Bubblegum, breezy vocal pop and misguided A/C ballads
Though this New York based vocal group didn’t conquer the charts, they did release a tasty album on bubblegum ground zero label, Buddah. Originally conceived as a white version of the Fifth Dimension, the group’s repertoire (most of it self-penned) split its time between bubblegum floss and adult contemporary vocal pop. The album’s title song parlays the children’s rhyme “finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers†into a ray of pre-teen sunshine quite similar to hits by the 1910 Fruitgum Company and Ohio Express. Tommy West provides the song’s inviting lead vocal, with the group adds harmonious a backing. The arrangement is pure Brill Building, with baritone sax and full kit drum fills. Though a hit locally in New York, the single didn’t crack the national top-100, even when replayed virtually intact later on the album as “Sticks and Stones.†Anders & Poncia’s storybook-themed “Whence I Make Thee Mine†is arranged as baroque-bubblegum with oboes and harpsichord, and a cover of Mann, Weil & Spector’s “You Baby†(not to be confused with Barri & Sloan’s hit for The Turtles) is rendered cooing and soft. The album’s 1968-styled contemporary tracks feature breezy group vocals backed by guitar, sitar, drums, bass and light horns. Where the energy dips is on solo-sung ballads that have neither the confectionary sweetness of bubblegum nor the jazz inflections of the Fifth Dimension. Though not an essential item for a bubblegum collection, it’s a good second-rounder. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com] 