Of Cabbages & Kings [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Chad & Jeremy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 25, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B000068FTV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,510 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Rest In Peace

2. The Gentle Cold Of Dawn

3. Busman's Holiday

4. Can I See You

5. Family Way

6. I'll Get Around To It When And If I Can

7. Progress Suite: Prologue

8. Progress Suite: Decline

9. Progress Suite: Editorial

10. Progress Suite: Fall

11. Progress Suite: Epilogue

12. Manners Maketh Man

13. Cautionary Tale

14. The Gentle Cold Of Dawn (instrumental)

15. Rest In Piece (single version)

16. Painted Dayglow Smile

17. Sister Marie

Editorial Reviews

Description Having led the LA division of the British Invasion for some years - appearing on 'Batman' no less that most British of duos Chad & Jeremy were feeling the changing times and were ready to pull out the stops in creating a studio masterpiece to rival the best of em. Super-producer Gary Usher was enlisted and brought along his full menagerie: Curt Boettcher, The Firesign Theatre, members of The Millennium and the wrecking crew. Despite this hallowed company, our boys remained resolutely in command, emerging as gifted writers, arrangers and performers in the process. 'Of Cabbages And Kings' was their finest half hour, bursting with invention and experimentation just witness the sidelong 'Progress Suite' for proof of their ambition. Produced in cooperation with Chad & Jeremy themselves! Wonderfully remastered by Norman Blake at Studio 3 and featuring out-takes and alternate versions! A must for all fans of full-on baroque pop, cut-glass electric folk and gentle psychedelia! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great album from the 60's that you've never heard of, July 13, 2002

By 

anomj7t7 "anomj7t7" (Quinton, Va United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Of Cabbages & Kings (Audio CD)

This was the first(If I'm not mistaken about the sequence) of two grossly neglected late 60's albums by Chad and Jeremy, the other of which was the incredibly brilliant "The Ark".Eccentric trippy psychedelia firmly entrenched in the "Sgt. Pepper" mold is the best way to describe both albums,and it's hard to say which one is best...but if you know about and loved "the Ark" then trust me,you'll love "of cabbages and kings".The songs "rest in peace" and "the progress suite" have quite the satirical bite,the kind you wouldn't expect from those loveable moptops who brought us the wonderfully romantic "A summer song".It's about time this album was reissued...and the bonus tracks compelled me to shell out the extra change and retire my (much played) vinyl copy.The single version of "Painted dayglow smile"is a real treat. Rescue this album from undeserved obscurity...it's one of those albums like "Pet sounds" by the Beach boys or "Imperial Bedroom" by Elvis Costello...if you love "Sgt. Pepper" you'll love this album!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Peek Behind the Looking Glass, May 18, 2007

By 

PHILIP S WOLF (SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Of Cabbages & Kings (Audio CD)

It must be Stated that in 1967, it was NOT considered cool to be Listening to Chad & Jeremy. The Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane were the Faves of the Day, just add Love Beads and you were GROOVY BABY !!!

I never saw "Of Cabbages and Kings" in the Record Bins in 67, But I wish I had found this one, it's a bit of a 'Lost Masterpiece' and I don't feel it's Trapped into it's Time Period of the Trippy Mid-Sixties, as a Fine piece of Pop, it Hold's it's own as a Unique and Clever Curio. This is Good Music and it is as Much a Classical Piece as a Slice of the Pop pie.

The Songs: "Rest in Peace", "Can I See You" and "I'll Get Around To It When I Can" are Wonderful and "I'll Get Around To It" COULD have been a BIG HIT, it's that Good.

Side Two of "Cabbages & Kings" presents the 'Progress Suite' in all it's Glory and for me it Works on One Level: It's Fine Music and well Played, but it is far removed from the Pop music of it's Day (the Sitars DO NOT make it cool) by simply being Mixed in there amoung the British Chatter and Clock Sounds. The 'Suite is Closer to a Soundtrack of a Doris Day Movie than it is to Rock Music. This is an Grand Experiment BUT it does not hold up over the LP's second Side, Sorry, but that's the truth. The Success of Chad & Jeremy is that you Build Beautiful Music AROUND Their Fantastic Vocal Skills and there lies the Secret as to why we Like their Music in the First place. But, in it's defense this piece of Music was recorded before the Release of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper (Jan-Mar 67)but it was Finished up after Pepper's June 67 release and I would think most of the Overdubbing was Added at that time..Too Bad.

If they had toned it down a bit I Believe the Music of Chad & Jeremy would have Survived these Hippy-Drippy Times. Good Acoustic Music was two years down the road with the likes of C,S,N & Y and others. I believe these two Guys kinda took a wierd turn to 'Pysche it Up' against their better instincts and it Killed them in the end.


