Flashback Friday: California Baroque Pop Spun Beatles Style
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California sunshine popsters, The Merry-Go-Round, endured a wild, dizzy ride of short fame in the late 1960's. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist and musical golden boy, Emitt Rhodes in 1966, the band featured former members of Grass Roots and the Gene Clark Group. With two members still in high school, The Merry-Go-Round managed to reach the Top Ten with their first single, "Live" on radio stations, KHJ-FM in Los Angeles and KGB-FM in San Diego. Sounding somewhere between the California folk-rock of the Byrds or the baroque pop of the Zombies, the band toured briefly with psychedelic acts, including Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Electric Prunes and Janis Joplin. While only recording one self-titled album and several singles during its short three-year career, the band's songs "Live" and "Time Will Show The Wiser" were covered by The Bangles and The Fairport Convention, respectively. One of their stellar 60's nuggets "Listen, Listen," maybe the best song that Paul McCartney never wrote. Likewise, Emitt Rhodes maybe the American bastard brother of the once Beatlesque McCartney.
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