Post by erik on Mar 20, 2021 17:29:46 GMT -5
In the Pop Music Hits Spotlight this week is a one-hit wonder from England that pays homage to the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, and even Jean Sibelius in one five-minute fell swoop.
BEACH BABY (First Class; U.K. Records; 1974)—Between the demise of “flower power” and the rise of MTV, in other words basically the entire span of the 1970’s, AM Top 40 was a big thing; and while it allowed for the rise of many of the greatest single artists and groups in rock and roll history, it also allowed for the presence of a lot of what would later come to be known as “one-hit’ wonders. Such was the case of the British group known as First Class. Basically, this group consisted of two men, both noted British session singers: Chas Mills and the ultra-prolific Tony Burrows; and they came together as the result of a song written by John Carter and Gillian Shakespeare. That song was “Beach Baby”. The recording that the duo made, which, like the Beach Boys’ 1965 classic “California Girls”, was about, well, California Girls, had made its way to noted British rock eccentric Jonathan King (whose song “Everyone’s Gone To The Moon” was a big trans-Atlantic hit in 1965) during a massive electrical crisis in England. Burrows himself had already been featured as a lead vocalist on no fewer than four big hits in 1970: “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” (Edison Lighthouse); “My Baby Loves Loving’” (White Plains); “Game Data Ding” (The Pippins); and “United We Stand” (Brotherhood of Man). The record’s combination of quasi-Spectorian orchestral arrangements (complete with a horn motif borrowed from the “swan call” motif in the final movement of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony) and Beach Boys-type lyricism, may have seemed rather archaic at a time when disco and California rock were becoming big deals, but it did provide the duo with a sizeable hit, as “Beach Baby” peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending October 5, 1974. Although it was the duo’s only hit, Burrows would continue with a busy backing vocal career for such British legends as Sir Elton John and Cliff Richard.
BEACH BABY (First Class; U.K. Records; 1974)—Between the demise of “flower power” and the rise of MTV, in other words basically the entire span of the 1970’s, AM Top 40 was a big thing; and while it allowed for the rise of many of the greatest single artists and groups in rock and roll history, it also allowed for the presence of a lot of what would later come to be known as “one-hit’ wonders. Such was the case of the British group known as First Class. Basically, this group consisted of two men, both noted British session singers: Chas Mills and the ultra-prolific Tony Burrows; and they came together as the result of a song written by John Carter and Gillian Shakespeare. That song was “Beach Baby”. The recording that the duo made, which, like the Beach Boys’ 1965 classic “California Girls”, was about, well, California Girls, had made its way to noted British rock eccentric Jonathan King (whose song “Everyone’s Gone To The Moon” was a big trans-Atlantic hit in 1965) during a massive electrical crisis in England. Burrows himself had already been featured as a lead vocalist on no fewer than four big hits in 1970: “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” (Edison Lighthouse); “My Baby Loves Loving’” (White Plains); “Game Data Ding” (The Pippins); and “United We Stand” (Brotherhood of Man). The record’s combination of quasi-Spectorian orchestral arrangements (complete with a horn motif borrowed from the “swan call” motif in the final movement of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony) and Beach Boys-type lyricism, may have seemed rather archaic at a time when disco and California rock were becoming big deals, but it did provide the duo with a sizeable hit, as “Beach Baby” peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending October 5, 1974. Although it was the duo’s only hit, Burrows would continue with a busy backing vocal career for such British legends as Sir Elton John and Cliff Richard.