Genesis

Wendy & Bonnie

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 29, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B00005JY2E
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #319,923 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Genesis, the sole album by SF-based sisters Wendy and Bonnie Flower, ranks as one of the most remarkable unheard albums of 1969. With melodic confections laced with radiant sisterly harmony, the breezy Brazilian splashes and soft-rock strains of Genesis convey a sophistication that belies the artists' tender ages (Wendy 17, Bonnie 13). Produced for reissue by Irwin Chusid (author of "Songs In The Key Of Z: The Curious Universe Of Outsider Music") with Wendy & Bonnie's full participation, Genesis makes its long-awaited official CD bow with 5 bonus tracks, interviews with Wendy & Bonnie, and a treasure trove of candid photos.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Jewel, December 24, 2003

By	Music fan "musfan" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

The first time I listened to this CD, I thought it sounded incredibly dated, with nasal vocals and songwriting that lacked any semblance of craft. First impressions could not have been more wrong.

Buy this record. Be patient, stay with it, let it draw you into its unique and haunting world. The honesty, sensitivity, and sheer melodic invention of "Genesis" is simply astonishing. The songs have a musical logic all their own, with layers of complexity that only repeated listenings can reveal. The wonderfully psych-y Crystal Fountain song is my favorite, but magic permeates every cut on the album.

The harmonies are Beatlesque, always reaching for the unexpected interval. No boring, predictable triads here--musical surprises abound.

If you're weary of today's shallow, uninspired, and self-involved singer-songwriters, you need this album.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sisterly harmony from heaven, March 14, 2003

By A Customer

This is a very cool album. While it is definitely a late-'60s period piece, it's appeal is timeless. The Flower sisters had a dark-angel harmony. Their moody take on the world is both innocently wide-eyed, yet wise beyond their tender years (17 and 13). The musicianship, by a soft-psychedelic stable of first-rate session players (guitarist Larry Carlton, drummer Jim Keltner, keyboardist Mike Melvoin, etc.) under the guidance of lounge-jazz wizard Gary McFarland (Producer), is superb, adding colorful atmospherics and breezy Brazilian washes. This album was obscure -- the original record label went out of business shortly after the album came out in 1969 -- but it has had a deserved cult following for decades. Tim and Laetitia of Stereolab are known to be big fans (Tim called it "undeniably a great LP"), and it's obvious why -- Wendy and Bonnie had trail-blazed a similar musical path 25 years before. The voices are gentle, but never vapid. The arrangements are sophisticated, and the songcraft is solid. Genesis manages to avoid many of the cliches of late '60s SF psychedelia. The four acoustic demo bonus tracks are interesting, but not as compelling as the whole of the original Genesis album. Perhaps if McFarland hadn't died young and the girls had continued recording together, those demos might have been the foundation of an incredible second album. Where are the Flower sisters now?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, January 13, 2003

By	williambourque (Waltham, Ma) - See all my reviews

I put this CD in and couldn't believe that two teenagers had written the subject matter. While admittedly some of it is outdated and flighty, when you put into perspective who wrote the lyrics and when it was recorded, this album is pretty darn impressive.

The vocal arrangements are superb, with the vocals themselves being wonderfully done by two teenage sisters from San Francisco. The musicians that were backing them up were true masters of their craft, with the organ and the mellotron coming to the forefront of many tracks. The album runs the gamut of slow and methodical to pyschedelic.

"Let Yourself Go Another Time" and "Hanging up on my Mind" are nice little pop ditties. "The Paisley Window Paine" has to be my favorite song on the album, though, with its heartbroken tone and slow bass line. The bonus tracks are also great, offering the listener a glimpse of the sisters' creative processes.

Its a great reissue of a lost treasure of an album. Listening to it will bring you back to an easier time, when 16 year olds with tremendous talent like Wendy wrote about things that mattered. Buy this.