I love a good late
1960's Beatles inspired album. There were quite a few of these released in the states in
1967-1968 when many of the garage bands traded in
fuzz and
snarl for
moustaches and
melody in the post
Sergeant Pepper apocalypse. Music cynics have often declared this period as the end of pop's innocence, paving the way for overblown
stadium rock and the like. There may be a little bit of truth in this, especially in the mainstream but there are always exceptions.
Bob Segarini is an exception, a true champion of the melodic pop song. Bob knew that no matter what, you gotta have pop!
Segarini cut his teeth in
California band,
The Brogues who released a couple of great, tough
R&B garage singles in the
mid-sixties. The best track of the two singles, "
I Ain't No Miracle Worker" turned up years later on the
Nuggets compilation. The Brogues went their separate ways with two members,
Greg Elmore and
Gary Duncan winding up in the
Quicksilver Messenger Service. Segarini along with fellow ex-Brogue bass player
Bill Whitington to form
The Family Tree in
1966 along with drummer
Newman Davis and keyboard player
Mike Olsen (who would later change his name to
Lee Michaels and score a big hit with "
Do You Know What I Mean" in
1971). The band were picked up up by
Mira records and released their first single, the Segarini penned "
Prince Of Dreams" in September
1966. An LP was planned but Mira eventually lost interest. By early
1967 was the only original member left in the Family Tree, now a quintet with
Jim DeCocq (keyboards),
Michael Dure (guitar),
Bill Troachim (bass) and
Vann Slatter (drums). Now signed to
RCA Victor records, for whom their debut single "
Do You Have The Time?" revealed themselves as a more melodic band with a distinctive
Anglophile edge and serving as a taster for their debut (and only) album which would appear nine months later.
Unlike The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album, the "
Miss Butters" record was released without fanfare or hype and slipped by the general public capturing very little attention along the way. Eventually getting a CD release in 2007 by
Rev-ola records "Miss Butters" is finally getting the praise it deserves. Apparently
Elton John is a big fan and once listed it in his all time top 25 favourite albums! The theme of the album is very loose, as is often the case with
concept albums. The song titles suggest that it is based on the life of a lonely lady and split into four sections of separate songs;
The Early Years,
It Is Better To Have Loved,
The Effect Of It All and
The Underture. Some of the songs flow into each other nicely providing a little continuity but overall its just a collection of
great pop tunes. The album was written solely by Segarini, produced by
Rick Jarrard with orchestral arrangements by
George Tipton who were both simultaneously working on a similar project;
Harry Nilsson's "
Aerial Ballet" also for RCA Victor.
"
Slippin Thru My Fingers" was chosen as a single to promote the album but didn't result in any significant sales. One last single was punted, the non-LP "
She Had To Fly" b/w "
He Spins Around", two great songs but again failing to set the world alight. Family Tree were never going to bring home the same amount of dollars as
The Mamas & The Papas or
The Monkees so they were subsequently dropped by RCA in
1969. Segarini and DeCocq continued together to form
Roxy releasing one "OK" album for
Elektra. Shortly after Segarini teamed up with Trochim to form
The Wackers who would release a trio of
Power Pop LPs in the early seventies...but that's a story which deserves it's own separate blog entry. For now though dig this...
