Dave And The Marksmen, "I Could Make You Mine" c/w "I Wanna Cry," Warner Brothers 5485 (rel. 10/1964)
David Marks was a legal member of The Beach Boys well into 1972, though he was ousted by manager/sociopath Murry Wilson almost a decade earlier. Prone to brash, bratty behavior, Marks wasn't the subservient, traumatized offspring of the deluded, abusive father Wilson. He regarded their manager as a bloviating old man, and baited him for the amusement factor. Murry tended to explode, rant and rail. Marks had no emotional ties and went head-to-head with Murry more than once. Marks, who lived across the street from the Wilson house, bonded with Carl Wilson, a fellow guitarist. Intrigued by the vocal harmonies and by Brian Wilson's songwriting sessions, all which drifted out from the windows onto the street, David was drafted into the group as a rhythm guitarist at 13. He's heard on the group's first three LPs and early hits like "Surfin' USA," where the interplay of his and Carl Wilson's guitar is an essential part of that iconic hit.
Marks estimated he performed in at least 100 live shows with The Beach Boys before he turned 14. With this experience, the young man become more sure of his position, and he resented Murry Wilson's constant criticisms, nit-picks and chastizing. It didn't take much for the two to be at each other's throats. This gave the Wilson boys a respite from conflicts with their old man, but the witness they bore to these domestic disputes added to the many tiers of trauma they carried.
Murry booted Marks from the group; in Mark's own words, from a later interview: "I was a disrespectful kid and Murry was all business." The elder Wilson wanted to make The Beach Boys a family-owned corporation, and the mouthy kid across the street got in the way of that idea.
Though formally ousted by Murry, Marks continued to record with The Beach Boys, who were under enormous pressure from their label, Capitol Records. With two albums a year expected of them (plus several singles), Brian Wilson and his collaborators grabbed every chance they could get to create and record new material. Some Marks-inclusive tracks appear as late as the Shut Down Vol. 2 LP in 1964.
As Brian Wilson chose to stop touring and focus on recording, he called Marks in from time to time to add parts to songs-in-progress. In "Don't Worry Baby" he plays the chink-chink guitar chords that comprise this epic song's instrumental break.
By this time, David Marks had made friends with Dennis Wilson's backup drummer Mark Groseclose. The percussionist had a rock band called The Jaguars. David joined them and the group became Dave and The Marksmen. They got a recording contract with Herb Alpert's A&M label and released two singles in the general SoCal surf/hotrod style in early 1964. A vindictive Murry Wilson, still fuming about this sassy upstart, called local AM radio stations and yelled at them. He forbade them to play the Marksmen's records. He presented himself as a musical Don Corleone and the disc jockeys heeded his offer they couldn't refuse.
Marks estimated he performed in at least 100 live shows with The Beach Boys before he turned 14. With this experience, the young man become more sure of his position, and he resented Murry Wilson's constant criticisms, nit-picks and chastizing. It didn't take much for the two to be at each other's throats. This gave the Wilson boys a respite from conflicts with their old man, but the witness they bore to these domestic disputes added to the many tiers of trauma they carried.
Murry booted Marks from the group; in Mark's own words, from a later interview: "I was a disrespectful kid and Murry was all business." The elder Wilson wanted to make The Beach Boys a family-owned corporation, and the mouthy kid across the street got in the way of that idea.
Though formally ousted by Murry, Marks continued to record with The Beach Boys, who were under enormous pressure from their label, Capitol Records. With two albums a year expected of them (plus several singles), Brian Wilson and his collaborators grabbed every chance they could get to create and record new material. Some Marks-inclusive tracks appear as late as the Shut Down Vol. 2 LP in 1964.
As Brian Wilson chose to stop touring and focus on recording, he called Marks in from time to time to add parts to songs-in-progress. In "Don't Worry Baby" he plays the chink-chink guitar chords that comprise this epic song's instrumental break.
