The Sparrow, "Tomorrow's Ship" c/w "Isn't It Strange," Columbia 43755 (rel. 6/1966)
One feels a tipping point in popular music with this single, the lone American release of a 1966 single by The Sparrow. This Canadian group began in 1964 as Jack London and The Sparrows; their repertoire of gentler garage-adjacent Beatle-style pop got them some Canadian hits but zero interest below the border. Their major CA hit "If You Don't Want My Love" was issued in America by Laurie Records, but got lost in the shuffle of '64.
Lead singer Jack London left the group in 1965; John Kay (Joachim Fritz Krauledat), Russian-born songwriter and vocalist, ended up in Canada and was asked to front the remaining band. They changed name to The Sparrow and released a rowdy, likable single, "Hard Times with The Law," for Capitol of Canada in the summer of that year.
With their next release, the group leaped into the emergent psychedelic pop style; group member Dennis Edmonton, who penned most of the band's early material, continued as songwriter. The two sides of this single exhibit music's broader reach in 1966--sometimes with comical outcomes.
"Tomorrow's Ship" is an excellent psych-pop item impressive for its lack of Beatles influence. It's all the musical motifs of 1965 pulsed in a sonic blender and poured onto a baking sheet. Heat oven to 350; bake for 15 minutes. Check for bubbling or browning.
The hazy guitar sounds; the modal chord changes; the sleepy-yet-urgent vocal harmonies--they're all here in this sad-yet-hopeful song of a person in search of change and happiness. I can imagine a Monkees version of this song, with Micky Dolenz on lead vocals (that is, BTW, intended as a complement). Acid-tinged lead guitar contrasts with the melodic, fuzzy vibe of song and performance. Columbia Records recognized this Canadian import had chart potential. They promoted it to disc jockeys who didn't take the bait. Red-label retail copies are mighty scarce. (Mine is the white-label promo version.)
Lead singer Jack London left the group in 1965; John Kay (Joachim Fritz Krauledat), Russian-born songwriter and vocalist, ended up in Canada and was asked to front the remaining band. They changed name to The Sparrow and released a rowdy, likable single, "Hard Times with The Law," for Capitol of Canada in the summer of that year.
With their next release, the group leaped into the emergent psychedelic pop style; group member Dennis Edmonton, who penned most of the band's early material, continued as songwriter. The two sides of this single exhibit music's broader reach in 1966--sometimes with comical outcomes.
"Tomorrow's Ship" is an excellent psych-pop item impressive for its lack of Beatles influence. It's all the musical motifs of 1965 pulsed in a sonic blender and poured onto a baking sheet. Heat oven to 350; bake for 15 minutes. Check for bubbling or browning.
The hazy guitar sounds; the modal chord changes; the sleepy-yet-urgent vocal harmonies--they're all here in this sad-yet-hopeful song of a person in search of change and happiness. I can imagine a Monkees version of this song, with Micky Dolenz on lead vocals (that is, BTW, intended as a complement). Acid-tinged lead guitar contrasts with the melodic, fuzzy vibe of song and performance. Columbia Records recognized this Canadian import had chart potential. They promoted it to disc jockeys who didn't take the bait. Red-label retail copies are mighty scarce. (Mine is the white-label promo version.)
Cash Box remained open-minded well into 1966. They'd soon exhibit a cynical, terse approach that ended the golden days of their lexical overkill. It was a deep loss.
"Isn't it Strange" deep-dives into psychedelia. Buzzing, swooping guitars dominate this eerie woozy waltz. A sound that suggests the death of a manatee occurs early in the recording. Mucho reverb and distortion colors a song that sounds like music soon to come out of LA. Not the pop-friendly vibe of the A-side by any means; ponderous, perhaps, but a fascinating piece of the psych-pop puzzle.
Columbia issued a second Sparrow single later in 1966; "Green Bottle Lover" features John Kay on lead vocals, and, though he didn't write the song, could be mistaken for a cut off Steppenwolf's debut LP. (That group debuted on Dunhill Records in 1967 and were off and running from that point.)
Tomorrow: Another 180 to Memphis, where Sun Records alumnus Gene Simmons delivers a solid rockin' single for Chicago's Checker label, 1960.
Got the Monkees goosebumps immediately with "Tomorrow's Ship" and its "Sometime in the Morning" opening melody. Interesting that this is months before "More of the Monkees" and that song was released. "Isn't It Strange' (with NO question mark!) is indeed strange psychedelia and, to my ears, is a prelude to the much better (and less experimental) "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" with its nonsensical oneiric imagery. Again, this song was released months before the Beatles song. Something must have been added to Canada's water supply in 1966.
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