Guest Writer Zach Malm
Wussy Genius: Curt Boettcher
Posted by: zac | From: January 30, 2005
The Sopwith Camel. The Yellow Balloon. Four Jacks and a Jill. Harper's Bizarre. Spanky and Our Gang. The Buckinghams. The Cherry People. Eternity's Children. The Neon Philharmonic. The Peppermint Rainbow. If you are already familiar with these names, then feel free to disregard the next few paragraphs. If these appear at all foreign to you, and I imagine at least half of them do, then pay attention, because what you don't know is that Curt Boettcher is the Greatest Band of All Time.
All of the aforementioned bands were part of the late sixties' sunshine pop movement, of which Curt Boettcher was a principle architect, through his involvement with The Association, The Millennium, and Sagittarius, and various production work for other artists. Sunshine pop, a close cousin of bubblegum, featured somewhat psychedelic production and a heavy emphasis on smooth melodic vocals, with rich harmonies. For more famous artists, think the Mamas and the Papas, The Turtles, and some Smile-era Beach Boys.
Curt Boettcher (pronounced "Betcher") first came to national attention when he produced the Association's debut album And Then Along Comes the Association, which featured the hits "Along Comes Mary" and "Cherish," two mainstays of oldies radio. At that point, a familiar story began, whereby his artistic advances were greeted with critical acclaim and public disregard.
Before his production work for the Association, Boettcher had released two folk records with the group Goldbriars. Despite being a folk group, he was even at that time using very unusual vocal arrangements, something he employed throughout his career.
After the success of the Association, Boettcher split his time between producing for others, such as Tommy Roe ("Sweet Pea") and Lee Mallory ("Take My Hand," which Brian Wilson was a big fan of), and his own studio-based bands. The first was The Ballroom, which recorded an album around 1966. It was never released, however, and some of the songs were re-recorded by the Millennium. A few years ago, the Ballroom album was finally released on CD, under the title Preparing for the Millennium.
While recording the Ballroom album, Boettcher befriended Gary Usher, who was producing the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday in a neighboring studio. Usher was mostly a surf-rock producer, who had co-written the Beach Boys' "In My Room." Apparently when Brian Wilson, who was also at the studio, heard the sounds coming from Boettcher's session, he exclaimed, "What is that?" Boettcher and Usher's friendship led to their pet project Sagittarius. The first album, Present Tense, came out in 1968, and features the psychedelic pop gem "My World Fell Down," released as a single in 1967 and shortened substantially for the album. A technically and artistically ambitious album, it only sold 50,000 copies. A somewhat disappointing second album, mostly made by Usher, was released in 1969, titled The Blue Marble. Between the two Sagittarius records, though, Boettcher and Usher created their masterpiece, as The Millennium.
With the Millennium's debut album, Boettcher ran up the largest bill ever for Columbia. It was only the second album recorded using the new 16-track technology, and he spent a year meticulously crafting it. Essentially a producer's wet dream, Begin was, ironically, the only album the Millennium would release, mostly due to poor sales. Unable to withstand the consistent commercial failures, Boettcher quit music, and pursued a career in advertising. He came back to music now and then, releasing a solo album, There's an Innocent Face, in 1973, producing off and on for The Beach Boys, Emitt Rhodes, and others until his death in 1987 (including The Association's reportedly horrible 1982 electro-pop cover of fellow GBoAT-ers The Left Banke's classic "Walk Away Renee," but I can forgive him for that). I'm not sure what it says on his gravestone, but if you ask me, it should read, "Curt Boettcher. 1/7/1944 – 6/14/1987. The Greatest Band of All Time."
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