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RPM Records continues to leave no stone unturned as it explores groups and artists that may have fallen between the cracks over the years. A recent release from Grapefruit is no exception.

Throughout their relatively short existence, the members of the four-piece pop-psych band Grapefruit enjoyed the imprimatur of The Beatles.  Signed to Apple Music Publishing, the band was given a major promotional push but never attained any major success on the singles chart, and by the time the album Around Grapefruit appeared in 1969, the group had already split.  Yesterday’s Sunshine: The Complete 1967-1968 London Sessions collects 20 prime Beatle-esque titles recorded by the band during that seminal two-year period including all twelve songs from Around Grapefruit before producer Terry Melcher remixed and overdubbed them for release.  The 1968 session tapes had been thought lost until 2015 when they were discovered for use on this collection.

Apple Publishing’s Terry Doran formed the group, bringing together staff songwriter George Alexander with John Perry and Geoff and Pete Swettenham, late of The Sugarbeats and Tony Rivers and the Castaways.  John Lennon christened the foursome Grapefruit, and Apple arranged for the band to work with Terry Melcher.  Lennon and Paul McCartney even produced one track themselves: the January 10, 1968 recording of Alexander’s “Lullaby,” the song which first brought the songwriter to Lennon’s attention.  Apple took such an interest in the band that the company paid for the recording sessions and then licensed the masters to other labels – RCA in the U.K. and Melcher’s Equinox in the United States.

Yesterday’s Sunshine features the band’s No. 21 (U.K.) debut single “Dear Delilah” and subsequent single releases, as well as the original Lennon/McCartney production of “Lullaby” which was altered for its LP appearance when Melcher overdubbed a new orchestral arrangement.  The collection also features the follow-up double A-side single “Elevator”/”Yes” (in brand-new transfers from the original multitracks), Grapefruit’s original cover of The Four Seasons’ rocking “C’mon, Marianne” before producer Derek Lawrence remixed it at RCA’s behest, and a number of wholly unreleased tracks including “Breaking Up a Dream.” “Sweet Little Miss No Name,” “Somebody’s Turning on the People,” “Do What You Want To,” and “One More Try.”

Stefan Granados provides a detailed and informative essay chronicling all of the band’s Apple sessions and the music on this release.  Following the period covered on this disc, a slightly altered band line-up reinvented Grapefruit in a harder rock vein for one more LP, 1969’s Deep Water on RCA/Equinox.  But Yesterday’s Sunshine, newly remastered by Simon Murphy from the best sources possible (original multitrack masters were utilized for the first time on many tracks), captures the brief, bright period when Grapefruit’s existence basked in a truly Fab glow!

Grapefruit, Yesterday’s Sunshine: The Complete 1967-1968 London Sessions (RPM Retro 977, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Dear Delilah
2. Dead Boot
3. Breaking Up a Dream *
4. Lullaby (Sped-Up Stereo Version) **
5. Another Game
6. Elevator **
7. Yes **
8. Ain’t It Good **
9. Sweet Little Miss No Name * / **
10. Round and Round (Round Going Round) **
11. Someday (Alternate Version) **
12. Somebody’s Turning On the People * / **
13. Trying to Make It to Monday
14. C’mon Marianne **
15. Theme for a Lonely Queen (Theme for Twiggy) **
16. This Little Man **
17. Do What You Want To (Learn to Love Me) * / **
18. Yesterday’s Sunshine **
19. Someday Soon
20. One More Try * / **

(*) previously unreleased
(**) new tape transfer/multitrack mix