“L.A. (Los Angeles)” starts at 21:46
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,613) Orange Colored Sky — “L.A. (Los Angeles)”
They love L.A. No, they really love L.A. This sunshine pop supernova is a “[p]ersonal favorite”: “[T]he glistening homage to their adopted hometown . . . [is] a breezy, slightly lysergic sunshine pop love letter . . . . A great slice of sunshine pop, it’s the track I would have tapped as the single.” (Bad Cat Records, http://badcatrecords.com/ORANGEcoloredSKY.htm)
Of the rest of the LP, Bad Cat Records opines:
[Their album] bore more than a passing resemblance to harmony groups such as The Association [see #1,264] and Gordian Knot [see #517] . . . . full of sparkling harmony rich and heavily orchestrated, radio-friendly pop. It was certainly commercial in an AM radio fashion, but was also horribly middle-of-the-road. . . . Depending on how you felt about the genre, it was either mildly entertaining, or thoroughly nauseating.
Of the band’s early history, Bad Cat Records tells us:
Formed in 1962, The Fabulous Epics featured the talents of singer Vinny Frazzini, Vince Hopkins, guitarist Neil Myers, bassist Larry Parker, keyboard player Walt Slivinski, and singer Paul Yoculan. The band started to attract attention on the small Erie club scene and in 1963 relocated to New York City where they scored a contract as house band at New York’s famed Peppermint Lounge. Their three year stint as club house band led to a recording contract with Warner Brothers, though none of their work seems to have been released.
Erie[ Pennsylvania]’s History and Memorabilia takes it from there:
When one of the most successful bands from Erie, during the 1960s, broke up, three of the former members of the Fabulous Epics: Walt Slivinski, with Neil Myers and Larry Parker, went on to create their own band. [Fellow Epics] Paul Yoculan, Vinnie Frazini and Vince Hopkins . . . regrouped and formed the Younger Brothers Band, at the suggestion of Warner Brothers, who had signed the Epics to a recording contract while they were playing at the Peppermint Lounge in the early 60s. . . . Slivinski . . . Myers and . . . Parker, around 1967, moved to San Francisco looking for an opportunity to capitalize on the success of the former Epics, and to attract a broader audience. . . . [T]hey formed the band, Larry Younger and The Epics, hoping that the success the Fabulous Epics enjoyed at the Peppermint Lounge would follow. They worked out of a club in the San Francisco’s Mission District called “The Rock Garden” as an opening act for bands like Country Joe And The Fish, and Buffalo Springfield. . . . [T]hey soon would discover that San Francisco wasn’t their niche. Larry Parker, disappointed in their lack of progress, left the band. . . . [I]n 1968, when the band opted to relocate to Southern California, hitting the Los Angeles club circuit, they quickly attracted the attention of Universal Studios. It was at Universal’s insistence that they adopted the name, Orange Colored Sky. Universal signed them to a recording contract, along with a brief cameo in the Don Knotts film, The Love God. They also appeared in TV commercials with Petula Clark, as well as The Steve Allen Show. Teaming the band with producer Norman Ratner, fronted by singer Tony Barry and keyboardist Walter Slivinski, who is credited with penning all 11 tracks, the band produced their first and only album[ w]ith three lead singers in Tony Barry, Jack Skinner and Harold Little . . . . In the early 1970s producer Don Costa brought Orange Colored Sky to MGM records, under the direction of future California Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb. At MGM, Sky recorded “Simon Zealotes” from the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar . . . released to U.S. radio stations three months prior to the appearance of the Superstar national cast album. Bassist/vocalist Larry Parker joined Orange Colored Sky in 1974. Undergoing a string of personnel changes throughout the years the band found a home on the Las Vegas and Tahoe casino circuit, opening in the for such acts as Burt Bacharach and Frank Sinatra. By the 1980s many showrooms had been replaced by discotheques and Sky slowly disbanded.
https://eriehistory.blogspot.com/2016/02/orange-colored-sky.html
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
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