Elephant Mountain

Last updated
Elephant Mountain
Elephantmountainyb.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 1969
Studio RCA (Hollywood, California)
Genre
Length40:06
Label RCA Victor
Producer Charlie Daniels, The Youngbloods, Bob Cullen
The Youngbloods chronology
Earth Music
(1967)
Elephant Mountain
(1969)
Rock Festival
(1970)
Singles from Elephant Mountain
  1. "Quicksand"/"Dreamer's Dream"
    Released: January 1968
  2. "Darkness, Darkness"/"On Sir Francis Drake"
    Released: April 1969
  3. "Sunlight"/"Trillium"
    Released: November 1969
  4. "Darkness, Darkness"/"On Sir Francis Drake"
    Released: April 1970

Elephant Mountain is the third studio album by the American rock band The Youngbloods, released in 1969. It reached number 118 on the Billboard 200 chart. [1]

Contents

History

With the departure of member and co-founder Jerry Corbitt, Jesse Colin Young became the primary songwriter of the band, penning seven of the 13 tracks on the album, and co-writing four more with Lowell "Banana" Levinger and Joe Bauer. The four tracks credited to Young, Banana, and Bauer are all instrumentals.

Levinger's "On Sir Francis Drake" is an instrumental named after Sir Francis Drake Boulevard of Marin County, where the band had recently moved. At 6:44 it is the longest track on the album, consisting of two sections, the first an electric piano-based waltz, the second a blues jam with some bass soloing by Young. The only other song on the album not co-written by Young is "Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down)", which is similar to their earlier "jug band" style songs like "Euphoria" and "The Wine Song"; it was co-written by Jerry Corbitt, Felix Pappalardi and Gail Collins, his wife.

According to the liner notes on the Sundazed reissue, the album was "begun in New York early in 1967, then finished in RCA's Hollywood studios after the band moved to San Francisco, but not released until 1969." Liner notes writer Jud Cost mentions that original member, Jerry Corbitt, though uncredited in the liner notes, performs "on a couple of Elephant Mountain tracks, notably singing the vocal with Young on 'Smug'."

Unlike their previous albums, there are no covers of songs by other artists.

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [2]

Although not specified on the album cover, the mountain depicted is Black Mountain (locally called Elephant Mountain), located west of the Nicasio Reservoir in Marin County.

Sundazed released a remastered version in 2008 with "Previously Unissued Bonus Tracks," including "Pool Hall Song" and "Beautiful" (alternate version).

In 2014, RCA of Japan released a 19 track version of the album.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
The Village Voice C+ [3]

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1969, Robert Christgau wrote, "In the manner of tight groups, the Youngbloods stretch thinner all the time. Not only have they lost Jerry Corbitt, but their own expertise has become somehow attenuated. Banana used to be the most tasteful electric pianist in rock. Now he has become so tasteful he can sounds like Roy Kral on a lazy night." [3] Lester Bangs was more enthusiastic in Rolling Stone , saying "this is one of the most encouraging albums I have heard in months. ... This album exudes that supremely rare commodity in these dark, bored, destructive times – joy." [4]

Years later, Rolling Stone said the album "bridges the gap between the last days of psychedelia and the outbreak of country-rock that had afflicted artists like the Byrds and Neil Young." [4] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer praised the album, feeling that it "contains some of the band's strongest material to date". [1] The New York Times described the album as their "1969 folk-rock touchstone". [5]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Darkness, Darkness" (Jesse Colin Young) – 3:51
  2. "Smug" (Young) – 2:13
  3. "On Sir Francis Drake" (Lowell Levinger) – 6:44
  4. "Sunlight" (Young) – 3:07
  5. "Double Sunlight" (Levinger, Young, Joe Bauer) – 0:41
  6. "Beautiful" (Young) – 3:49
  7. "Turn It Over" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 0:15

Side two

  1. "Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down)" (Jerry Corbitt, Felix Pappalardi, Gail Collins) – 3:13
  2. "Trillium" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 3:08
  3. "Quicksand"* (Young) – 2:41
  4. "Black Mountain Breakdown" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 0:40
  5. "Sham"* (Young) – 2:44
  6. "Ride the Wind" (Young) – 6:37

Sundazed 2008 Reissue

  1. "Darkness, Darkness" (Jesse Colin Young) – 3:51
  2. "Smug" (Young) – 2:13
  3. "On Sir Francis Drake" (Lowell Levinger) – 6:44
  4. "Sunlight" (Young) – 3:07
  5. "Double Sunlight" (Levinger, Young, Joe Bauer) – 0:41
  6. "Beautiful" (Young) – 3:49
  7. "Turn It Over" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 0:15
  8. "Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down)" (Corbitt, Pappalardi, Collins) – 3:13
  9. "Trillium" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 3:08
  10. "Quicksand"* (Young) – 2:41
  11. "Black Mountain Breakdown" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 0:40
  12. "Sham"* (Young) – 2:44
  13. "Ride the Wind" (Young) – 6:37
  14. "Pool Hall Song" (Young) – 3:04
  15. "Beautiful" (Alternate Version) (Young) – 9:31

