THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,482) The Love Generation — “Love Is a Rainy Sunday”
The Love Generation don’t get no respect, but their unapologetically sunshiney pop is so groovy. “Perhaps it was the instrumentation which included strings, or the mildly jazzy trumpet solo, but [“Rainy Sunday”] wouldn’t have sounded bad on top-40 radio”. (Bad Cat Records, http://badcatrecords.com/Lovegeneration.htm)
Sam Tweedle says:
[Their] lyrics aren’t hard hitting, and the song writing might not be the best, but the harmonies and vocal arrangements are some of the tightest and best I’ve ever heard. Its music so sweet that it could put a diabetic into a coma. . . . [They] were so squeaky clean that they make The Cowsills sound like degenerates.
Not one to be one upped, Richie Unterberger writes that “the Mamas & the Papas sound almost Velvet Underground tough in comparison”. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-and-sunshine-the-best-of-the-love-generation-mw0000222814)
A Love Generation press kit puts it best:
Wouldn’t it be wild if every day was St. Valentine’s Day? Toward this end, a group of six youngsters, fresh as a spring bouquet, are spreading the message everywhere as representatives of The Love Generation. An excerpt from the liner notes of their first Imperial Records album best describes their concept: “A part of today; reflecting the feelings of today… this is THE LOVE GENERATION.” Each of the six talented entertainers that comprise The Love Generation has an awareness of “where it’s at” and are determined to pass the word without the aid of cliches or gimmicks.
Oh, and “[t]he Bahler[ brothers] might be most famous/notorious . . . for recording and supplying several songs used in early episodes of The Partridge Family, several of them appearing (with the Bahlers’ lead vocals) on the Partridge Family’s first album.” (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-love-generation-mn0000051140)
As to Tom and John Bahler and the Love Generation, Sam Tweedle tells us:
An obscure Los Angeles based vocal group formed at the end of the 1960’s, The Love Generation was formed by superstar session singers John and Tom Bahler, but without generating any hits on their trio of albums, went nowhere. However the rich sound that they created would become a lost predecessor to the pop music of the 70’s, crafted by the brothers who helped define the next generation of bubblegum music fans’ sugar filled soundscape. . . . The Bahler Brothers were involved in the recording of many of the 70’s most beloved pop acts . . . . Tom and John Bahler were interested in music early on in their lives and as teenagers played in an independent big band. After high school, Tom went on to study music at the University of Southern California, while John went into the navy. While attending USC, Tom got interested in folk music and started singing with a group called The Good Time Singers. But when they were about to go on the road, as well as started making regular appearances on The Andy Williams Show, Tom didn’t want to leave school in fear that he might get drafted and sent to Viet Nam. However, when John got discharged from the military, Tom arranged an audition with The Good Time Singers for his brother, who joined the group instead. The Good Time Singers proved popular with Andy’s producer George Wylie, who gave John’s name to Dick Clark to be the musical director on a new country music show featuring Roy Clark called Swingin’ Country. John put together a studio-based country band for the show and brought in Tom who was able to fit his school schedule around filming the show. . . . [A]round this time Tom and John got involved with Ron Hicklin, [who] organized and arranged what would become known as The Ron Hicklin Singers . . . one of the most prolific vocal groups working behind the scenes in Los Angeles. If you needed a cracker jack vocal group behind your recording session, producers would often hire The Ron Hicklin Singers to do the job. What the Wrecking Crew was to session players, The Ron Hicklin Singers were to session singers . . . . Through the 60’s Ron Hicklin worked with major groups such as Jay and the Americans, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Paul Revere and the Raiders and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap helping them develop their sound. They would also be go to vocalists for TV theme songs, recording memorable themes as “Batman,” “Flipper,” “That Girl,” “Here Comes the Brides” and “Love American Style.” . . . [T]he distinct harmonies of The Ron Hicklin Singers created a signature sound for the era . . . . In 1966 Hicklin was brought in for the original Monkees sessions, and with them he brought in John and Tom Bahler as new members . . . . [T]he Bahler’s . . . began to write . . . [and] there is no denying the influence that Ron Hicklin had on the vocal arrangements. The harmonies are the same vibe as Hicklin’s feel-good melodies and the vocal arrangements have the same tight, clean, nearly other worldly quality that Hicklin brought to every project he directed. With word that “Swingin’ Country” was coming to an end, the Bahler’s recruited four members of the music team – Mitch Gordon, Marilyn Miller, Jim Wheaton and Angie White – and formed The Love Generation. . . . The Love Generation got a record deal with Imperial Records and released their first self-titled album in 1967. When listening to The Love Generation, you need to pack away all sense of cynicism. The songs are pure bubblegum that seemed to be designed for the “modern teenager[.]”. . . Although the Bahler’s were in their 20’s, they already were part of th[e] corporate world, and the lyrics often sound like something written by an older generation trying to figure out what “the kids” would dig. The result is a lot of overuse of the word “groovy” and saturated in terms aimed towards the “love generation.” . . . [B]ut . . . the strength in the music and melodies stand solid. . . . But if the lyrical content of the songs were lacking, there was a powerful magic in the vocal arrangements and the harmonies. By working closely with Hicklin, the Bahlers were masters at arrangements, and the vocals on these songs are, without a doubt, some of the best I’ve ever heard. Nobody in pop music was creating harmonies this tight. Not the Mamas and the Papas. Not the Beach Boys. Not even The Beatles. . . . [For the Love Generation’s third album Montage, from which today’s song is taken, the Bahler brothers] reportedly dropped the other members of the group and did the entire album themselves. . . . [T]he Bahler Brothers were contacted by representatives from the Ford Motor Company who wanted to create their own pop band for their new campaign, “The Going Thing.” With The Love Generation pretty much dead in the water and the members of the group having gone on to other things, the Bahlers reportedly auditioned 400 singers and hired ten to make up their new vocal group called, naturally, The Going Thing. Amongst those hired was their Love Generation compatriot Jim Wessen. With Tom taking lead vocals again, the Bahlers shaped the sound in the Love Generation style, albeit with less complex lyrics, and released four albums for Ford.
Richie Unterberger adds:
Of the many sunshine pop groups that proliferated in Southern California in the late ’60s, the Love Generation were one of the most wholesome and downright sunniest. “Sunniest” is not necessarily synonymous with “best,” even for a genre called “sunshine pop.” The Love Generation’s records were about as over-the-top as their name in their smiley-face, see-no-evil, upbeat, even anodyne harmonized pop/rock, commercial enough to often be mistaken for commercial jingles. . . . The lyrics often tapped into the most optimistic and innocuous traits of the early hippie generation, with references to love-ins, sunshine (naturally), summer, dreams, candy, and magic peppering not just the words but the song titles . . . . It’s flower power at its most floral, and most commercial . . . . There’s some real craft to the ingenious and textured orchestral pop/rock arrangements and male-female harmonic blends, and the melodies are intricate pop-oriented extensions of the Beach Boys . . . the Mamas & the Papas and the Association . . . . But it’s just too damned saccharine and goody-goody . . . . bouncy counterpoint melodies and unremittingly cheerful melodies, though the tunes and vocal delivery often come close to a commercial jingle feel (and nope, that’s not praise).
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-love-generation-mn0000051140, https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-and-sunshine-the-best-of-the-love-generation-mw0000222814
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