Grapefruit's "Heroes and Villains" Collects L.A. Sounds of 1965-1968 From The Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas, Monkees, Zappa, More

Heroes and Villains The Sound of Los Angeles 1965 68

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Though Heroes and Villains is the title of Grapefruit's new 3-CD anthology chronicling The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-68, that famous Beach Boys song isn't among its 90 selections. Not that Brian Wilson and co. are absent; the compilation instead presents another SMiLE tune, "Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)" as part of its portrait of a place and time in music history when it truly seemed anything was possible. U.K.-based compiler David Wells persuasively makes the case here that L.A. replaced England as the epicenter of the American pop scene in the period covered on this collection. While songs recorded in L.A. only spent three weeks at No. 1 in 1964, at the height of the British Invasion, that number was 20 weeks in 1965, 14 in 1966, and a whopping 25 (or almost half the year) in 1967. The songs were far from homogenous, though. The music of SoCal encompassed sunshine and flower power pop, psychedelia, rock tinged with folk and country, garage, and avant-garde, all of which existed side-by-side and in some cases, were performed by the same artists.

The era covered on Heroes and Villains has been anthologized before, most notably in Rhino's landmark, Grammy-nominated 2009 box set Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968. But this period is so filled with riches that even those who've played that earlier set over and over again will find much to savor here. Wells has included his share of hits including the collection's opening track, The Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday" - ironically, written by a pair of New York writers about a New Jersey address! But few groups were more "L.A." than The Monkees, created for a television show but ultimately as powerful a band as any.

The hits just keep on comin', many of which were transformed by the sound of the L.A. Wrecking Crew and the productions of such quintessentially California producers as Lou Adler and Curt Boettcher. These other familiar radio staples include Paul Revere and the Raiders' anti-drug anthem "Kicks" (also of New York vintage, courtesy writers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil), The Association's winking "Along Comes Mary," and The Grass Roots' European import "Let's Live for Today," while somewhat lesser-known cuts are aired from A-listers Sonny and Cher ("But You're Mine"), The Mamas and the Papas ("Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon," as perfect a snapshot of the era as was ever composed and recorded), The Stone Poneys ("New Hard Times"), Nilsson ("Mr. Richland's Favorite Song"), The Byrds ("Why"), and Buffalo Springfield ("Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It"). Maverick producer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood would go on to record the haunting "Sand" with Nancy Sinatra, but his original, equally fascinating rendition with Suzi Jane Hokom is presented here.

Heroes and Villains compellingly draws the connections between the songs here. While we hear The Association doing "Along Comes Mary," we get their subsequent, even bigger hit "Windy" as performed by its author, Ruthann Friedman. "Mary" was helmed by Curt Boettcher, a near-mythical figure in the L.A. harmony pop realm as singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Boettcher is also represented on Heroes and Villains by The Millennium's soaring 1968 track "It Won't Always Be the Same" and Sagittarius' biting but lush "I'm Not Living Here" from the same year.

Songwriter Diane Hildebrand was well-known for co-writing a handful of Monkees favorites ("Your Auntie Grizelda," "Goin' Down," "Early Morning Blues and Greens") but she struck out on her own in the folk-rock vein with the 1968 Elektra album also titled Early Morning Blues and Greens, from which the baroque-flavored "Come Looking for Me" has been culled here. Looking for The Monkees' own influence on other artists? Look no further than The Laughing Wind's little-known 1967 Tower single "John Works Hard." Songwriter-arranger-producer Michael Lloyd was the driving force behind The Laughing Wind; he had briefly been a part of The West Coast Experimental Pop Art Band before being edged out by Bob Markley. It's not hard to see why Lloyd's style - which would well-serve him later with The Osmonds, The Boones, and Shaun Cassidy - didn't mesh with Markley's, based on the evidence here: TWCEPAB's bizarro recitation set to music, "A Child's Guide to Good and Evil."

There's more darkness - and abundant light - on this set, too. In the former category, there's "Makin' Deals" from the group called The Satans, seven students from Fullerton's Sunny Hills (!) High School who once played in Disneyland (under a different moniker, naturally). The Seeds of "Pushin' Too Hard" fame also got in on the demonic act with "The Wind Blows Your Hair," which originally bore lyrics about the Devil and a funeral before a rewrite changed their focus to the sunnier setting of a wedding. On the lighter side is the effervescent sunshine pop of songwriter Roger Nichols. The future composer of "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "We've Only Just Begun" is celebrated here with The Small Circle of Friends' effortlessly melodic, "Always You," written by Nichols and Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher and released on A&M. Nichols' Small Circle mate Murray MacLeod's own A&M group, The Parade (with Smokey Roberds and Jerry Riopelle) gets two tracks here: the beautiful pair of "Sunshine Girl" and "She Sleeps Alone."

The compilation gives considerable time to L.A.'s rockers (Spirit, Love, The Electric Prunes, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly), folkies (Tim Buckley), and country-rockers (Gene Clark, The International Submarine Band) as well as the avant-garde musicians that took the piss out of the loftier ambitions of the era. Heroes and Villains is notably the first authorized various-artists collection to feature a song from the iconoclastic Frank Zappa: in this case, 1966's satirical musical mash-up "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" from The Mothers of Invention's debut LP, Freak Out! Zappa's cohort Captain Beefheart makes a couple of appearances, too, via "Zig Zag Wanderer" and "Yellow Brick Road." Both are relatively commercial within the scope of the eccentric artist's discography.

Collectors should take note of two previously unreleased songs recorded in 1968 from The Candy Company ("Run") and The Paper Fortress ("Summer Magic") both of whom were live fixtures around Hollywood. There are also enjoyable glimpses of the embryonic talents and early bands of Kenny Loggins (The Second Helping's "Floating Downstream on an Inflatable Rubber Raft") and Sparks (Urban Renewal Project's "Computer Girl," as quirky as one would expect from the Mael brothers).

In painting a vivid portrait of the period, Heroes and Villains: The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-68 is one of the finest collections yet to appear on the Grapefruit imprint. As comprehensive as it is, one feels as if it's only scratched the surface as so much remarkable music was created in Los Angeles during the fertile period it covers. (Some notable omissions include Jackie DeShannon, Jan and Dean, Randy Newman, and Van Dyke Parks.)

David Wells has provided detailed track-by-track notes within the thick, squarebound 80-page booklet while California music historian Alec Palao has mastered the audio. With Palao's participation, could a comparable Bay Area box be up next? Each of the three discs are housed in individual wallets within the clamshell case. This is one compendium that's fit with the stuff to ride in the rough, and sunny down snuff, it's alright!

Various Artists, Heroes and Villains: The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-68 (Cherry Red/Grapefruit CRSEGBOX109, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

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