Sunlight - Creation Of Sunlight (1970) [Original Pressing]

 Sunlight - Creation Of Sunlight

Original 1970 USA (private?) pressing

Windi Records WS 1001  (Discogs)
~ThePoodleBites rip in 96kHz / 24bit FLAC + full high-res scans!~

"It's a brand new thing never thought before

It takes a strange state of mind to even open the door..."

I've had this album sitting on my hard drive for a number of months, and I finally had some time to clean it up for a proper blog post here. Most '60s enthusiasts will be quite familiar with this pop-psych extravaganza, but in fact it was totally unknown to collectors until around 1984-5, when a quantity of sealed copies were found at a SoCal flea market (along with Merkin, the Cardinali Brothers, ...). [Thanks CF for this tidbit!]

Some probably will find its obscurity surprising, because several numbers on this LP definitely could've ruled the airwaves as nationwide hits in the late '60s... But they just never made it: contrary to popular belief, and much to my amazement, I discovered today by digging through old issues of Billboard that the commonly-stated release date of 1968 for this LP is totally false, and in fact this album wasn't released until November of 1970! So no wonder it didn't sell, these sounds were expired in the dawn of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, etc. Regardless, this album is certainly one of the rare legends of music lore which is strong enough to compete with any popular album on the major labels, but seemingly never got the chance. 

But that means this month is the perfect time to post this rip. Happy 50th birthday, Creation Of Sunlight!

Front cover for Creation Of Sunlight, with Are You Experienced?-styled fisheye band photo placed on a blazing orange sun

The band originally formed in 1968 under the name Sunlights' Seven, in typical mid-'60s style, enumerating the number of group members in the band name. Based in Long Beach, California (though vocalist Gary Young was originally from Oklahoma City), all were obviously a part of the burgeoning L.A. music scene, which one can easily hear as heavily influencing their sound. After releasing a debut 45 on the private Entra Records label, the band updated its name to just 'Sunlight,' which was perceived as more hip to the late-'60s scene. While the album's front cover design and labels only state 'Creation Of Sunlight,' the band never went by this title. In fact, the back cover references the band name 'Sunlight' twice, but it's so sneakily done that apparently most people have missed it, wrongly referring to the band as 'Creation Of Sunlight' for years; even the Wikipedia page does it! (Indeed, the label tried to capitalize off this mistake; see Klemen Breznikar's interview with Steve Montague here.) 

Original back cover slick for the Creation Of Sunlight LP

While we now know that the album wasn't released until nearly 1971(!), many of the tracks were recorded earlier, over the course of four main tracking sessions and a couple of sweetening and mixing sessions, from December 1968 through the summer of 1969, at Independent Recorders in north Hollywood, and cut to acetate by the famous DCT Recorders studio in Hollywood. [Thanks Steve Montague for this correction!] The two extant acetate variants are credited to Sunlights' Seven, which feature several of the tracks (and likely the exact same stereo mixes) that would appear on the Creation Of Sunlight LP after the band secured a contract with (or, rather, formed?) the Windi Records label.

Dates aside, fans of sunshine pop will find tons of stuff to love here. The opening track, "David," is a favorite for many (and I don't mind it, either). It's a song about a child who can take himself wherever he pleases with his imagination, totally in line with typical '60s teenaged escapism themes. There are lots of pop-oriented tunes, e.g. "Sometimes A Woman" with thoroughly cringe-worthy lyrics (think "Onie" by the Electric Prunes), which undoubtedly pleased their audiences of several hundred patrons per night back in 1968-69. Some tracks have prominent use of horns, which may turn some people off, but it's pretty tastefully done. There's also lots of flute playing, which is spacious and extraordinary. 

The original California 'sunlight'

What makes this album so memorable, though, are the terrific, unique psychedelic moments, especially on "Light Without Heat" (white light without... white heat?) and "The Fun Machine." The former gives me a rush like those first waves of good ole pure Orange Sunshine; close your eyes after the chorus and you can feel the world before you warping, as the hot California sun warms your skin and waves gently crash against the sandy shore. Wow. The first musical comparisons that come to mind are perhaps the best moments from the first Strawberry Alarm Clock LP or side one of Love's Da Capo, both of which totally make sense given the physical proximity. Something must've been in the L.A. water supply back in those days, because no music before or since can even touch that '67-'69 southern California vibe, with the seemingly endless bright sunny summers finding their way into nearly every pop song... "Hammond Eggs" is another great one that transports you into the wide open spaces of the desert (though the title is simply a play on 'ham and eggs,' a traditional American breakfast). The thing about Creation Of Sunlight, and indeed, other albums from this particular place and time, is that you can almost taste the sea-salty air from the ocean drifting from your speakers as you listen, perhaps some of the last evidence that the '60s actually happened as they tell it. 

Another fisheye-lens photo by cover photographer Jeff Mulick

This album has (deservedly) seen several reissues, one of the most notable being on Lion Productions from 2005. While that CD claims that it uses master tapes, it actually is a vinyl rip that has suffered automatic de-clicking and some choice noise reduction. Much like the other Windi LPs, the tapes are presumably lost or destroyed. I'd assumed for years that the sibilance on that CD was from a mediocre rip, but I was surprised to find, when I finally procured an original LP, that those distortions are on the record itself (even in the outer grooves!), which was a bit disappointing. Yes, those harsh "S" sounds throughout, and the random noises (like at the beginning of "Second Thoughts") are actually on the LP. Alas, since that is perhaps part of the sound for this recording, I've left it all intact. With this in consideration, the commercially available CD isn't actually that unpleasant, but I can say with some certainty that I've improved upon it drastically here. 

Sunlight lineup:
Gary Young – Lead Vocals
Jerry Griffin – Keyboards & Vocals
Carl Estrella – Lead Guitar
Don Sain – Rhythm Guitar
Steve Montague – Bass Guitar
Bob Morgan – Drums
Ron Clark – Woodwinds & Percussion

Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CreationOfSunlight
Official YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/sunlight7band

Track listing:

1) "David" -- 4:20

2) "Rush Hour Blues" -- 3:33

3) "Light Without Heat" -- 3:49
4) "In The Middle Of Happy" -- 4:36
5) "Hammond Eggs" -- 4:59
6) "Sometimes A Woman" -- 3:24
7) "Second Thoughts" -- 3:20
8) "Seven Times Infinity" -- 3:44
9) "Colors Of Love" -- 6:05
10) "The Fun Machine" -- 2:36

Vinyl condition: M-

Dynamic Range: DR11

Equipment Lineage:

– Audio-Technica VMN40ML stylus on AT150MLx dual moving-magnet cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB direct drive professional turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA phono preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2020 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 audio editor (manual declicking, EQ subtraction, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.3 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.5.1 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhEBA51qbhIq61Yl-ZjgV6Lfpk-wHqMJK

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Enjoy, and merry Christmas! :)