Easy, Breezy Mix
It’s still hot and summery outside, right? Good. There’s still time to enjoy Easy, Breezy, the scrubbles.net Summer 2009 mix. This one treads familiar ground as it focuses on Sunshine Pop and other soft yet exciting music produced between 1967 and 1971. Some of this stuff is brand new to me, others are old favorites that I first heard 8 or 9 years ago, when I was first discovering this kind of music. Notes:
The Committee — California My Way. Perfect opening: sunny, optimistic pop.
The Vogues — She Is Today. Another strong track that comes on like gangbusters.
Egberto Gismonti — Janela De Ouro. Out-there Brazilian does a groovy Euro soundtrack thing. Stereolab dig him.
Dilys Watling — Have Another Dream On Me. Toothache-inducing girl pop from England.
The Girls From Petticoat Junction — I’m So Glad That I Found You. Marvy TV tie-in, first heard on the Luxuria radio station.
Barbra Streisand — Our Corner Of The Night. Who’da thunk that Babs could sound like a mod ’60s flower girl? Apparently Streisand must still be mortified by this 1968 single, since it’s never appeared anywhere in the 41 years since it first came out. (thanks to Ion for this)
Lesley Gore — Small Talk. Marvelously mellow ’68 single. I suppose Mercury records thought Lesley was obsolete by this time, since this hidden gem did nothing for her career.
Nick DeCaro — I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. I love Nick DeCaro and his offbeat, wimpy sounding voice (the guy was much better known as an arranger than as a singer). Check out his ’74 soft rock masterpiece Italian Graffitti for more.
Carpenters — I Kept On Loving You. The Carpenters recorded a lot of well-known Roger Nichols/Paul Williams songs (“Rainy Days and Mondays,” etc.). This particular one is a hidden gem off their Close To You album with Richard singing lead.
The Groop — The Jet Song (When The Weekend’s Over). Invigorating Fifth Dimension soundalike.
Paul Williams — So Many People. So many great tracks to choose from off Paul’s wonderful Someday Man album. This is a personal favorite.
Tony & Carolyn — We’ve Only Just Begun/I’ll Be There. Wonderfully loungy vocals on this undeservedly obscure 1971 Motown single. Has a total “Happy hour at the DeMoines Holiday Inn” vibe — but I so love Carolyn’s voice!
Hugo Montenegro — Hair/Aquarius. Had to end on this. Just had to.
Outstanding mix, my friend! Great cover too — looks much betta in color :) Will have some feedback for you soon. I am puzzled by the vocals on the Partridge Family cut, as the lead singer doesn’t sound anything like David Cassidy or any other Partridge for that matter. What’s the story?
Okay. I figured it out. Vocals are by Ron Hicklin, from the studio back-up band. One more mystery solved.
Yeah, that was one of the Love Generation songs they used in the pilot episode, before the producers figured out that David Cassidy could sing.
Ron also does vocals on another nice PF song called “Together (Havin’ A Ball).” Do you have that one? Might have to shell out 99 cents for it at the i-Tunes store.
The Free Design… They’re the greatest and kites are fun.
What a great bunch of fun this mix is, Matt! GREAT JOB! Thanks again. :-)