I am very Glad to see the Music of Chad & Jeremy Alive and well in 2007
FOUR STARS

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Review by somebody who bought the LP in 1967, January 27, 2003

By 

Gary Weinraub (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Of Cabbages & Kings (Audio CD)

I bought the LP "Of Cabbages and Kings" in the fall of 1967 because of a foolish error. I had heard a song called "Painted Dayglow Smile" that was being played almost nightly by Rosko, a disk jockey who had a popular radio show on WNEW FM in New York City. I thought that "Painted Dayglow Smile" was a really great record and I was very anxious to buy it, but I was surprised to hear Rosko reveal that it was by Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde. I had practically forgotten all about Chad and Jeremy, even though I knew that they were still around because I had recently seen them on an episode of the "Batman" television series.
Chad and Jeremy were being played on the AM radio shortly after the arrival of The Beatles. I had heard the duo's first American single release "Yesterdays Gone" in the early summer of 1964, and I liked the song as much as I liked any British Invasion records that were out at that time. I not only bought "Yesterdays Gone" when the record was released on the World Pacific label, I also purchased their follow up hits, including "A Summer Song" and "Willow Weep For Me."
Chad and Jeremy always seemed to me to be a little too polished to be just a couple of singers who strummed guitars. I remember seeing the twosome in guest starring roles on several situation comedy television series in the mid-'60`s, including "The Patty Duke Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Their comedy timing as the fictional "The Redcoats" on Van Dyke's program made me think that these Englishmen were really actors who were masquerading as rock `n' rollers.
Columbia Records signed Chad and Jeremy to a big contract in 1965, and began releasing a lot of albums and singles, including the LP "Distant Shores." I remember seeing that album in the record stores at the time, but I have to admit that I never bought any of their discs after "Willow Weep For Me." In fact, Chad and Jeremy didn't have a hit on any of the NYC top forty radio stations after Christmas, 1964.
So I found myself in late 1967 searching out the records stores for a copy of Chad and Jeremy's "Painted Dayglow Smile." I never did find it, but I did unearth the obscure album "Of Cabbages and Kings" by Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde, as they were now billed. The colorful cover showed the pair of musicians dressed in Indian-like garb, and they were seated in front of a painted psychedelic background that featured characters from the Lewis Carroll poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter." I had often wondered if The Rolling Stones used the cover of "Of Cabbages and Kings" as a model for the soon to be released "Their Satanic Majesties Request."
I bought "Of Cabbages and Kings" even though I did not find "Painted Dayglow Smile" listed anywhere on the back cover. Songs with titles such as "Rest In Peace" and "The Gentle Cold of Dawn" made up most side one, and there was something called "The Progress Suite" on side two. I made the purchase thinking that maybe "Painted Dayglow Smile" was included in "The Progress Suite."
The opening of "Of Cabbages and Kings" was obviously influenced by The Beatles "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band," right down to the squeaks and groans of a tuning orchestra. Jeremy Clyde is then heard self-importantly reciting a line from Carroll's famous poem: "The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and ceiling wax, of cabbages and kings..." (interestingly, Chad and Jeremy were talking about walruses at least three months before John Lennon sang that he is one). There is then heard the grunts of someone laboriously hammering and chiseling stone. The sound effects finally lead into the opening strains of "Rest In Peace," with lyrics like "my name it is Mathews, and I've got it made, a memorial maker, it's a profitable trade...".
I listened to all of the ballads and satirical songs on side one, including "Busman's Holiday" and "Can I See You." There was also a funny song about teenage pregnancy, which I liked very much. I noticed that a lot of the songs featured the then trendy sounds of sitars and tablas, and there was also a lot of Sergeant Pepper-like special effects added to the tracks, like babies crying and crowd noises. I flipped the LP over, and listened to "The Progress Suite," which featured a lot of social commentary and humor that I really did not understand. I then realized that I had been duped; "Painted Dayglow Smile" was nowhere to be found on "Of Cabbages and Kings."
Despite my faux pas, I had my LP copy of "Of Cabbages and Kings" for over twenty years. I still liked to listen to it on occasion, especially side one. I always thought that Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde were very underrated, and I was not surprised to see the Sundazed record label reissue "Of Cabbages and Kings."
Chad and Jeremy released yet another concept LP on Columbia Records in the late summer of 1968 called "The Ark." I was amazed to see "Painted Dayglow Smile" listed on the album's back. I bought "The Ark" and upon listening to it realized that "Painted Dayglow Smile" had been re-recorded in stereo. To make matters worse, this version was ruined, at least for me, with a lot of annoying and weird sound effects. So now I had purchased two Chad and Jeremy LP's and I still did not get the song I wanted.
Thirty four years later, I was able to purchase the Sundazed CD release of "Of Cabbages and Kings" which includes a bonus track of the original Columbia Records 45 RPM version of "Painted Dayglow Smile" (the one Rosko played on the radio so many years ago.) After all these years, "Painted Dayglow Smile" is back where it belongs.