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Looking for the Sun

by Curt Boettcher & Friends

  • Record/Vinyl

    The CD contains 18 tracks sourced from the original master tapes, as well as a 36-page booklet featuring fascinating and deeply researched notes on each of the songs, with fabulous, rarely-seen archival photos and a marvelous essay from noted Boettcher scholar Dawn Eden Goldstein.

    ships out within 3 days

      $23.99 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD)

    The CD contains 21 tracks (including 3 bonus tracks not on LP), sourced from the original master tapes, as well as a 36-page booklet featuring fascinating and deeply researched notes on each of the songs, with fabulous, rarely-seen archival photos and a marvelous essay from noted Boettcher scholar Dawn Eden Goldstein.

    ships out within 3 days

      $19.99 USD

     

about

Best known for his groundbreaking contributions to what later became known as “sunshine pop,” and his hit productions for The Association (“Cherish”, “Along Comes Mary”), Curt Boettcher formed the pioneering rock bands The Ballroom and The Millennium, and contributed heavily to classic pop-psych album Sagittarius created and crafted by legendary producer Gary Usher (Beach Boys, Byrds). A Hollywood-based producer and arranger in the Phil Spector mode—whose sessions he actually participated in—Boettcher was innovative in utilizing the studio as an instrument—an approach that made a lasting impression on a young Brian Wilson. In 1966 and ’67, Boettcher spent so much time at Columbia Studios in Hollywood that some began to call CBS “Curt Boettcher Studios.” The work he did with Gene Clark, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Elton John, Emitt Rhodes, and The Beach Boys (among many others) is a master’s thesis in the use of sound and space to elevate music and emotion into art.
Looking For The Sun is the first release to focus on Curt Boettcher as a producer and arranger rather than a performer, highlighting cuts that were released only as singles. Most of the tracks have remained out of print since their initial release. Collected here are 21 tracks (18 on LP)—all sourced from the original master tapes—which Boettcher wrote, produced, arranged, or sang on. 

Steve Stanley, founder and producer of Now Sounds Records, lovingly assembled this unique and vibrant collection song-by-song; combing the vaults and file cabinets of Sony Music and the musty archives of obscure L.A. recording studios. One of the many highlights is a mysterious gem of a long-lost song: Cindy Malone’s “You Were Near Me” (previously unreleased and available as a digital single for this collection). Thanks to Stanley’s meticulous research of Musician’s Union Contracts, and interviews with the musicians and artists, a clearer portrait of Curt Boettcher’s prodigious and radical work as a producer emerges. Over the course of Looking For The Sun, the listener can hear Boettcher as an in-house producer for Our Productions, discovering the methods and sounds that would serve him so well as a bandleader and sonic guru of The Millennium. The 36-page booklet that accompanies the release, beautifully designed by Stanley, features fascinating and deeply researched notes on each of the songs, fabulous, rarely-seen archival photos, and a marvelous essay from noted Boettcher scholar Dawn Eden Goldstein.

Artists include: Cindy Malone, Sandy Salisbury, Gordon Alexander, Keith Colley, Summer’s Children, Jonathan Moore, Ray Whitley, Eddie Hodges, The Bootiques, Action Unlimited, and Sagittarius. Also featuring musical contributions by Glen Campbell, David Gates, Gary Usher and Keith Olsen.

“I went looking for the sun in the darkness of my mind.” —Gordon Alexander

credits

released October 11, 2019

1. CINDY MALONE – You Were Near Me
2. RAY WHITLEY – Take Back Your Mind
3. SUMMER’S CHILDREN – Milk and Honey
4. THE BOOTIQUES – Did You Get Your Fun
5. KEITH COLLEY – Enamorado
6. KEITH COLLEY – Shame, Shame
7. JONATHAN MOORE – I Didn’t Ever Know
8. EDDIE HODGES – Shadows and Reflexions
9. ACTION UNLIMITED – My Heart Cries Out
10. ACTION UNLIMITED – Thinking To Myself
11. RAY WHITLEY – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
12. RAY WHITLEY – Lorraine
13. JONATHAN MOORE – London Bridge *
14. SANDY – The Best Thing
15. SANDY – All I Really Have Is A Memory
16. THE BOOTIQUES – Mr. Man of the World
17. GORDON ALEXANDER – Looking For The Sun
18. GORDON ALEXANDER – Miss Mary *
19. GORDON ALEXANDER – Windy Wednesday
20. SAGITTARIUS – Another Time
21. SAGITTARIUS – Pisces *
*CD only Bonus Tracks

Executive Conductor: GEORGE BAER WALLACE
Compiled and Produced by STEVE STANLEY
Project Managers: LUCAS VAN LENTEN, PATRICK WHALEN
Essay: DAWN EDEN GOLDSTEIN
Track-by-track notes by DAWN EDEN GOLDSTEIN (Tracks 7, 8, 13-15, 20 & 21) and STEVE STANLEY (Tracks 1-6, 9-12, 16-19)
Art Direction and Design: STEVE STANLEY for Now Designs
Mastered by ALAN BROWNSTEIN
Analog tape research and transfers by ROB SANTOS and VIC ANESINI
Photo Research: STEVE STANLEY and TOM TIERNEY
Legal Representation: Mark Levinson Entertainment Law

Special Thanks:
SHERYL FARBER, ELLIOT KENDALL, IRWIN CHUSID, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS LOCAL 47,
GORDON CARMADELLE, VICTORIA WINSTON, KEITH COLLEY, CHUK TRISKO, GRAHAM SALISBURY,
EDDIE HODGES, CHRISTINE COSTELLO, TERI LANDI, GORDON ALEXANDER, FREDDY WELLER,
BILL COOPER, GEOFFREY WEISS

Eternal gratitude to the amazing and patient people at Sony, without whom this release wouldn’t have happened:
ROB SANTOS, GINA ACIARES, PHIL ZAKS, LISA GRAUSO, JEREMY HOLIDAY, and TOM TIERNEY

Stephen J. McParland’s book The California Sound: An Insider’s Story: The

Musical Biography of Gary Lee Usher is available for sale online.

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Curt Boettcher & Friends Los Angeles, California

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