RCA Japan 2014 Reissue

  1. "Darkness, Darkness" (Jesse Colin Young) – 3:51
  2. "Smug" (Young) – 2:13
  3. "On Sir Francis Drake" (Lowell Levinger) – 6:44
  4. "Sunlight" (Young) – 3:07
  5. "Double Sunlight" (Levinger, Young, Joe Bauer) – 0:41
  6. "Beautiful" (Young) – 3:49
  7. "Turn It Over" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 0:15
  8. "Rain Song (Don't Let the Rain Bring You Down)" (Corbitt, Pappalardi, Collins) – 3:13
  9. "Trillium" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 3:08
  10. "Quicksand"* (Young) – 2:41
  11. "Black Mountain Breakdown" (Levinger, Young, Bauer) – 0:40
  12. "Sham"* (Young) – 2:44
  13. "Ride the Wind" (Young) – 6:37
  14. "Pool Hall Song" (Young) – 3:04
  15. "On Sir Francis Drake" (Alternate Mono Version)
  16. "Beautiful" (Alternate Mono Version) (Young) – 9:31
  17. "Smug" (Alternate Mono Version)
  18. "Sham" (Alternate Mono Version)
  19. "Radio Spot For Elephant Mountain"


Personnel

The Youngbloods
Additional musicians
Technical

Charts

Album
Chart (1969)Peak
position
Billboard118
Singles
YearSingleChartPosition
1969"Darkness, Darkness" Billboard Hot 100 124
"Sunlight"114
1970"Darkness, Darkness"86

Related Research Articles

<i>Forever Changes</i> 1967 studio album by Love

Forever Changes is the third studio album by the American rock band Love, released on November 1, 1967, by Elektra Records. The album saw the group embrace a subtler folk- and baroque pop-oriented sound based around acoustic guitars and orchestral arrangements, while primary songwriter Arthur Lee explored darker themes alluding to mortality and his growing disillusionment with the era's counterculture. It was the final album recorded by the original band lineup; after its completion, guitarist Bryan MacLean left the group acrimoniously, and Lee subsequently dismissed the other members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Youngbloods</span> American folk rock band

The Youngbloods were an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young, Jerry Corbitt, Lowell "Banana" Levinger, and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite receiving critical acclaim, they never achieved widespread popularity. Their only U.S. Top 40 entry was Chet Powers' "Get Together".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felix Pappalardi</span> American music producer and musician (1939–1983)

Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain, whose song "Mississippi Queen" peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has become a classic rock radio staple. Originating in the eclectic music scene in New York's Greenwich Village, he became closely attached to the British power trio Cream, writing, arranging, and producing for their second album Disraeli Gears. As a producer for Atlantic Records, he worked on several projects with guitarist Leslie West; in 1969 their partnership evolved into the band Mountain. The band lasted less than five years, but their work influenced the first generation of heavy metal and hard rock music. Pappalardi continued to work as a producer, session musician, and songwriter until he was shot and killed by his wife Gail Collins in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Colin Young</span> American musician

Perry Miller, known professionally as Jesse Colin Young, is an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972, Young embarked on a solo career, releasing a series of albums through Warner Bros. Records, including Song for Juli (1973), Light Shine (1974), Songbird (1975) and the live album On the Road (1976). Young continued to release music in the 1980s with Elektra Records and Cypress Records, before deciding to release music through his personal label, Ridgetop Music, in 1993. After the Mount Vision Fire in 1995, Young relocated with his family to a coffee plantation in Hawaii, periodically releasing music. Young received a diagnosis of "chronic Lyme disease" in 2012, and decided to retire from music. He began performing again in 2016 with his son Tristan, releasing a new album Dreamers in 2019 through BMG.

<i>Touched by the Crimson King</i> 2005 studio album by Demons & Wizards

Touched by the Crimson King is the second album by the power metal supergroup Demons and Wizards, released in June 2005. The album contains a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". It was also released as a limited edition digipak in Europe with an alternate cover and four bonus tracks on a second disc. For the North American release, all fourteen songs appeared on one disc, which had the limited edition cover in the form of a sleeve around the jewel case.

Sunlight is the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun.

David Perper is an American drummer. Since 1970, David has played and recorded with national and local Bay Area artists and bands including Kingfish, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Jesse Colin Young, the Youngbloods, the Mamas & the Papas, the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, the Rowan Brothers, Peter Rowan and the Free Mexican Air Force, the Sounds of San Francisco, Lamb, Steve Seskin, Bill Cutler, Barry Flast and Trouble, David Denny, Chris Michie and Andy Kulberg, Rahni Raines, Joe Christmas, and Big Bang Beat. Perper lives in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Searchin'</span> 1957 single by the Coasters

"Searchin'" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller specifically for the Coasters. Atco Records released it as a single in March 1957, which topped the R&B Chart for twelve weeks. It also reached number three on the Billboard singles chart.

