THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,778) The Match — “Mornin’ I’ll Be Movin’ On”
The Match ignite a great song written by Paul Williams (see #1,300) and Roger Nichols (see #631, 828, 1,054, 1332), later appearing on Williams’ first LP, and (to my ears) shoot it even higher into the sunshine pop heavens.
Of the Match’s only LP — A New Light — Dusty Groove writes:
A Sunshine Pop treasure – and a record that perfectly straddles a few different strands of late 60s pop! The quintet have fabulous harmonies – of the sort rooted in The Four Freshmen, and given a sunny finish by The Beach Boys – but they also move here in a way that prefaces soft rock modes of the decade to come – working in arrangements from Jack Pleis that still have plenty of jazz and pop, but which also compress things in a cool way too – giving the whole album a sublime sound that’s really unique! The album’s not exactly like the Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends [see #631, 828, 1,054, 1,332], but it’s definitely got a similar vibe . . . .
What Frank Is Listening To adds:
The liner notes written by Henry Mancini, proclaim, “Something new, or is it something old, is happening to popular music”. And Henry hits the nail on the head. The Match have taken (1969) recent trad pop sounds and psyched them up for the late 1960s. They lent to familiar songs from films as well as a number of tunes by upcoming songwriters like David Gates, Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams, Paul Simon [see #1,621], Roger Nichols. The album straddles both the traditional and the new as was popular at the time . . . . The Match are probably a little more “traditional groovy” with lovely vocal harmony arrangements backed by some beautiful string arrangements but it is all very slick as you would expect from the trad pop world. The result is a breezy vocal harmony album full of sunshine pop that would have made Brian Wilson chuckle. Clearly the band are trying to match (sic) the success of Harpers Bizarre and The Association [see #1,264] but they owe a big debt to Jimmy Webb and the multi layered vocal arrangements and music he was doing with the 5th Dimension.
https://whatfrankislisteningto.negstar.com/sunshine-pop-and-baroque/the-match-a-new-light-rca-1969/
As to Paul Williams, Mark Deming writes:
Paul Williams remains one of America’s best recognized all-purpose celebrities in the ’70s and ’80s — while plenty of folks are aware that he was a songwriter, vocalist, and instrumentalist, he also acted in movies and television, was a frequent guest on leading talk shows (he appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson over a dozen times), competed on game shows of all sorts, and was as likely to pop up in a Planet of the Apes sequel as he was to write a hit song. . . . Williams developed a passion for both music and acting, and began appearing in school theater productions as well as local talent shows. A medical condition stunted Williams’ growth, preventing him from becoming taller than five feet, two inches, and at one point he considered a career as a jockey. But his love of the stage won out, and Williams did regional theater . . . before returning to California and joining a repertory theater company . . . . Williams hoped to break into the movies, but . . . his career in Hollywood didn’t take off right away. After a spell as a comedy writer . . . Williams teamed up with songwriter Biff Rose, providing lyrics for Rose’s melodies, and the two enjoyed a windfall when Tiny Tim recorded their song “Fill Your Heart.” The tune ended up on the B-side of Tim’s smash single “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” and after getting his foot in the door of the music business, Williams formed a band with his brother Mentor Williams called the Holy Mackerel [see #24]. . . . but its sole . . . album was a commercial disappointment, and Williams set out on a solo career as he worked on his songwriting. Williams cut his first solo album for Reprise, 1970’s Someday Man, but it fared no better . . . . It was when Williams landed a job as a staff songwriter at A&M Records that his career finally started to click; working with Roger Nichols . . . he penned “Out in the Country,” which became a major hit for Three Dog Night, and the group had major chart success with two other Williams tunes, “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song” and “The Family of Man.” And a tune Williams and Nichols wrote for a bank commercial enjoyed an impressive second life when the Carpenters cut “We’ve Only Just Begun” and it became a massive chart success. . . . [H]e was cast in a supporting role as an orangutan in 1973’s Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and in 1974 he did double duty on Brian DePalma’s cult classic Phantom of the Paradise, composing songs for the film and playing sinister rock & roll mogul Swan. Williams also earned an Oscar nomination for writing the song “Nice to Be Around” for the movie Cinderella Liberty, a Song of the Year nomination after Helen Reddy cut “You and Me Against the World,” and in 1976 he . . . [took] home an Oscar for the love theme from A Star is Born, “Evergreen.” . . . While all this was happening, Williams somehow found time to cut five more albums for A&M . . . . Between his songwriting work and his acting gigs in everything from the TV shows The Odd Couple and The Love Boat (he also co-wrote the theme song for the latter) to the movie Smokey and the Bandit, Williams was seemingly everywhere, and in 1979 he won another Grammy . . . for the song “The Rainbow Connection,” written for The Muppet Movie. . . . [B]y the mid-’80s, Williams’ career had gone into a major slump; by his own admission, he had developed a serious addiction to drugs and alcohol during his years in the spotlight, and it wasn’t until 1990 that he got clean and sober and began rebuilding his life and career.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-williams-mn0000753254#biography
Ed Hogan tells us of Nichols:
[Roger Nichols’] household brimmed with music when he was growing up. His dad was . . . a professional photographer who played sax in local jazz bands. His mother was a music major and a classical pianist. When Nichols started grade school, he picked up the violin, continuing his violin and classical studies throughout grammar and high school. His attention turned to basketball and Nichols forsook violin for the hoops but played guitar on the side. Recruited to U.C.L.A. on a basketball scholarship . . . . [he was] confronted to make a choice between music or basketball by his coach . . . . Nichols chose music. . . . After he left college . . . . [o]n weekends, he worked in clubs with his group . . . . Around 1965, the group was signed to a recording contract by Liberty Records. . . . With the label for eight months without having a record released, Nichols called A&M Records expressing interest in playing some demos for label co-owner Herb Alpert. . . . [N]ichols wrote an instrumental for Alpert that he promptly recorded a week after hearing it. Though Roger Nichols and a Small Circle of Friends wasn’t a big seller, Albert urged A&M publishing company head . . . to sign Nichols as a songwriter to their company. [The label] introduced [him] to lyricist Paul Williams. . . . The duo wrote together for four years, resulting in lots of album cuts, B-sides, even A-sides, but no hits. An advertising executive approached a friend of Nichols asking for help with an under-budget commercial project for Crocker Bank. . . . Hoping to capture the youth market . . . Nichols and Williams were given the slogan, “You’ve got a long way to and go and we’d like to help you get there.” They had just ten days to create a song, essentially a jingle. Waiting until the last day . . . Nichols . . . wrote the basic verse melody in a half hour. . . . Richard Carpenter . . . heard the jingle on a TV commercial . . . . [T]he Carpenters recorded the song [as] “We’ve Only Just Begun” . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/roger-nichols-mn0001353156/biography
Here is Paul Williams:
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