Golden Grass

The Grassroots - "Golden Grass" (1968) - Dunhill Records

Hello Friends,

Its August, its Friday and we're ready for the weekend!  On the turntable we've got some classic Sixties tunes while Tiki T. whips up some summery cocktails!  

The creation of songwriters P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, The Grassroots were formed in L.A. in 1964 as an attempt to cash in on the budding folk-rock music scene.  Signed to Lou Adler's Dunhill Records, they had an early minor hit with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Jones (Ballad of a Thin Man)", but their first real success came with their song, "Where Were You When I Needed You" which cracked the Billboard 100.  More of a singles band than an album band, they were West Coast AM-radio pop at its finest!  (Think of them like a watered-down Monkees!)

Uncle Buck: "Hey, nice music! Who is that, the Grass Roots? Just kidding, I know my music!"

Golden Grass is a 'greatest hits' LP released in 1968.  It features their big hit, the very 60's-sounding "Let's Live For Today", as well as other mid-tempo rockers like "Bella Linda", "Things I Should Have Said", "Where Were You When I Needed You", "Feelings", etc.  The album's standout is the hit, "Midnight Confessions"- a driving bluesy rock tune and the first 'Roots song to feature a horn section.  (Quentin Tarantino liked it so much he used it on the Jackie Brown soundtrack!)

FUN FACT: Hey kids, if you think you recognize The Grassroots' guitarist, Creed Bratton, you do! Creed played a fictionalized version of himself on the American TV Show, "The Office" from 2005 to 2013.  He quit the band in 1969 over frustration with the producers and record label who didn't allow members to contribute much in the way of writing songs or playing their own instruments in the studio.  (Maybe we should start referring to this as the "Alex Chilton syndrome"!)

Here's a great clip of the band lip-synching the song "Feelings" in Doris Day's last movie (and George Carlin's first!), the incredibly-titled, With Six You Get Eggroll...

We really enjoy the "Under My Thumb"-sounding marimba in this one!

RATING: 3.5 no tickee no washees out of 5