Green Tambourine (1968)
Bubblegum With An Edge
“Unlike the majority of bubblegum bands, the Lemon Pipers’ albums are actually quite good, not least because they were one of the few bubblegum bands who were a proper band with their own songwriters (although outside writer/producers did provide the two hits, the inescapable “Green Tambourine” and the actually even better “Rice Is Nice,” a sweet, harp-laden depiction of a wedding day). Even the album tracks are pretty groovy, like the Cat Stevens-like character sketches “Shoeshine Boy” and “The Shoemaker of Leatherwood Square,” which effectively use trippy string sections and playful harmonies. The snottier folk-rock of “Ask Me if I Care” and the far-out “Fifty Year Void,” to say nothing of the nine-minute freakout “Through With You,” give Green Tambourine a harder edge than most bubblegum albums, though it’s still closer to, say, the Cyrkle than Cream. Seek it out, bubblegum snobs: you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised.” – The All Music Guide
Rice Is Nice (2:12)
Shoeshine Boy (3:29)
Turn Around Take A Look (2:48)
Rainbow Tree (2:26)
Ask Me If I Care (3:11)
Stragglin’ Behind (2:38)
Green Tambourine (2:29)
Blueberry Blue (2:30)
The Shoemaker Of Leatherwear Square (2:04)
Fifty Year Void (5:46)
Through With You (9:07)
6 Comments
Find it HERE.
I knew these guys from my days as a college dropout in Oxford (Ohio, that is). The bass player, Steve Walmsley, and I were in the same freshman dorm. They weren't a bubblegum band live. A four piece band that included a Hammond organ. Kind of blues/rock with some psychedelic input, if you get my drift. They did have a follow-up album. The money Buddha Records made off of Green Tambourine, supposedly, allowed it to pay a debt to certain parties and avoid a take-over. Buddha also put out Capt. Beefheart's Safe As Milk.
In Oxford, I knew the guys in Starstruck, the next Bill Bartlett band after the Lemon Pipers. Originally, Walmsley and Bob Nave were in it with Bartlett, then Nave dropped out and Walmsley was replaced by David Goldflies, who went on to play with Dickie Betts and Great Southern and then a later Allman Brothers incarnation.
Bill Bartlett wrote the music for and arranged and sang Black Betty. After Starstruck broke up, the same dudes who'd produced the Lemon Pipers built a band called Ram Jam around Bartlett, released the original Starstruck version of Black Betty nationally, and also released an album with four or so Bartlett originals.
Cool, thanks for all the background.
I though this post was WILD! I still have the 45 of Green Tambourine I bought in 1968.It still is a great song. Thanks for posting this.
That tune warped many a young mind.