Thursday, April 10, 2008

Eternity's Children - Eternity's Children


Σε ρυθμούς sunshine και baroque pop κινείται η σημερινή επιλογή. Σε σχέση με το Αγγλικό κείμενο από το βιβλίο του Vernon Joynson και σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες στο cd, η μπάντα αυτή ξεκίνησε το 1965 με μέλη σπουδαστές από το Delta College. Το 1967 που έβγαλε το πρώτο 45αρι της, την παραγωγή έκανε ο Keith Olsen, των Music Machine. Παρά το γεγονός ότι περιόδεψαν μαζί με τους Strawberry Alarm Clock, τους Seeds και τους Blues Magoos, το 45αρι κοινώς «φούνταρε» με συνέπεια να φύγουν από την A&M, για να πάνε στην Tower όπου έβγαλαν την μεγαλύτερη επιτυχία τους το Mrs Bluebird, η οποία δεν προωθήθηκε όπως έπρεπε.

Η έκδοση της Rev-Ola περιέχει σχεδόν τα «άπαντα» των Eternity's Children, δηλαδή τα 2 πρώτα Lp τους συν κάποια 45αρια. Μπορεί να έγινα διάσημοι για το Mrs Bluebird ωστόσο εμένα περισσότερο μου αρέσει μακράν το Your World που θεωρώ και ως το πιο «φιλοσοφημένο» τους κομμάτι.

BRUCE BLACKMAN keyb'd A
JERRY BOUNDS gtr A
LINDA LAWLEY vcls ABC
CHARLIE ROSS bs ABC
JOHNNY WALKER gtr A
ROY WHITAKER drms AB
MIKE McCLAIN keyb'ds BC

ALBUMS:
1(A/B) ETERNITY'S CHILDREN (Tower 5l23) 1968
2(C) TIMELESS (Tower 5144) 1968
NB: There's also a retrospective CD Eternity's Children (Revola CREV062CD) 1999.

45s:
1 Rumors/Wait And See (A&M 866) 1967
2 Mrs Bluebird/Little Boy (Tower 416) 1968 69
3 Sunshine Among Us/Rupert White (Tower 439) 1968 117
4 Till I Hear From You/I Wanna Be With You (Tower 449) 1968
5 Sidewalks Of The Ghetto/Look Away (Tower 476) 1969
6 A Railroad Trestle In California/My Happiness Day (some PS) (Tower 477) 1969
7 Blue Horizon/Lifetime Day (Tower 498) 1969
8 Laughing Girl/Little Boy (Tower 499) 1969
9 Alone Again / From You Unto Us (Liberty 56162) 1970
NB: (5) flipside was by Charles Ross III. (6) credited to Charles Ross E. III, although the 'B' side is just a different mix of an Eternity's Children album cut. (8) credited to Charles Ross III.

Originally The Phantoms (minus Lawley) they'd formed in Cleveland, Mississippi. After relocating to Biloxi, they recruited Linda Lawley and changed their name to Eternity's Children. With aspirations to become an L.A. pop-psych band, they honed their skills on the New Orleans circuit (playing as Charlie Rich's backing band?), before venturing to L.A. to record. Their main claim to fame was Mrs. Bluebird, a minor hit, which was produced by Millennium's Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen. By the time their first album was released however, Bounds, Walker and Blackman had left, with the latter replaced by Texan McClain (ex-Neurotic Sheep).

Overall their eponymous debut album is a top album for Boettcher fans, and features songs by Boettcher plus other Millennium members - including Flowers, a Michael Fennelly composition dropped from Millennium's Begin album. Curiously, the "cover" of Sagittarius' You know I've Found A Way is the exact same track as the demo logged at the publishers, and may not even feature Eternity's Children at all!

Their second album was produced by Gary Paxton in Bakersfield, with compositions by Clarence White, Gene Parsons, Ben Benay and Gary & Jan Paxton. Sounding like a tougher Fifth Dimension, with a European tinge, akin perhaps to Glitterhouse's performance on the "Barbarella" soundtrack. A couple of the tracks, Blue Horizon and Sidewalks Of The Ghetto were cut with Spooner Oldham and Chips Moman - presumably in Memphis.

In 1969, the 45 releases get a little confusing, with consecutive Tower catalogue numbers mixing tracks credited to Charles Ross III, with Eternity's Children cuts. This kind of begs the question, whether this parallel release was a marketing ploy, to push Charles Ross III on the back of the more familiar group name. In addition, their final 45 includes an unreleased Curt Boettcher tune on the 'B' side which may even date back to their first album sessions.
Blackman went on to form Starbuck and later Korona.

The band also recorded a further album which wasn't released at the time. This has recently been discovered by Gear Fab and is due to be reissued together with other bonus material from '65 - '67, sometime in the near future. Alternatively, there is a Revola CD which comprises 25 tracks, covering both LPs and assorted 45s from 1967-1970. This comes with a detailed history by Dawn Eden.
Compilation appearances have included: Flowers and You Know I'll Find A Way on Bring Flowers To U.S. (LP).
(Vernon Joynson/Max Waller/Joe Foster/Mike Markesich/Jeffrey Glenn)

Tracks:

1. Again Again
2. Rupert White
3. Flowers
4. My Happiness Day
5. Lifetime Day
6. Mrs. Bluebird
7. Your World
8. You Know I've Found A Way
9. Little Boy
10. Sunshine Among Us
11. I Wanna Be With you
12. Nature's Child
13. The Other Side Of Me
14. Look Away
15. Christina In My Dreams
16. Sunshine And Flowers
17. Till I Hear It From You
18. Get Outta Here
19. Gypsy Minstrel Man
20. The Thinking Animal
21. From You Unto Us
22. Alone Again
23. Blue Horizon
24. The Sidewalks Of The Ghetto
25. When The World Turns

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a great band and wonderfull collection!!
thank you

Anonymous said...

specialy mrs. bluebird is such a wonderful song. Thank you for this.

ASDLR said...

Hey there !

It needs a re-up!

Thank you comrade.

ASDLR