Yellow Balloon [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Yellow Balloon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 10, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B0000064Z1
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,929 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. How Can I Be Down

2. Stained Glass Window

3. Baby Baby It's You

4. Panama Red

5. I've Got A Feeling For Love

6. Yellow Balloon

7. Good Feelin' Time

8. Follow The Sunshine

9. Springtime Girl

10. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love

11. Junk Maker Shoppe

12. Yellow Balloon

13. The Children Of St. Monica (by Don Grady with The WindupwatchBand)

14. A Good Man To Have Around The House

15. Impressions With Syvonne (by Don Grady)

16. Leaving It Up To You (by Don Grady)

17. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love (single version)

18. Follow The Sunshine (alternate mono mix)

19. How Can I Be Down (demo version)

20. Gary Zekley Interview

Editorial Reviews

1998 Sundazed reissue of rare 1967 album for the Canterbury label by Gary Zekley's pop band. A wispy bridge joining the trippy studio wizardry of Sagittarius and the mind-bending delights of The Beach Boys 'Smile' era, it features all 11 original tracks & nine bonus tracks: 'noollaB wolleY', 'The Children Of Santa Monica', 'A Good Man To Have Around The House', 'Impressions With Syvonne', 'Leaving It Up To You', 'Can't Get Enough Of Your Love' (Single Version), 'Follow The Sunshine' (Alternate Mono Mix), 'How Can I Be Down' (Demo Version) & a Gary Zekley interview. 20 tracks total on this Sundazed reissue.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trippy light-hearted sunshine pop -, February 2, 2004

By 

Blind man Wayne (JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Yellow Balloon (Audio CD)

Those of you who enjoy The Association or Harpers Bizarre and dig the west-coast sound of the late 60s, will enjoy The Yellow Balloon. The song Yellow Balloon was a mild hit in 1967 and I remember hearing it on KFRC in San Francisco. I recently re-discovered the song when it appeared on a various artists compilation entitled Sunshine Days (which I highly recommend), released by Varese Sarabande. I liked the song so much that I took a chance and bought the The Yellow Balloon CD. It is beautiful and upbeat with complex harmonies, light-hearted lyrics and wonderful musicianship. One particular song on the album entitled Follow The Sunshine teases your brain and beckons you to follow the melodic and rhythmic shifts occurring throughout it. Follow The Sunshine sounded odd and awkward during the first couple listens, but since has become my favorite track. The album is especially entertaining when listened to with stereo headphones. I am giving this CD five stars because I enjoy it immensely and to commend Sundazed Music for packaging it so nicely with wonderful liner notes and bonus tracks. Speaking of bonus tracks, it features nine of them including the B side of the Yellow Balloon single, which is the song played backwards!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous sunshine pop, January 13, 2004

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Yellow Balloon (Audio CD)

Originally released in 1967, The Yellow Balloon's sole LP fell into the Sunshine Pop category that bridged more substantial rock sounds to the lighter bubblegum that would follow. The melodies and harmonies shimmer with the sort of gloss that would later power the Kanetz-Katz and Don Kirshner stables, but at the budding of the psychedelic revolution, were still owned by The Turtles, Left Banke, Association and others.

The band's principals were drummer Don Grady (TV's Robbie Douglas from "My Three Sons") and producer/songwriter Gary Zekley. Grady had musical bona fides, having played with his own group for a number of years, and Zekley had been observing sessions by Spector and Brian Wilson, and penning songs for Jan & Dean, among others. Zekley's "Yellow Balloon" was a self-produced hit in need of a touring band, hence the formation of The Yellow Balloon. Together with Grady they picked players the latter had spotted in his touring and promotional travels.

For the most part, the assembled "band" provided vocals - many of the album's tracks were recorded by the West Coast A-team (Carole Kaye, Don Randi, Al Casey, Jim Gordon, et al.) in the famed studios of Los Angeles (Sound Recorders, Western Recorders, etc.). The productions are certainly more Brian Wilson (or even Gary Usher, really) than Phil Spector: light instrumentals that underline and reflect complex vocal arrangements and harmonies. The songs are at once light-and-airy in their atmosphere, and masterfully complex in their construction.

Zekley wrote most of the album's eleven tracks, with one credited to Agrati (Don Grady's real last name), and a pair to Byrne/Ferrell. While not as purposefully simple (that is, not as pointedly directed at 8-year-old girls) as the follow-on bubblegum sound, there is a lot of semi-stoned gazing at shiny, colorful objects. The real story is to be heard in the interplay of voices, rather than the lyrics. The multilayered vocals of "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" is a perfect example - strong enough to have the instrumental backing drop out mid-track, leaving the choral-like arrangement to carry the middle.

Sundazed's CD reissue adds a generous nine tracks to the original eleven, including the hit single's original B-side, a backward version of the A-side! Also included are a quartet of tracks from Don Grady (including his pre-Yellow Balloon regional hit, "The Children of St. Monica"), different mixes (single, alternate mix, demo) of album tracks, and an interview with Gary Zekley. Domenic Priore's liner notes are incredibly detailed, providing an introduction to Gary Zekley's career and a blow-by-blow creation, success and fizzle arc of the band that's illuminated by numerous first-person quotes.

This is a superb document of the West Coast sunshine sound - the rich vein of music that bubbled just under the well-known successes of The Beach Boys and others.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I've got a reason to like it, June 29, 2004

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yellow Balloon (Audio CD)

Gary Zekley recorded a demo for a song called "Yellow Balloon" that he was sure would be a smash hit. The demo found it's way to Dean Torrence (of Jan & Dean) who decided to record it as Jan & Dean's next single. Zekley showed up at Dean's recording session for the song and he was dismayed by what he heard. In his mind, they were performing the song the wrong way and there was no way it would be a hit. So, Zekley recorded his own version of "Yellow Balloon" the "right" way. Zekley's version was released under the group name "The Yellow Balloon" and became a #25 hit. Jan & Dean's version flopped. So, The Yellow Balloon had a hit song, but there was no actual group. A group was quickly assembled to tour in support of the song. It should be noted that none of the members of the Yellow Balloon band actually performed on "Yellow Balloon" the song. However, all the subsequent songs released under the Yellow Balloon group name did feature the band members (one of whom was Don Grady of My Three Sons fame). There was actually a Yellow Balloon album released, which is what we have here. It is fun, California style "sunshine pop" which is quite enjoyable if you like this sort of thing. There are several bonus tracks. "noollaB wolleY" is the original b-side of "Yellow Balloon", which is "Yellow Balloon" played backwards. Then we have the a-sides and b-sides of two Don Grady solo singles. The single version of "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" is included, and it's 45 seconds shorter than the album version. There is an alternate mono mix of "Follow the Sunshine". The demo version of "How Can I Be Down" features Gary Zekley singing alone (double tracked at times) and accompanied only by acoustic guitar. The CD winds up with a seven minute interview with Zekley about the making of "Yellow Balloon". It's fairly interesting, but I don't think too many people will want to listen to the interview more than once. Recommended to fans of the 1960s California scene.