THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,923) The New Wave — “Where Do We Go from Here”
“[A] Stunning & Hauntingly crafted song” (spacecadett47, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tc5u29ivvw), incomparable L.A. baroque pop by the New Wave (see #1,200) courtesy of Ken of Ken and Barbie fame — yes, that Ken. The duo’s Reid King commented that it “was written/composed 35 years before 9/11 happened, and it was not in release in 2001, but should have been the music behind the footage of that tragic time.” (reidaux, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tc5u29ivvw)
Scott Blackerby says the New Wave’s sole LP (Little Dreams) is full of “heavily orchestrated soft-pop moves. . . . Most of the songs boast fairly attractive melodies, though the arrangements are occasionally overwhelming and their lyrics suffer from standard college student angst, which probably drove young female English major crazy.” (Scott Blackerby, The Acid Archives (2nd Ed.))
Richie Unterberger’s opinion?
[The New Wave was] a soft rock sunshine pop duo . . . . The album is . . . so soft and pop-ish that its relationship to rock music is slight and it sometimes sounds geared as much or more to the adult pop market as the pop/rock one. Their material emphasizes breezy, samba-influenced close-harmony romantic tunes, acoustic guitars, and light percussion embroidered by vibes and some orchestration. The music is pleasant but fluffy . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-new-wave-mn0001891881#biography
Pleasant but fluffy?! It’s not toilet paper! (If you are from the UK, you wouldn’t understand that.)
Joe Marchese tells us of the New Wave and the LP:
King found inspiration in the tricky chords of the bossa nova. He mastered them and went on to write his own songs, often in collaboration with one-time child actor Thom Andriola, who performed under the stage name of Tommy André. By 1966, King and Andriola were recording demos, and one year later, they were signed to Canterbury Records. . . . [T]hey found themselves collaborating with rock royalty as The New Wave. Van Dyke Parks, Gene Page, Mike Post, Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye all added their magic to the duo’s debut. . . . The New Wave brought together the sounds of King’s beloved bossa nova with jazz, pop and classical strains, while the harmonies recalled late-period Chad and Jeremy [see #1,060] or even Peter and Gordon. . . . [They] wrote all but one of the songs on the[ LP] . . . and the one cover version was a rearranged version of Michel Legrand’s “Autrefois” from Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, or The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. This was hardly Top 40 fare in 1967, adventurous though those times were. . . . . [T]he evocative, sometimes eerie sound of the vibraphone played a major role in the sound of The New Wave. Renowned [jazz] bassist Ron Carter . . . contributed bass to the record. . . . It’s no surprise that members of the famed Los Angeles “Wrecking Crew” participated in sessions . . . . Gene Page . . . was in the arranger’s chair and co-produced . . . . Van Dyke Parks was enlisted into service on piano while in the midst of work on SMiLE [see #1,825]. . . . The New Wave’s rich sound included harpsichords, strings and oboes, adding color to the most introspective songs on the LP as well as the sunnier cuts. The album performed well in the Los Angeles area, but Canterbury wasn’t behind it. King and Andriola continued to explore the boundaries of popular music, taking their sound in a less commercial direction (inspired by modern classical composition) and recording a second album in the U.K. that never saw release. But the New Wave’s self-titled LP has remained a favorite among sunshine pop collectors for its intelligent lyrics and quirky, moody, individual melodies.
Before Blondie and Talking Heads: Now Sounds Presents The Original “New Wave”
Reid King writes:
Two young sons of L.A. success originally formed Canterbury: Ken Handler and then-partner Norm Ratner. Ratner’s family owned a large carpet company in L.A. and Ken’s parents . . . founded Mattel toy company, and yes, Ken is that Ken, and his sister is that Barbie. The Handlers set Ken up with something to do and paid him well for running what was essentially a tax shelter for their toy business. The label did a lot of recording in about a two-year span but had little success to show for it — which seemed to be the point, since that way they could declare a loss. Despite their best efforts to fail, they found themselves releasing a reasonably successful bubblegum single in 1967 called “Yellow Balloon”. . . . During the summer of 1967 sales of the album were going well around Los Angeles and elsewhere. But just when the record needed even more of a promotional boost, Canterbury pulled these efforts away from the LP, and interest began to wane. We also had not received any payment, so we sent with our manager to BMI and asked if they had accrued any royalties from airplay and sales. We discovered that BMI had never been contacted by Canterbury to handle payments. When we went back to Ken . . . he got so mad that her tore up our contract and gave us our full freedom right then and there. At that point it became very clear to us that Canterbury was actually in business to lose money.
liner notes to the CD reissue of Little Dreams
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