Op Happy Lovin’ Time vinden we 24 –veelal niet eerder uitgebrachte – juweeltjes van de eccentrieke prodocer Gary Paxton. Na successen met onder andere Alley Oop, The Monster Mash en zijn werk met de band The Association en voordat hij zich op gospel en country richtte, maakte hij fantastische songs in de Garpax-studio’s, onder andere samen met wonderkind Curt Boettcher. Andere grote naam is The Four Freshman die met het prachtige Nowhere to go. Ook de rest is echter niet te versmaden.
Groovy late 60s pop sounds from producer Gary S Paxton’s remarkable stable. Soft psych, mod soul and harmony aplenty.
Gary S Paxton likes to delineate his years in 1960s Hollywood as his “BC” period, before the maverick music maker moved to Nashville in 1971, forsook drink and drugs for Jesus Christ and became a giant in the country and gospel fields. But it was within that earlier decade that Paxton sealed his true reputation. Not just as the quirky iconoclast behind ‘Alley-Oop’ and ‘Monster Mash’, but as a multi-faceted singing, playing, writing, arranging, producing and engineering omnivore who could single-handedly create a hit, from the bottom up.
In those years, Paxton proved adept at any genre he chose to dabble in, but given his proclivities toward the commercial, one might argue his most distinctive works in the late 1960s were those of the pure pop genre. His skills in this area were particularly pronounced, as an arranger – especially with vocals – and as the technician behind the recording desk. The sound of Paxton’s Hollywood and Bakersfield studios, and his regular session crew, is readily audible on many recordings ascribed to the “sunshine pop” genre, from the hits of the Association and Tommy Roe to cherished tracks by Eternity’s Children and the Millennium.
However, sunshine pop, popular catch-all category as it has become, does not fully describe the contents of our survey of the Garpax vaults in “Happy Lovin’ Time”. There is as much introspection and cynicism on display as there is frothy beatitude. not to mention plenty of instrumental muscle too. The Four Freshmen benefited from Paxton’s touch on their hip 1966 single ‘Nowhere To Go’, while Canadian groups such as the New Wing and Jaybees would travel to Hollywood to specifically record with him. Paxton’s secret weapon in this period was Kenny Johnson, whose songwriting is all over this compilation, as well as in recordings by the Chocolate Tunnel and Bakersfield Poppy Pickers. Pop wunderkind Curt Boettcher spent many hours at Paxton’s facilities in 1966 and 1967, and his distinctive voice can be heard not only on the backing vocals to several tracks, but also on two rare publishing demos. As well as a surfeit of harmonies, there’s mod-soul from Johnny Apollo and the Lords and the lazy pop-psychedelia of the Whatt Four’s classic ‘Dandelion Wine’.
With a detailed note and commentary from Kenny Johnson and Paxton himself, the sounds on “Happy Lovin’ Time” come across as fresher and more vivacious than ever, and are yet again proof of the bizarre but undeniable genius of Gary S Paxton.
Side 1
01 Make Up Your Mind - Augie Moreno
02 Dandelion Wine - The Whatt Four
03 The Thinking Animal - The New Wing
04 Christina, In My Dreams - Curt Boettcher
05 Happy Lovin' Time - The Black Box
06 Ostrich People - The Chocolate Tunnel
07 She Loves Me - Dave Antrell
08 How Many Times - Jim Gordon
09 Games - The Bogart Cult
10 Bad Sign - The Jaybees
11 Am I Wastin' My Time - Johnny Apollo
12 Clean Up Your Own Backyard - The Bakersfield Poppy Pickers
13 Nowhere To Go - The Four Freshmen
14 Is It Love - Willie & The Walkers
15 Savin' (Everything For You Girl) - The Lords
16 Stay - Curt Boettcher
17 You Take Things Lightly Babe - Dave Antrell
18 The Highly Successful Young Rupert White - The Privilege
19 Is It Better To Live Or To Die - Mary Saxton
20 Don't Put Me Down - The Lords
21 It's Written All Over My Face - The Bakersfield Poppy Pickers
22 Who Do You Think You Are? - The Jaybees
23 Dirt Beneath My Feet - Homogenized Dirt
24 If I Can Help It - Dave Antrell
