The Poppy Family – Poppy Seeds [Vinyl] (1971)

Artist: The Poppy Family
Title: Poppy Seeds
Year: 1971
Format: LP
Label: London

Post courtesy Of Ross
While the follow-up, the cutely-named Poppy Seeds (1971) has a few remarkable tracks, the paucity of original songs bespeaks a serious sophomore slump. As Terry explained in interviews around the time of “Seasons in the Sun,” the break-up of the Poppy Family was largely due to the conflict between Susan’s love of touring and his need to be home to write.

Terry also ‘fessed up after “Seasons” that the Poppy Family had never really been a band, but anyone who saw the cover of Poppy Seeds could have told you that. The sleeve photos were of just Terry and Susan, both sporting looser, more countrified appearances. They’re actually frolicking with barnyard animals on the back cover, Terry grinning like a loon by a calf’s rear end, and Susan has wisely exchanged her showgirl duds for a crocheted earth mother outfit.

Of particular interest on Poppy Seeds are the rocking “Someone Must Have Jumped,” which ends with a wild guitar solo that gives way to a honking wah-wah Beefheart screech, and “Where Evil Grows,” the first single. “Evil” is simply the greatest dark bubblegum song ever written, and one of the Jacks’ rare duets.

Over a sinuous nursery rhyme melody, Terry and Susan inform us that “Evil grows in the dark where the sun it never shines/ Evil grows in cracks and holes and lives in peoples’ minds/ Evil grew, it’s part of you, and now it seems to be/ Every time I look at you, evil grows in me.” And how! (scrammagazine)

Track Listing

1. No Good To Cry
2. Tryin’
3. Good Friends?
4. I Started Loving You Again
5. I’ll See You There
6. I Was Wondering
7. Where Evil Grows
8. Living Too Close To The Ground
9. Someone Must Have Jumped
10. So Used To Loving You
11. Remember The Rain
12. Wintermilk
    

Jon & Robin – Elastic Event [Vinyl] (1967)

Artist: Jon & Robin
Title: Elastic Event
Year: 1967
Format: LP
Label: Abnak

The male-female duo Jon & Robin are thought of as a one-hit wonder for their playful 1967 Top 20 hit “Do It Again a Little Bit Slower.” Actually, however, they recorded quite a bit in the mid-to-late ’60s, with an engaging if somewhat lightweight style craftily mixing AM radio mid-’60s pop/rock with a little psychedelia and Southern soul.

“Do It Again a Little Bit Slower” was certainly the best of their discs, with its likable male-female vocal tradeoffs, a “Cool Jerk”-like soul piano riff at strategic points, and an effective fadeout that languorously stretched out the suggestive title phrase.

But their two LPs and a bunch of 1965-1969 singles included some enjoyable material as well, devised with help from some fine songwriters and some of the best production and backup musician talent in their Dallas base.

The male half of the duo, Jon Abdnor, had recorded some solo singles for his millionaire father’s Abnak label before hooking up with teenage singer Javonne Braga, who was billed as “Robin” on the records the pair made together. Their one national hit, “Do It Again a Little Bit Slower” (see previous post) came from the pen of Wayne Carson Thompson, most famous for writing the Boxtops’ “The Letter.”

The duo also recorded several other Thompson compositions, including the fairly gritty soul-popper “Dr. Jon (The Medicine Man),” which was a big hit in Texas, although it didn’t break nationally. Jon & Robin themselves wrote little original material, although they did benefit from production by ex-rockabilly star Dale Hawkins and Mike Rabon of the Five Americans, a fellow Abnak act.

Indeed, several of the Five Americans played on some Jon & Robin sessions, and another Abnak artist, soul singer Bobby Patterson, also helped out with some of their recordings. By the end of the 1960s, however, Jon & Robin had split, though Jon Abdnor did put out a 1969 solo LP, Intro to Change, billed to John Howard Abdnor & the Involvement. (Richie Unterberger)

Track Listing

1. Doctor Jon
2. Honey Bee
3. Like I Know You Do
4. We Watched Each Other Fall In Love
5. Grizzely Bear
6. You Got Style
7. Just Imagine
8. Thursday Morning
9. By The Time I Get To Phoenix
10. Truly, Truly True
    

Jon & Robin – The Soul Of A Boy And Girl [Vinyl] (1967)

Artist: Jon & Robin
Title: The Soul Of A Boy & Girl
Year: 1967
Format: LP
Label: Abnak

Male-female duo Jon Abdnor and Javonne Braga had one hit in 1967 with “ Do It Again A Little Bit Slower”. They were from Dallas. Abdnor had recorded some solo singles for his father’s Abnak label. Another single “ Dr. Jon (The Medicine Man)” was written by Wayne Carson Thompson and was a big hit in Texas (see next post). The Five Americans played on most of their recordings. The duo split at the end of the 60’s. Abdnor recorded an album as the John Howard Abdnor Involvement. (musicknockout)

Track Listing

1. Do It Again-A Little Bit Slower
2. Come See About Me
3. I Found A Love
4. Love Me Baby
5. Hurt
6. Hold On, I’m Coming
7. Drums
8. Midnight Hour
9. I Can Make It With You
10. What Now, My Love
11. I, Who Have Nothing
12. I Want Some More
    

Your Gang – Your Gang [Vinyl] (1966)

Artist: Your Gang
Title: Your Gang
Year: 1966
Format: LP
Label: Mercury

The self-titled Your Gang LP was a late 1966 release on the Mercury Records label. Curt Boettcher cut the record during the period between his work on albums by the Association and Tommy Roe. It is the only album of instrumental music that he is known to have worked on.

