I heard this song while in a CD store today and wanted to share this one . It's by a group called "The Palace Guard". It was a house band for the Hullabaloos Club on the Sunset Strip, Los Angeles, in the mid-sixties.
Garage Rock was a type of music that was popular in Southern California and grew out of a blend of American pop music and the British influence from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, among other bands.
I couldn't find a wikipedia entry or a website for The Palace Guard, but I did find an entry for their lead member, Emitt Rhodes, who went on to a solo career. After "The Palace Guard" broke up, he went on to a group called The Merry Go Round.
"The Merry-Go-Round had a recording contract with A&M Records when they disbanded in 1969. Rhodes recorded songs at A&M for a solo album to be entitled The American Dream, but A&M decided to not release it at the time. Rhodes then decided to go out on his own and bought equipment to make a recording studio in his parents' garage.
"Rhodes recorded his first album (Emitt Rhodes) in that home studio. He got a recording contract with ABC/Dunhill Records, who released his album, as well as the next two albums he recorded (Mirror and Farewell to Paradise). Rhodes got a $5,000 advance for Emitt Rhodes, which he spent on recording equipment. His first album was a critical success – Billboard called Rhodes "one of the finest artists on the music scene today" and later called his first album one of the "best albums of the decade". The album reached number 29 on the Billboard charts. The single "Fresh as a Daisy" reached number 54 on the pop chart.
"Meanwhile, shortly after Mirror was released in 1971 by Dunhill, A&M decided to release their old recordings of The American Dream, which confused record buyers. Mirror did reach the top 200 on Billboard's album chart. In 1973 Dunhill released Rhodes' final album, Farewell to Paradise."
He apparently is still an active musician and worked as a music engineer on other bands albums.
Other more popular bands labeled "garage bands" at the time were Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Box Tops and The Seeds.
Emmit Rhodes was a genius.
ReplyDeleteThe band and I played "Live" from Merry Go Round's one and only album - it turned out to be the only piece the band did which charted above #10 ("She's a Very Lovely Woman" charted around #40, if memory recalls).
I remember "Fresh as a Daisy" very well - I thought at the time (age 16) that the only thing Rhodes lacked was a band.
Personal connection -- in the early '80's, the fellow who had played drums in our band was living in L.A., and ran into Emmit in a grocery check-out line. He didn't want to be remembered. I understood later that he'd been suffering from depression, drug use, and a bunch of other stuff.
Postscript:
Here's a homemade video of "Live" from the Merry Go Round's 1966 album:
Sad. An artist definitely underreported and underrated.
Thanks for this post of very rare and early 'Baroque Pop'.
Thanks, Astra, for filling in those details for me. A sad story indeed when someone with that much talent goes under-appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAnother gem! I like that one.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be pure luck whether or not a DJ, or music magazine pushes a certain album and makes it popular. This is a shame because so many talented people are overlooked, quite often for a group who only produces one good song that has been favoured and the rest is pure rubbish. I like that track, Doug.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing
"Live" is another good track. It's wonderful when people find their own way. It must take so much energy and determination to set up your own studio. Not only that, but plough your own money into it, because you know you have something to offer the music world.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Cassandra. It's hard to listen to this track and the one that Astra generously added, "Live", and not wonder if members of Palace Guard and Merry Go Round just got a raw deal. Both songs sound like Top 40 quality to me.
ReplyDeleteIt does take a lot of courage-I always admire performers in art who are willing to invest money and time to get "in the arena" as Theodore Roosevelt said, and put their creative work to the acid bath of commercial success or failure.
ReplyDelete