Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Here is a mix suggested by a Canadian friend. And what a great idea it was! So this goes out to the aficionado of worn-out motorbikes.

Sunshine Pop is one of those genres that are defined not so much by what they are than by their vibe. There’s no precise checklist of musical characteristics, and yet you know it when you hear it — a jangling intro, layered vocal harmonies, bright orchestration, and sometimes breaks into classical music (such as the tracks by Eternity’s Children, Peppermint Rainbow). It’s warm music with a gentle smile, even when the lyrics tell stories of falling apart or deliver social commentary.

Emerging in 1966, hitting its peak in 1967-68 and fizzling out by 1969, Sunshine Pop borrowed from the folk boom and from The Beach Boys. Indeed, Pet Sounds in 1966 and earlier Beach Boys hits like California Girls or When I Grow Up provided a template: the often intricate melodies, lush arrangements, cheerful flourishes and soaring harmonies. Bands like The Association took the cue, scoring hits with Along Comes Mary, Cherish, Never My Love, and Windy. Paul Revere & The Raiders, hardly the prototype Sunshine Pop band, created what could be Sunshine Pop’s national anthem with the catchy-as-hell Cinderella Sunshine, inexplicably only a b-side track to 1968’s rather inferior It’s Happening.

There was also a hint of psychedelia, or at least a sanitised version of it. You wouldn’t confuse Sunshine Pop psychedelia with the heavy stuff issued by Iron Butterfly or the 13th Floor Elevators, but psychedelic touches might reveal themselves in the use of harpsichords or reverb-drenched vocals.

Some people might dismiss the Sunshine Pop subgenre as commercial or lightweight, but that would ignore the extraordinary studio craft put into the sound and the complexity of many of its lyrics. The sunshine sometimes threw shadows.

A lot of Sunshine Pop was producer-driven. The Millennium, The Parade or The Yellow Balloon were studio projects built around top-tier LA session musicians — usually the Wrecking Crew — and guided by producers like Curt Boettcher, Gary Usher and Jerry Fuller. Boettcher, who was still in his twenties in the 1960s, in particular deserves mention as one who could turn a simple song into a cathedral of sound — a bit like Brian Wilson or Phil Spector. It’s not by chance that the nix ends with a Boettcher track from 1969. Boettcher died young, at 43, in 1987.

The Mamas and the Papas often get lumped into Sunshine Pop too, and they do feature here. They belonged properly in the folk-pop scene and had a more bohemian style. And yet, their sound is drenched in that same golden haze. And some acts of the Sunshine Pop genre, such as the Looking Glass, certainly copied the Mamas & Papas sound. Similarly, bands like The Turtles and The Left Banke flirted with the genre on tracks that paired orchestral sweetness with a lightly baroque structure. Both also find a place in this collection.

Even The Monkees, though initially a manufactured TV band, may be classed as being part of Sunshine Pop. Their Pleasant Valley Sunday offered a sun-drenched sound to score biting (and slightly naive) lyrics that condemn the consumer society. Many of the boomers who cheered The Monkees’ criticism of Status Symbol Land and its attendant alienation of the young in 1967 grew up and became exactly that which Micky Dolenz and pals confronted.

By the end of the ’60s, the sun began to set. The Summer of Love had turned sour, with the Vietnam War, Nixon’s election, Kent University murders, Altamont and so on. Even Brian Wilson, the godfather of Sunshine Pop, was withdrawing into his own shadows. The optimism of the 1960s was giving way to the realpolitik of the 1970s.

But Sunshine Pop didn’t really go away as the 1970s dawned. It lived on in its cousin, Bubblegum Pop. There was some overlap between the two sub-genres; you may find Tommy Roe, for example, on compilations of both. Some Bubblegum pop bands were also studio creations (such as The Archies), and some Bubblegum hits also featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew (such as the Partridge Family). But the audience had changed. The kids bought Bubblegum Pop, but Sunshine Pop’s audience had moved on — maybe to put down a deposit on that house in Status Symbol Land.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-sunburned covers and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. The Rascals – A Beautiful Morning (1968)
2. The 5th Dimension – Working On A Groovy Thing (1969)
3. The Mamas & The Papas – Look Through My Window (1967)
4. The Monkees – Pleasant Valley Sunday (1967)
5. Chad & Jeremy – Distant Shores (1966)
6. Paul Revere & The Raiders – Cinderella Sunshine (1968)
7. The Buckinghams – Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (1967)
8. The Looking Glass – Silver And Sunshine (1966)
9. The Grass Roots – Let’s Live For Today (1967)
10. The Parade – Sunshine Girl (1967)
11. The Association – Never My Love (1967)
12. Eternity’s Children – Sunshine Among Us (1968)
13. The Left Banke – She May Call You Up Tonight (1967)
14. The Munx – Our Dream (1968)
15. The Merry-Go-Round – Live (1968)
16. The Vogues – Just What I’ve Been Looking For (1968)
17. Gary Lewis & The Playboys – My Heart’s Symphony (1966)
18. The Sunshine Company – Back On The Street Again (1967)
19. The Cyrkle – Red Rubber Ball (1966)
20. Yellow Balloon – Yellow Balloon (1967)
21. Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends – Love So Fine (1968)
22. Gary Puckett & The Union Gap – Over You (1968)
23. Peppermint Rainbow – Will You Be Staying After Sunday (1968)
24. The Cowsills – The Rain, The Park And Other Things (1968)
25. American Breed – Don’t Forget About Me (1967)
26. The Turtles – She’d Rather Be With Me (1967)
27. Strawberry Alarm Clock – Incense and Peppermints (1967)
28. Sagittarius – In My Room (1969)
29. Spanky And Our Gang – Sunday Will Never Be The Same (1967)
30. The Summer Winds – Another Time (1969)

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