Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest (album)
| Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Chris Lucey | ||||
| Released | 1965 | |||
| Recorded | 1965 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 38:59 | |||
| Label | Surrey | |||
| Producer | Randy Wood, Marshall Leib | |||
| Chris Lucey chronology | ||||
|
||||
Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest (released in the United Kingdom as Too Many Mornings) is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Bobby Jameson, credited under the name Chris Lucey. It was released on Surrey Records in 1965. Recorded on a limited budget, the album did not receive much attention at the time of its release; however, over time it has become treasured for its resemblance to the arrangements found in Love's album Forever Changes. Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest has since been reissued and made more accessible to collectors.
The album was originally a project between Surrey Records, and singer-songwriter Chris Ducey. Ten songs were recorded for the album; however, the record label ran into contractual complications when it was discovered Ducey had commitments to ABC Records. Without a deal to release Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest, record producers Randy Wood and Betty Chiapetta had intent to find a new musician to record another set of original material. They discovered Bobby Jameson, a folkie who recorded the Mick Jagger-Keith Richards composition "All I Want Is My Baby" during a venture to England, in 1965. Because the record sleeves had already been printed for Chris Ducey's album, Wood and Chiapetta required Jameson to write new songs using the same song titles as Ducey's recordings, and had the sleeves overprinted so that the word Ducey would appear as Lucey. While discussing the events leading to the album, Jameson recalled he "was twenty years old, flat broke, and unrepresented by counsel or management". Wood used this to his advantage: Jameson would receive no royalties for any sales and was credited as Chris Lucey without any mutual understanding.
With producer Marshall Leib—previously an associate of Phil Spector—Jameson explored intricate arrangements and somewhat bleak lyricism, which is commonly compared to the sophisticated orchestration found in the psychedelic rock band Love's Forever Changes (1967). Like the group's frontman Arthur Lee, Jameson could transform a simple lyric into a wistful turn-of-phrase. Writing for the Allmusic website, music critic Richie Unterberger notes the "songwriting isn't as consistent as early Love, the production emphasizes vibraphones whereas Forever Changes stressed horns and strings, and in fact some of the songs don't sound too close to vintage Love". Nonetheless, Unterberger concedes "it got close enough to make this an above-average obscurity in the folk-psych-rock tributary".
...
Wikipedia