This is a nice little folk-rock, pop-psych tinged album from 1968 California. It’s a pleasant fun listen, and has an interesting back story, which is what drew me to include this as an Album of the Week.
The opening song, Sanctuary reminds me of Strawberry Alarm Clock, which is not surprising as the producer, Frank Slay, also produced Strawberry Alarm Clock. As well, the song was written by the duo of Tim Gilbert & John Carter, who also wrote “Incense & Peppermint” for the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Frank Slay used their songs for many of the acts he produced.
There are other cover songs here, most notably for me “Catch the Wind” (Donovan) and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (Bob Dylan), and The Yankee Dollar interprets them in a way as to make them their own.
There is extensive use of the Farfisa organ and fuzz guitar throughout the album, and the vocals of Lisa Gonzales at times hint at Grace Slick. The harmonies are good and certainly examples of the late ’60’s pop-psych sound.
Given this sound and the timing, what could have been for this band? Certainly, to me, they could have been in the same discussion as Strawberry Alarm Clock or other contemporaries, however, they appeared to have been shunned from radio play because of a grudge from a radio boss. Frank Slay had a band called Rainy Daze record another Gilbert & Clark tune called “That Acapulco Gold” and it hit the Billboard Top 100. The radio boss in question had not realized that the song was about marijuana, and being conservative & anti-drug, had the song pulled from programming once he realized the song’s meaning. He was upset with Frank Slay and worked to prevent Frank Slay acts from getting air time.
I’m sure that this was not an isolated case, that much good music was not presented to us for a variety of reasons, some of which may be a little shady. Certainly music availability “back in the day” was at the hands of the very few. One of the benefits of today’s access to social media is that artists can get their music out with little interference from “the man”. I know that the prevalence of the internet and media such as YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, etc. are making lesser known historical work much more available, but that also depends on the original material being available on recorded media & by copyright licensing.
The band never made a second album given a split in musical direction among members, thus dissolving the band in 1968. The original album ended with “Johann Sebastian Cheetah”. “Mucky Truckee River” and “Reflections of a Shattered Mind” were recorded for the second album, and included on a re-release of the original album by Arkama Records.
Interview here with two members of the band: Greg Likins and Lisa Gonzales.
Review here from the Rockasteria blog.