Before we leave 1969 then, it's time to take one more trip
to find an album by a band who basically lived in an attic. Well, sort of. With very little money, no transportation and barely enough food, the band ironically called It's A Beautiful Day hung out in a cramped freezing attic in Seattle while they recorded their debut album. Now that's rock and roll! Or, perhaps, not. At any rate, this is the one we're finishing up our look at the sixties with.
Album title: It's a Beautiful Day
Artiste: It's a Beautiful Day
Nationality: American
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
Tracklisting: White bird/Hot summer day/Wasted union blues/Girl with no eyes/Bombay calling/Bulgaria/Time is
Comments: You can hear what I guess would be called the California sound, the kind of thing you'd have heard from The Mamas and the Papas around this time as “White bird” gets things underway with a nice soft organ line and pretty good double vocals from David and Linda LaFlamme, with some beautiful violin from David. The way these two complement each other vocally is very impressive, and I think the dude is playing violin and flute here, almost on top of each other (or produced that way anyway); it fleshes out the song, but I still think six minutes is pushing it a little. “Hot summer day” has a nice line in organ and some fine harmonica, and again the singing is superb. Another lovely violin solo, really adds something to a song I already like.
Then there's a total (and I mean total) shift for “Wasted union blues”, with a big nasty squealing guitar and hard piano, some of it a little discordant, the song perhaps reflecting the band's frustration at their situation as described in the intro. Some slick harmonica coming in though, however it gets seriously frenetic at the end, and we're into “Girl with no eyes”, a lovely little gentle waltzy ballad, with what sounds like a harpsichord solo, really beautiful song. Oh yeah, I hear it, the elephant in the room. I know Deep Purple were accused of ripping it off for “Sweet child in time”, and the opening of “Bombay calling” does sound really similar. Think it will turn out to be an instrumental. Great work by David on the violin, and yes, it is an instrumental. Seems like “Bulgaria” may turn out to be a really nice ballad, very evocative and moody, totally superb and builds up to a hell of a climax.
The last track is nine minutes long, but somehow I don't think that's going to be a problem, as I have thoroughly enjoyed everything (almost) here. “Time is” starts off as some sort of mad frenetic folk dance style and then the vocal comes in and it just gets better. Just David on the mike initially anyway, kind of has an almost Nick Cave thing going, very energetic. Some superb organ work here, and there's even a drum solo that doesn't suck or have me reaching for the Glock. Bit of a fun jam all round, very enjoyable.
Favourite track(s): Hot summer day, Girl with no eyes, Bombay calling, Bulgaria
Least favourite track(s): Wasted union blues
Overall impression: Really surprised how much I loved this. I thought it was kind of a joke record, but it obviously is not, and in fact displays emerging talent and vision that would see this band release another three more albums into the seventies, although by the second album Linda LaFlamme had left. They apparently still gig even now, over forty years later.
Personal Rating: 