THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,498) Thundertree — “Summertime Children”
Minneapolis/St. Paul Christian rock band’s “bouncy [secular] pop-psych ditty . . . was the[ir] album’s most atypical song and also the standout performance”. (RDTEN1, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/thundertree/thundertree/) I love it, like manna from heaven!
RDTEN1 tells us:
[S]inger Bob Blank, guitarist Bob Hallquist, drummer Rick LiaBraaten and keyboardist John Meisen had been members of the St. Paul, Minnesota-based The Good Idea. Along with guitarist Dave Linder the group started out doing popular covers before starting to record original material. Through those original tunes they became early exponents of the Christian rock genre. The band played local dances and clubs, surviving long enough to travel to Chicago where they recorded and released an obscure self-financed 1968 single. . . . “Patterns In Life” . . . . The 45’s religious orientation caught some local attention, including a patron in the form of Reverend John Rigren who featured the single on his local radio program, but failed to sell. Guitarist Linder then decided to head off to college. Singer/guitarist Billy Hallquist was brought in as a replacement. Bass player Terry Tilley was also added to the line- up. The revamped band continued to play local clubs, their show including an early light show. They also started reworking some of their Good Idea material, culminating in recording a demo of their concept piece “1225.” A copy of the demo ended up in the hands of the New York-based Roulette Records which signing the group to a contract. There were a couple of catches with Roulette demanding several changes. First was a request the band shift to a secular catalog. Second was a name change. Goodbye to Good Idea and hello to the hipper Thundertre. Roulette subsequently added the final “e” to the name, e.g. Thundertree. . . . [T]he band went into Minneapolis’ Universal Audio Studios. With keyboardist Meisen serving as producer, 1970’s Thundertree was inconsistent, but enjoyable. A big part of the inconsistency stemmed from Blank’s decision to quit in the middle of the recording sessions. Ongoing tensions with band manager Jason Kennedy simply reached the breaking point. Hallquist was asked to take over lead vocals, but pushed for the band to recruit a new singer. Dervin Wallin was quickly hired. The collection’s inconsistency also reflected the split nature of the material. Side one featured new vocalist Wallin on a series of new secular numbers. Penned by keyboardist Meisen . . . [they] offered up an attractive mix of psych and more hard-rock oriented moves. . . . [but a]dmittedly the[y] . . . weren’t earth shattering. Wallin wasn’t any great shakes as lead singer, though in his defense having just been hired he literally had to learn the songs while the band split their time between live dates and studio recording sessions. Luckily his voice was powerful and the occasionally screechy vocals were well suited to the band’s guitar and keyboard propelled repertoire. The material featured on side two reflected The Good Idea. “1225” was the song that got the band signed to Roulette. A six piece, side long concept piece “1225” (look at the title as a date 12/25), the suite featured a much more progressive, non-secular sound. Original singer Blank handled vocals and guitarist David Linder proved a talented player.
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/thundertree/thundertree/
Tom Campbell goes deep:
Summer, 1967: A new band, Good Idea, comes together, with a focus on playing the Top-40 rock songs and writing original Christian rock songs. . . . The band plays local teen clubs . . . in St. Paul and also plays out state venues in Minnesota and clubs and ballrooms across the border in Wisconsin . . . .
Early, 1968: The band goes to Chicago to record a 45 (at their own expense) at the Chess/Checker/Cadet Records studio. The A-side is “Inside, Outside” and the B-side is “Patterns in Life,” originally called “Patterns of Logic.” Both songs are written by John and Bob. 400 copies of the 45 are pressed . . . . The record gets airplay on a nationally syndicated religious radio program called “Silhouette” that was sponsored through the American Lutheran Church. Reverend John Rygren was the host of the program that aired at 7:00 on Sunday mornings. John and Bob write a six song mini-rock opera called “1225,” The Christmas story set to modern rock music. . . .
Summer, 1968: Billy Hallquist starts to run the light show for the band. Billy and Rick are friends going back to junior high school and played together in two bands . . . .
Fall, 1968: The band records “1225” at Universal Audio . . . . Billy Hallquist is at the recording sessions. Dave Linder leaves the band to attend college and . . . Hallquist joins on guitar and vocals. After playing one job with Billy in the band . . . the group breaks up. John Miesen, Rick LiaBraaten and Billy Hallquist continue to practice together and work on new songs . . . . John writes another mini-rock opera, as a companion piece to “1225” called “Summertime Children.” . . . The group keeps in touch with Bob Blank and plan on starting up a new band to play live again.
Late, 1968: John goes out to New York to shop the tape of “1225” to record companies. Roulette Records takes an interest in the band and signs them to a contract. John, Rick and Billy ask Bob to rejoin the group. Bob agrees, but on the condition he brings in Terry Tilley on bass guitar. Thundertree becomes the name for the new band. . . . The group decides to abandon the mini-rock opera “Summertime Children” and write a number of new songs for the album. “Summertime Children” is revised from a concept to a single song.
Late, 1969: The band schedules time back at Universal Audio to record the second half of their album, now with different members. The band has a job playing . . . the night before the first session. During the evening, the band’s manager, Jason Kennedy, brings in a record executive with Tetragrammaton Records, who likes Bob, but is not interested in the band. The record executive offers Bob a songwriting deal in Los Angeles and Bob accepts the offer. As the group gathers at the studio the next day to start recording, they discover that Bob has left the band. John asks Billy to take over on lead vocals, but he declines the offer and they hold auditions for a new lead singer. The band begins recording musical tracks during the day and holding auditions for a lead singer in the evening. . . . Dervin Wallin trys out for lead vocalist and gets the job. John decides to write all new lyrics to the songs that he and Bob co-wrote. . . .
Early, 1970: Roulette Records releases the Thundertree album.
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