Christ Superstar thanks to its film version.  This Addrisi Brothers song sounds like a long-lost follow-up to the Association’s “Never My Love,” and in fact, the liner notes tell us that a recording by that more successful group was in fact recorded, and remains sadly unreleased. Other names will be familiar to collectors of the soft pop/psych genre, and of course, many of the tracks feature the renowned Wrecking Crew of musicians: Glen Campbell, Mike Deasy, Hal Blaine and Larry Knechtel, to name a few members. Most of the groups here sound as if they were on the cusp of a great might-have-been in a crowded pop field filled with so many driven young musicians. You’ll hear echoes of those contemporaries: a touch of Turtles, a dab of Association, a tinge of the Mamas and the Papas or Spanky and Our Gang. But spotting these stylistic similarities is part of the fun.  Read the rest of this entry »