<i>Tapestry</i> (Don McLean album) 1970 studio album by Don McLean

Tapestry is the debut studio album by American folk singer Don McLean. The album was originally released by Mediarts Records but was re-launched in 1971 by United Artists after United Artists' purchase of Mediarts. The album was also reissued in 1981 on Liberty Records, but without including the song "Three Flights Up".

<i>The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972</i> 2009 box set by Neil Young

Neil Young Archives Vol. 1: 1963–1972 is the first in a planned series of box sets of archival material by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. It was released on June 2, 2009, in three different formats - a set of 10 Blu-ray discs in order to present high resolution audio as well as accompanying visual documentation, a set of 10 DVDs and a more basic 8-CD set. Covering Young's early years with The Squires and Buffalo Springfield, it also includes various demos, outtakes and alternate versions of songs from his albums Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest, as well as tracks he recorded with Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during this time. Also included in the set are several live discs, as well as a copy of the long out-of-print film Journey Through the Past, directed by Young in the early 1970s.

<i>Hits 3</i> (compilation album) 1985 compilation album by Various Artists

The Hits Album 3 or Hits 3 is a compilation album released in the UK by and WEA Records and CBS Records in November 1985. It followed up the extremely successful previous volumes Hits 1 and Hits 2. Although those albums both reached #1, Hits 3 peaked at #2, despite a strong track-listing including a rare appearance of a Madonna track on a compilation album and a further 20 top ten hits.

"Darkness, Darkness" is a song written by Jesse Colin Young in 1969, which has been covered by many artists. Young's band The Youngbloods released a version on their 1969 album Elephant Mountain. They released a version of the song as a single twice: in 1969, which reached #124 on the Billboard chart, and in 1970, which reached #86 on the chart.

<i>Nantucket Sleighride</i> (album) 1971 studio album by Mountain

Nantucket Sleighride is the second studio album by American hard rock band Mountain, released in January 1971 by Windfall Records in the US and by Island in the UK. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Successful (song)</span> 2009 single by Drake and Trey Songz featuring Lil Wayne

"Successful" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake and American singer Trey Songz featuring a guest appearance from Drake's mentor/labelmate American rapper Lil Wayne. The song was written by the trio and producer Noah "40" Shebib. The song served as the second single from Drake's mixtape, So Far Gone, and was included on Trey Songz's third studio album, Ready, sans Wayne and the addition of a new verse by Songz. Accompanied by a dark tone, the song's lyrics contain quips of self-determination.

<i>Clambake</i> (soundtrack) 1967 soundtrack album by Elvis Presley

Clambake is the sixteenth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3893, in October 1967. It is the soundtrack to the 1967 film of the same name starring Presley. He entered RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee on February 21, 1967, for recording sessions for his twenty-fifth film. Supplemental material sessions took place on September 10 and 11, 1967. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200.

<i>The Youngbloods</i> (album) 1966 studio album by the Youngbloods

The Youngbloods is the debut self-titled studio album by the American rock band the Youngbloods, released in 1967. It was also reissued in 1971 under the title Get Together after the popular single from the album. The album peaked at number 131 on the Billboard 200 although two years later the single "Get Together" reached number five and sold more than a million copies.

<i>Earth Music</i> 1967 studio album by the Youngbloods

Earth Music is the second studio album by the American rock band the Youngbloods, released in 1967. The album did not succeed, failing to chart.

The Led Zeppelin Deluxe Edition is a series of albums reissued by English rock group Led Zeppelin, distributed by Atlantic Records. It contains all nine of the original Led Zeppelin studio albums remastered from the original analog tapes. Along with the remastered albums, there is a companion disc with each album, consisting of previously unreleased audio tracks and alternate mixes of released tracks. Many of these are described as work-in-progress or alternate mixes made during the original production rather than new remixes generated to highlight discarded recording elements. The first companion album consists of the 10 October 1969 concert in Paris. The albums were released in chronological order, each with inverted album covers.

<i>Rock Festival</i> (album) 1970 live album by the Youngbloods

Rock Festival is a live album by The Youngbloods and was released in 1970. It reached #80 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.

Jerry Corbitt was an American guitarist, harmonica player, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a founding member and guitarist of the rock band the Youngbloods.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Planer, Lindsay. "Elephant Mountain > Review". AllMusic . Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  2. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (7 February 2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN   0-7893-1371-5.
  3. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (August 14, 1969). "Consumer Guide (3)". The Village Voice . Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Bangs, Lester (July 12, 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone (37). San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.: 37. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  5. Friskics-Warren, Bill (July 6, 2020). "Charlie Daniels, Fiddling Force in Country and Rock, Dies at 83". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 11, 2021.