Songs In Soft Focus Part 3: Sunshine Pop On Such A Winter’s Day

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“All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
I've been for a walk on a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A
California dreamin' on such a winter's day”

California Dreamin’, originally from the Mamas & the Papas, is without any doubt the most iconic sunshine pop song. The genre was a mid-sixties, mainly Californian pop style, typified by rich harmony vocals, lush orchestrations, and an overall happy-go-lucky mood. In this type of “flower power” music folk and psychedelic sounds miraculously came together. Apart from the Mamas & the Papas, popular bands were Spanky & Our Gang and the Association. Later soulful elements popped up in the genre with acts like The Fifth Dimension, Rotary Connection (produced by legendary Charles Stepney) and Friends of Distinction. Sunshine pop largely disappeared in the early seventies and was more or less taken over by the Californian yacht rock sound.

For a long time dj’s in the US thought Del Shannon was Afro-American, because of his high falsetto voice. That’s why Runaway went to #3 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1961. I love the magical tones of the self-built Musitron (early synthesizer) played by Max Crook and the way Del Shannon sings like if he's being followed by wild animals... For A Little While was his attempt to adjust his rock & roll sound to the Californian pop style that started to rule the airwaves in the mid-sixties.

In the early seventies when he was looking for new directions after his successful years with the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli recorded quite a few tracks, including Thank You for Motown. For reasons only svengali Barry Gordy knows, most of the songs were never released and Frankie Valli left the famous music factory soon afterwards. A few years later the single The Night, a song from these sessions was successfully picked up by the British northern soul scene. Around the same time Frankie Valli's My Eyes Adored You became a big hit in the United States (a song that he had bought back from Motown). Motown wanted to earn some money from this sudden and unexpected success and came up with the album Inside You with Frankie Valli's shelved Motown recordings. Later in the decade he became a (part-time) member of the (renewed) Four Seasons again and sang on hits like December 1963 and Who Loves You.

Enjoy this third part of Songs In Soft Focus!

Tracklist:

Lindsey Webster – Feels Like Forever (2019)
Bobby Womack – California Dreamin’ (1968)
The Fifth Avenue Band ‎– Eden Rock (1969)
George Benson ‎– Breezin' (1976)
Carpenters ‎– This Masquerade (Mascarada) (1973)
Carl Carlton ‎– I Won't Let That Chump Break Your Heart (1972)
Spanky & Our Gang ‎– Like To Get To Know You (1967)
Nick DeCaro ‎– I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (1969)
Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 – Pretty World (1969)
Jeanie Greene ‎– Only The Children Know (1971)
Gwen McCrae – Lead Me On (1970)
Vic Dana – Let The Good Times In (1968)
Cathy Rich ‎– Darkest Before Dawn (1969)
Barbra Streisand ‎– Our Corner Of The Night (1967)
The Imaginations ‎– Summer In New York (1967)
The Mamas & The Papas ‎– People Like Us (1971)
The Collage – Rainy Blue Memory Day (1967)
Summer's Children ‎– Milk And Honey (1966)
Chris & Peter Allen ‎– Two By Two (1966)
Frankie Valli – Thank You (1975)
Del Shannon ‎– For A Little While (1966)