It's A Beautiful Day for "Influences"
21/09/2020
A fascinating tale from the Sixties of how visual and musical artists
are both spinners and weavers of the many-braided river that is human art.
are both spinners and weavers of the many-braided river that is human art.
The other day while I was adding some info to my database of my music recordings, I saw the LP cover at Left.
I have always thought it was a great pic; it got me wondering whether anyone else thought so. As I wasn't busy, I wandered off into the depths of the internet to find out. I soon found myself falling down a double rabbit hole: -
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The band's lineup when this LP was released, according to Wikipedia: -
- Pattie Santos – vocals, percussion (1967–1974; died 1989)
- David LaFlamme – violin, vocals (1967–1973, 1997–present)
- Hal Wagenet – guitar (1968–1971 plus several reunions)
- Linda LaFlamme – keyboards, background vocals, tambourine (1967–1970)
- Mitchell Holman – bass (1967–1971 plus several reunions)
- Val Fuentes – drums (1967–1974, 1997–2020)
The Cover Image
I searched, not for the album, but rather for "Great cover art "It's A Beautiful Day"". I didn't even have to click on any search results to see that the cover was obviously on some lists; my question was answered. I should have stopped there, after spending less than 5 minutes.
But, no! Intrigued by an extract from Wikipedia which appeared high in the results, I clicked through to where I found the below within the Wikipedia entry for the Album: -
"The cover
The cover, designed by George Hunter and painted by Kent Hollister, was based on the 1912 painting Woman on the Top of a Mountain by Charles Courtney Curran. The design used an old version of the Columbia Records logo that George Hunter felt fitted better with the feel of the rest of the cover. The album cover is number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest album covers. The Girl can also be seen in the background on the cover of Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service."
(My Bold and my italics)
But, no! Intrigued by an extract from Wikipedia which appeared high in the results, I clicked through to where I found the below within the Wikipedia entry for the Album: -
"The cover
The cover, designed by George Hunter and painted by Kent Hollister, was based on the 1912 painting Woman on the Top of a Mountain by Charles Courtney Curran. The design used an old version of the Columbia Records logo that George Hunter felt fitted better with the feel of the rest of the cover. The album cover is number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest album covers. The Girl can also be seen in the background on the cover of Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service."
(My Bold and my italics)
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After a few minutes of image searching and scrolling, the best reproduction of the Curran work I could find is at Left.
It seems to me a fine treatment of outdoor light in the Impressionist style, capturing the light, the air, the space, and the exhilarating mood a mountain top can evoke. The painting brought to mind a work by Monet which made a great impression (ha-ha) on me in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, 1996 (see Left), even though in the Monet the light is coming from the front of the figure.
(After spending four hours in the gallery, only two works made it to an individual mention in my diary: - "Windy umbrella girl? "The Crow" in the snow, too many to remember, unfortunately".) Then, further intrigued by the last sentence of the Wikipedia entry, (Italics, above), I consulted my folder of album cover pics assembled for use by the music database.
I pulled up the cover pic for Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service (see Left), a cover I have always liked, mainly for its old-fashioned Western art style, and also a cover where Wikipedia says "The Girl can also be seen in the background". The girl is certainly there, but she is mirrored for a start, has her arms in a different pose, and the hat is hard to see. I decided to use a little image editing to make a side-by-side comparison. Here we can see at Left that although it is heavily modified, the Happy Trails image clearly contains at least the skirt and bodice of the original. I can remember that in the Seventies what might be meant to be a hat was interpreted by me as possibly the edge of a cutout, and I suspected the girl was pasted in. (No digital editing in those days!) I also thought, as further evidence, that the rider was too close to the girl to have reached full gallop like that if he was just leaving, and a bit late to be waving if he was just passing. Such are the speculations of a stoned mind with ears occupied by music and only an album cover to look at! |
A few days later, before I began the blog post, I thought of consulting a book of mine, The Album Cover Album, Edited by Thorgerson, Storm, and Roger Dean, Paper Tiger, 1977.
There in the captions I found the link which explains how the girl came to be used for both covers: -
Artiste It's A Beautiful Day
Title It's A Beautiful Day
Rec. Co. CBS
Date 1968
Design Illustr.: Globe Propaganda
Artiste Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title Happy Trails
Rec. Co. Capitol
Date 1969
Design George Hunter for Globe Paintings & Portraits; Lettering: Kent Hollister
Both designs are credited to a company named "Globe", and both Hunter and Hollister are mentioned above from Wikpedia in relation to It's A Beautiful Day!