Not much information is currently available regarding this lost chapter in the Curt Boettcher saga. What can be deduced is that the group Your Gang was actually comprised of Curt and his stable of sidemen. It’s the same line-up of musicians that appear on Mike Deasy’s 1967 Mercury LP release FRIAR TUCK AND HIS PSYCHEDELIC GUITAR (see previous post), for which Curt served as vocal arranger.

That line-up is as follows: Mike Deasy – lead guitar, Ben Benay – guitar, Mike Henderson – organ, Butch Parker – keyboards, Jerry Scheff – bass, Jim Bell – oboe, Toxey French – vibes, Jim Troxell – drums and Boettcher himself on percussion.

Most of these players also appeared on the Curt-produced albums for The Association and Tommy Roe. The Our Productions House Band (or “Your Gang”) as they were known were further augmented on this album by trombones, clarinets and even a tuba, but unfortunately the names of these brass and wind players may have already been lost to the ages.

The music contained within the grooves of YOUR GANG is something of an anomaly amongst Boettcher’s body of work. The sound is generally a throwback to the Dixieland jazz style of the roaring 1920s, quite like something one would expect to hear upon entering a house of burlesque. Dixie, or “trad jazz” as it is sometimes called, was popular in the 1960′s with young people who looked back upon the twenties as an era of unabashed good cheer and high times.

It was a natural fit with the sunshine pop sound of 1966-67, and groups such as the Association, the Mamas & Papas, Sopwith Camel, Lyme & Cybelle, the Sunshine Company and Spanky & Our Gang all incorporated it into their sound to some extent.

What’s missing from this particular record, however, is what any fan of Curt Boettcher would instantly expect from anything associated with the producer– soaring walls of harmony vocals and spacey studio experimentation. Instead, we are treated to a different side of the Our Productions House Band. It is fun to hear the musical give and take here between the rhythm section and the horns, quite unlike any of the other dynamic grooves that the O.P.H.B. specialized in.

Occasionally, a stellar instrumental run will break through the polished arrangements– Mike Deasy’s trademark guitar frenzy on the group’s own “Let’s Go Again” and the anonymous sax solo that penetrates the optimistic “Spoonful of Love” come to mind immediately. More often than not, however, the musicians relax comfortably into their groove and maintain stasis.

This, as well as the lack of vocals, may be why this album has failed to ignite much passion amongst Boettcher devotees. Occasionally, however, the group would try to stretch the Dixie sound to suit the 1960s, rather than simply matching hit songs to retro arrangements.

The most obvious example is the Boettcher-composed “Tomorrow’s Dreams”, a charming pop ditty reminiscent of Brian Wilson’s PET SOUNDS outtake “Trombone Dixie” (which was itself a forward-looking homage to the vintage “trad” sound.) Wilson and Boettcher had already crossed paths at this point during the infamous Lee Mallory vocal session at Columbia Studios.

Whether Curt had actually heard the unreleased Wilson track by the time of the Your Gang sessions is questionable. As to the issue of why the album itself was initially contrived, it is possible that the idea here was to market current pop music hits to an older generation of record buyers.

However, despite takes on the current hits “Daydream”, “Rainy Day Women”, “These Boots Are Made for Walking”, and the Mamas & Papas’ version of the Beatles “I Call Your Name”, the album didn’t make the charts and any notion of a Your Gang follow-up was quickly dropped. According to author Kingsley Abbott, Boettcher would later disavow any involvement in the making of the Your Gang album.

After the Your Gang sessions, Curt and Jim Bell went on to record with The Ballroom, while Ben Benay, Jerry Scheff and Toxey French (now ensconced on the drums) would team up to back Lee Mallory as the Lee Mallory Group during various gigs around L.A. Mallory was also a part-time contributor to the Ballroom who would go on to work with Curt and Gary Usher on the classic Sagittarius PRESENT TENSE LP. Around that time, Benay, Scheff and French formed their own band Goldenrod.

Their self-titled 1967 LP contained a fantastic instrumental version of Mallory’s “Karmic Dream Sequence #1″. The Goldenrod were all offered slots in the Millennium, but Benay and French chose to persue their careers as session musicians instead. (Scheff would go on to serve as the Millennium’s unofficial bass player.)

The 1969 ouster of nearly all of the Gary Usher contingent at Columbia Records would mark the end of the association of most of these musicians, though Curt would continue to work with Deasy and Benay occasionally over the next few years. (Jason Penick)

Track Listing

1. Day Dream
2. Sign Of The Times
3. Let’s Go Again
4. Tomorrow’s Dreams
5. Rainy Day Women 12 & 35
6. Leaning On The Lampost
7. These Boots Are Made For Walking
8. Journey To Nowhere
9. Charleston
10. Spoonful Of Love
11. I Call Your Name