Marks wasn't ready to give up. They switched to Warner Brothers Records for their third and final single, by which time Beatlemania had impacted American music, and the Fab Four's influence was inescapable. The group shed their surfin' roots and showed they paid attention to other UK groups. On "I Could Make You Mine," the bratty side of Marks' personality informs a song patterned after the early hits of The Kinks.
Mark's nasal vocal seems to mock a possible romantic partner, who attracts him, but he passes on the prospect with wry chuckles and sneers. The other Marksmen provide a blanket of reverbed harmonies, Groseclose's solid drumming and Marks' lead guitar--on the trendy 12-string electric Rickenbacher that was THE sound of late 1964-late 1966.
The side owes a little to the sound of The Dave Clark Five, filtered through the more relaxed vibe of LA. It sounds radio-friendly and up-to-date, and I'm sure Murry Wilson hated it.
None of the group's three singles were reviewed or mentioned in the music magazines. Perhaps the elder Wilson's menace reached them as well. No one outside of the band's friends and fans knew these three records existed!
Mark's nasal vocal seems to mock a possible romantic partner, who attracts him, but he passes on the prospect with wry chuckles and sneers. The other Marksmen provide a blanket of reverbed harmonies, Groseclose's solid drumming and Marks' lead guitar--on the trendy 12-string electric Rickenbacher that was THE sound of late 1964-late 1966.
The side owes a little to the sound of The Dave Clark Five, filtered through the more relaxed vibe of LA. It sounds radio-friendly and up-to-date, and I'm sure Murry Wilson hated it.
None of the group's three singles were reviewed or mentioned in the music magazines. Perhaps the elder Wilson's menace reached them as well. No one outside of the band's friends and fans knew these three records existed!
"I Wanna Cry" gets more into a Beatles groove, but, like many American efforts in this vein, touches on the garage-band sound. With similar chords to Ruby and The Romantics' recent hit "Our Day Will Come," this more vulnerable mid-tempo item features an impressive vocal sound from the group, with Marks' lead guitar given a longer space for its twang and jangle.
This side sounds like a classic that should've been a hit; instead, it's an obscurity known only to record collectors like myself. And, now, you!
This side sounds like a classic that should've been a hit; instead, it's an obscurity known only to record collectors like myself. And, now, you!
David Marks remained a legal member of The Beach Boys until 1972: Murry overlooked the fine print in an older contract, and David owned 20% of the trademark. He remained friends with the Wilson boys over the years, and in the early 2000s, played with them on a series of tours that featured all surviving members of the original group. I was fortunate to see one of those performances and it was good to bear witness to a late moment of peacemaking with this important American rock 'n' roll group.
Marks is still with us, and still making music. He was included in a 2024 documentary about The Beach Boys produced by the band for streaming services. There's much more to his story than this mere blog post.
Tomorrow: Voodoo hoodoo with Don Sargent and The Buddies, coupled with a cautionary song about careless driving. One strange record from 1959!
Marks is still with us, and still making music. He was included in a 2024 documentary about The Beach Boys produced by the band for streaming services. There's much more to his story than this mere blog post.
Tomorrow: Voodoo hoodoo with Don Sargent and The Buddies, coupled with a cautionary song about careless driving. One strange record from 1959!
I would've guessed Beach Boys if'n I'd heard this without reading your blog post. Good tunes, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat fun to hear these for the first time--thanks, Frank! Love the snotty lead vocals on the first track. "Manager/sociopath" is a perfect and humorous description of Murry Wilson's persona. What a lunatic. I didn't know that was Marks playing the minimalist guitar parts in the vocal-less section of "Don't Worry Baby" and have always loved that nuance. Love it that they had the balls to keep it so simple and pure.
ReplyDeleteThank you Dean! Great insights and I'm glad you dug the record!
DeleteAfter another listen that second track is really growing on me. As I know you know, it predates the Yardbirds' "For Your Love" and the Monkees' "Valerie," which both are reminiscent of "I Wanna Cry."
ReplyDeleteTwo fantastic Beatle-esque songs that stand on their own. Really surprised "I Wanna Cry" didn't make the charts. To me, this is a perfect mid-Sixties song.
ReplyDeleteI agree!
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