There in the captions I found the link which explains how the girl came to be used for both covers: -
Artiste It's A Beautiful Day
Title It's A Beautiful Day
Rec. Co. CBS
Date 1968
Design Illustr.: Globe Propaganda
Artiste Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title Happy Trails
Rec. Co. Capitol
Date 1969
Design George Hunter for Globe Paintings & Portraits; Lettering: Kent Hollister
Both designs are credited to a company named "Globe", and both Hunter and Hollister are mentioned above from Wikpedia in relation to It's A Beautiful Day!
The Song: "Bombay Calling"
Though the cover image had taken me down a 35 minute rabbit hole, I was still ready to dive into another.
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While at the Wikipedia entry for It's A Beautiful Day, I spotted the text "The theme from the song "Bombay Calling" was later used, at a slower tempo, by Deep Purple as the intro to "Child in Time" on its Deep Purple in Rock album". (I would have written "their Deep Purple in Rock album".)
This is the kind of musical connection that has always interested me. I still have the Deep Purple LP and well remember "Child in Time". It is included at left for anyone unfamiliar with it, and as a reminder for others. I dutifully looked up "Bombay Calling" on YouTube (Left) to hear the original theme by It's A Beautiful Day.
Sure enough, the theme in the Deep Purple song is not much changed from this. Then, in the comments on the video, I see: - Thundergod129-7307 1 year ago (Captured 07/09/20) Heard David LaFlamme was a violin student of a jazz musician name of Vince Wallace and he ripped off the main riff of this song from him.... Well, I thought, I'm already investigating, I'm not going to leave this claim unverified! I searched "Vince Wallace" and found he also had a work entitled "Bombay Calling".
At left is a version from his 1975 quintet recording entitled "Plays Vince Wallace" issued on Amp Records. It's over 12 mins long; the relevant theme doesn't appear until near the end. I have cued the video to 10:48, just before it appears. It is easily recognisable. Now, this is well after the time period we have been considering above, but then in YouTube's suggestions I spot the next video..... Orkustra - Bombay Calling
From the video's info header: - "recorded in 1967, released on Light Shows For The Blind lp (2006) (c) WMG musical theme by jazz player Vince Wallace (1962) line up: Bobby Beausoleil - electric gtr, electrified bouzouki David LaFlamme - electrified violin Jaime Leopold - electrified stand up bass Henry Rasof - electrified oboe Terry Wilson - drums and percussion" In its early form the theme is sounding a bit weedy compared to Deep Purple's grandiose derivation, but there's no mistaking it, all the same. |
And with this early hippie/jazz/world music composition,
the full 60 minute depth of my second rabbit hole is reached.
the full 60 minute depth of my second rabbit hole is reached.
For those who enjoy this kind of story, further reading/listening in a similar vein from my blog: -
Another Time, Another Pace: The Musical Rework
Marimbula: The Giant Thumb Piano
An exploration of non-Flamenco Rumba
Big Boys' Toys: The Ummagumma cover
Tracks into the past: Dawn Penn's "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)"
Connecting Puss N Boots to Johnny Cash
Recognising music, how does the brain do it so well and so fast?
And finally, Led Zeppelin's plundering from another angle: -
I Got Dem Ole Plagiarism Blues Again.
Another Time, Another Pace: The Musical Rework
Marimbula: The Giant Thumb Piano
An exploration of non-Flamenco Rumba
Big Boys' Toys: The Ummagumma cover
Tracks into the past: Dawn Penn's "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)"
Connecting Puss N Boots to Johnny Cash
Recognising music, how does the brain do it so well and so fast?
And finally, Led Zeppelin's plundering from another angle: -
I Got Dem Ole Plagiarism Blues Again.
Postscript
Wikipedia's entry for Deep Purple's "Child in Time"
Deep Purple's Ian Gillan has said that "Child in Time" is based on It's a Beautiful Day's psychedelic song "Bombay Calling". It's a Beautiful Day in return borrowed Purple's "Wring That Neck" and turned it into "Don and Dewey" on their second album Marrying Maiden (1970). As Ian Gillan put it in a 2002 interview, "There are two sides to that song - the musical side and the lyrical side. On the musical side, there used to be this song 'Bombay Calling' by a band called It's A Beautiful Day. It was fresh and original, when Jon was one day playing it on his keyboard. It sounded good, and we thought we'd play around with it, change it a bit and do something new keeping that as a base. But then, I had never heard the original 'Bombay Calling'. So, we created this song using the Cold War as the theme, and wrote the lines 'Sweet child in time, you'll see the line.' That's how the lyrical side came in. Then, Jon had the keyboard parts ready and Ritchie had the guitar parts ready. The song basically reflected the mood of the moment, and that's why it became so popular."
With themes of war and inhumanity, the song is regarded as a heavy metal anthem and an example of art rock.
With themes of war and inhumanity, the song is regarded as a heavy metal anthem and an example of art rock.
I have successfully resisted the urge to investigate that return borrowing.