Description:
Singer Beth Sorrentino pays tribute to a musician she never knew, whose work has been largely overlooked.
Curt Boettcher was a songwriter, singer, arranger, and recording studio wizard who specialized in multi-harmony psychedelic pop. He produced the first album by The Association (1966), and arranged their major hit Along Comes Mary. He then formed The Ballroom, whose studio sessions (unreleased for decades) achieved legendary stature among West Coast Sixties Pop cognoscenti. Many Ballroom songs and recordings were later remixed with additional instruments and vocals for Boettcher's two collaborative album masterpieces, The
Singer Beth Sorrentino pays tribute to a musician she never knew, whose work has been largely overlooked.
Curt Boettcher was a songwriter, singer, arranger, and recording studio wizard who specialized in multi-harmony psychedelic pop. He produced the first album by The Association (1966), and arranged their major hit Along Comes Mary. He then formed The Ballroom, whose studio sessions (unreleased for decades) achieved legendary stature among West Coast Sixties Pop cognoscenti. Many Ballroom songs and recordings were later remixed with additional instruments and vocals for Boettcher's two collaborative album masterpieces, The Millennium's Begin and Sagittarius's Present Tense (with Gary Usher), both issued in 1968 on Columbia. The albums sold poorly, but are durable, compelling psychedelic artifacts, as well as forerunners of Sunshine Pop.
Beth Sorrentino, who was born the year Boettcher s LPs Begin and Present Tense were released. She fell under the Boettcher spell in 2010 when she first heard his magical Millennium album and proposed recording a collection of songs associated with Curt, with most written or co-written by him. She enlisted her old friend, producer Sean Slade, who had worked with Beth's first band, Suddenly, Tammy!, in the 1990s. Together they crafted an approach that does not attempt to replicate the Boettcher sound, but instead represents a brilliantly idiosyncratic take on the artist's legacy. The arrangements pay homage to Curt's genius for vocal harmony, with Sorrentino's sweet soprano providing all lead and backing voices. Tandyn Almer, who wrote Along Comes Mary, called Beth's version 'one of the best I've heard...Love her phrasing'. The album uses very little guitar, and showcases Sorrentino's deft keyboard work on a Mason & Hamlin 1904 upright piano, Mellotron, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B3, Korg electric piano, and Fender Rhodes. Inspiration is best expressed not thru imitation, but thru reinterpretation.
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Manufacturer: Basta
Release date: 1 July 2014
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 8712530931823
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