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Sunlight - "Sometimes A Woman" b/w "Colors Of Love"
Original 1970 Mono 45 RPM Single
Windi Records W-1001 / W-1002
~ThePoodleBites rip in 96 kHz / 24 bit FLAC + full high-res scans!~
Okay, one more Sunlight rarity for those who are interested. After learning that the mix of "David" on the private Entra 45 here was the same as on the Creation Of Sunlight LP, I'd assumed that I'd heard it all. It turns out, however, that this single has a few interesting alternate mono mixes. Both of these mixes make their digital debut here and weren't even on YouTube till they reached the barking poodle.
Major thanks to Arf! Arf! Records for lending out this 45 from his personal collection!
I believe this to be the very first release on Windi Records, actually released before the LP: more specifically, the earlier purple label design is the earliest, without the intricate Windi logo as seen here (and as applied on the label's later releases). This second label design (pictured above) must've come out either contemporaneously with or after the album release. The two variants are likely to contain the exact same audio material, but this has not yet been confirmed.
After a preliminary listening, the most obvious edit that appeared to me was a significantly truncated solo section in "Colors Of Love," cutting nearly a minute-and-a-half off the song length; otherwise, I couldn't hear any differences. At first I figured that "Sometimes A Woman" was a stereo fold-down, but I discovered after closer listening that the very first chorus section doesn't have horn overdubs like the stereo album version, so this certainly must be an alternate mix. Much like the Entra 45, the mastering here is much darker than on the LP with more bass / less treble, which sounds quite nice actually, addressing in part the horrible sibilance in the stereo album version.
Track listing: 1) "Sometimes A Woman" -- 3:21 2) "Colors Of Love" -- 4:45
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)
– Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra preamp with dedicated Zero Zone linear power supply
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and check out my blog. I'd greatly appreciate it if you leave a small comment below. Notes from my readers are what inspire me to keep going. Thanks! MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/P9w0QRDb#X1y_tn9C83DxJxHN_mzYuA
~ThePoodleBites rip in 96kHz / 24bit FLAC + full high-res scans!~
Here are a couple bonus tracks for those of you who have yet to burn your Creation Of Sunlight CDs. This rare 45 is a necessity for pop-sike / Sunlight fans, since it boasts the non-LP B-side "Judy In Disguise," to my knowledge the only cover that the band ever recorded. Sunlight's version is by far and large an improvement over the cheap bubblegum-pop original version (by John Fred & His Playboy Band), with added fuzz guitar, backwards tape, flute, etc. "David" is the same recording / mix as on Creation Of Sunlight, but it's a substantially different (darker) mastering, with much louder bass guitar, and I actually maybe prefer it to the sibilant album version.
Major thanks to C.F. for loaning out this 45 for a proper digital transfer & restoration!
Appearance as entry #3 on Billboard's "Brite Star's Pick Hits," 6 Dec 1969
These tracks, like the rest of the songs on Creation Of Sunlight, were recorded at Independent Recorders in north Hollywood, California. The recording was overseen by Bobby Engemann of the Lettermen, who handled the finances for recording, and actually forced the band to record "Judy In Disguise," much to the dismay of some group members. The arrangements were handled by Jerry Griffin, who also assisted Gary Young and engineer Howard Gayle in production.
Both of these songs in particular were recorded sometime early in 1969 and were selected for release on the private Entra Records label later that year, with the single's debut advertisement appearing in Billboard's "Brite Star's Hit Picks" corner on 6 Dec 1969, persisting there weekly through 24 Jan 1970, whence afterwards it disappeared without a trace. The ad annoyingly didn't even get the band's name right, which initially appeared as "Sunlight Singers" and was then 'corrected' in later weeks to "Sunlight Seven," neither of which were actually the band's true moniker. Perhaps this mishap was a harbinger of the name confusion yet to come with the mistaken Creation Of Sunlight naming ordeal. Despite (or perhaps due to the weakness of) the advertisement, the single failed to sell enough copies to chart. However, make no mistake; the musical quality here is on par with the group's sole LP, an album good enough to have made major labels drool but was pushed back a bit too late by label politics to have made as big of a popular impact as it should have.
The band holding engineer Howard Gayle
"Judy" has been reissued as a bonus track on the 2005 Lion CD with absolutely horrendous sound quality. As a friend of mine observed, "then again, they did
successfully use their noise reduction program to get rid of those annoying
cymbals, the lead guitar, the snare springs, and the clarity of the vocals." It goes without saying that this rip is a drastic improvement upon the sound quality as available anywhere else.
Sunlights' Seven 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
– Audacity 2.3.3 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.5.1 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and check out my blog. I'd greatly appreciate it if you leave a small comment below. Notes from my readers are what inspire me to keep going. Thanks! MEGA:https://mega.nz/folder/OohAUbgY#fJldKsTviwN5h4JiS5hwXA
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
Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and check out my blog. I'd greatly appreciate it if you leave a small comment below. Notes from my readers are what inspire me to keep going. Thanks! MEGA:https://mega.nz/folder/XlxygbqY#AdtzKW6cVKKoq6Vl-YHbFQ
