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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
California dreaming sunshine pop masterpiece, July 14, 2005
This extraordinary collection of recordings is perhaps the jewel in the crown of two legendary California singer-songwriter-arranger-producers: Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher. While it was released as an album (all of whose 11 original tracks are included here), its confluence of original sources makes this something of a collective, rather than a group album.
The roots of these recordings lay in Usher's overflowing fountain of creativity. Having written, produced and recorded dozens of albums in a short period of time (often alone or with studio musicians and pals), he found his role as a top producer at Columbia (Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, etc.) to be limiting. He began to spend off-hours in the studio creating new works, and after failing to pitch Chad & Jeremy on the song "My World Fell Down" (previously recorded by the UK's Ivy League), decided to record it himself. Usher gathered elements of the legendary Wrecking Crew, along with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston and touring Beach Boy Glen Campbell (who sang lead) to wax what would become a #70 hit.
Interestingly, modern day listeners probably know "My World Fell Down" more from its inclusion on Lenny Kaye's original "Nuggets" compilation than they do from the original single or album release. The relative success of the single did bring a demand from label head Clive Davis for more, and Usher quickly began assembling material from the fictional Sagittarius (named after his astrological sign), eventually in conjunction with up-and-coming star Curt Boettcher.
Boettcher's early work with the group Ballroom yielded several tracks for the album, including the original recordings of "Would You Like To Go" and "Musty Dusty, as well as several more songs ("Another Time" "Song to the Magic Frog" and "Keep of the Games") that were re-recorded. It's a mark of Usher and Boettcher's synchronicity that the previously-recorded works fit the Sagittarius album so perfectly. Though produced a bit less lushly than the multi-voiced orchestrations they'd purpose-build for the album, the tone matched the album's slightly-high autumnal pop. At turns this is mindful of Brian Wilson's more complex works, the intense vocal arrangements that Boettcher pioneered with The Association, and the bubblegum psychedelia of The Lemon Pipers and Strawberry Alarm Clock.
What began as a downtime hobby for Usher turned into a full-blown collaboration with Boettcher, and an album with an extraordinary ratio of latter-day-collectability versus at-the-time-purchase. Sundazed's masterful CD reissue augments the original album with nine bonus tracks, seven of which are previously unreleased. Most importantly, the original single versions of "My World Fell Down" and "Hotel Indiscreet" display the odd bridges that Usher was forced (by Columbia) to edit away for the album. The former's middle part is a melange of bullfight music, baby cries and alarm clocks, while the latter includes an unusual spoken-word passage from Usher's then-recent label signing, The Firesign Theater. Firesign's Peter Bergman turns up again (as he did on many Usher productions of the era) on "Mass #586." Also of great interest is Boettcher's demo of "The Keeper of the Games," highlighting his singing in a setting that is much less ornate than usual for his finished works.
Dawn Eden's liner notes are terrific, and additional song notes flesh out some of the compositional and recording history. The original engineering of Roy Halee and Tom May has left us with sparkling clean tapes of a California masterpiece.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lushly beautiful "lost" album, November 16, 2002
Idiosyncratically beautiful album from 1968, full of gorgeous melodies, lush harmonies, and stunning musicianship and production. A one-shot project by producer Gary Usher and many of L.A.'s elite session musicians (including Glen Campbell), it's a shame this album has been so overlooked for so long. Those who enjoy the late 1960s Beach Boys, Association, Harpers Bizarre, and the like will find much to appreciate in this stunning CD. Excellent dynamics and overall sound quality plus several bonus tracks just sweetens the deal.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than an album..., April 28, 1999
By A Customer
Between 1966 and 1968 Gary Usher could made his big dream: making his own record. He met Curt Boettcher, a member of a califonia's sound band called Ballroom, and they made togheter this great record, indoubtly influded by Brian Wilson's masterpieces (Pet Sounds and Smile). This record is full of little unknown jewels of pop music history: "My world fell down", "Get the message", "Lonely girl", the Usher's lisergic get into "The Truth Is Not Real"... Almost an hour of really amazing songs, sweeted with the androginous voice of Curt... Thanks to Bob Irwin (Sundazed Cappo) to rediscover that.
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