February 17, 2020

20,000 vinyl LPs 208: The Lemon Pipers ~ Through With You

~
 
cover design by Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


February is not my favorite month of the year. The excitement of the holidays has worn off, the weather is usually dismal and, with the exception of this year, there is not a whole lot of stuff to do.   

About this time of year, fifty two years ago, I was still trying to get over a five year romance that had failed in October of the previous year and took several years to get over, so, this has a lot to do with my feelings about February.   


cover design by Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso
photo of album cover by Styrous®


About this time in 1968, the The Lemon Pipers released their first album, Green Tambourine. The title song, which they hated (link below), was their major hit but the song that always stands out in my mind is the psychedelic rock piece, Through With You, which totally conveyed (lyrics below) the negative feelings I was having at the time.   

It is a fast and furious song in 4/4 that for me, at that time, had venom dripping from every note. It is a fantastic trip song, though; I remember taking a toke before putting the song on to play and traveling to unknown spaces.      

At a minute and fifteen seconds the song suddenly stops, gets still, then continues at it's breakneck speed but very, VERY quietly with sensational guitar, instrumental and electronic effects for one of the top music "trip rides"! The break goes on until eight minutes and fifteen seconds into the song when the melody resumes again at forty-five seconds near the end; a seven minute instrumental break that seemed to go on forever!   
  
      
The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover
cover design & photos by
Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso 
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Through With You

I'd like to see you now and then
So tired of asking where you’ve been
I'm feeling blue, I think you're glad
I know I’m through, through with you
Through with you

Red taillights moving down the street
The sidewalk's hard under my feet
My time has come, my patience's gone
My yellow sun has gone down
Has gone down

[Guitar Solo]

My world takes on a different form
And each new image will conform
I'm no longer blue, I think you're sad
I know I'm through, through with you
Through with you

Through with you
Through with you




The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover details
cover design & photos by
Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso
detail photos of album cover by Styrous®


Personnel:

Additional personnel:

  • Irv Spice Strings – string section
  • Ken Hamann (incorrectly credited on original album pressings as "Kenny Hammond") – engineer (Cleveland Recording Company)
  • Bill Radice – engineer (New York)
    
The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


The band was formed in 1966 by student musicians from Oxford, Ohio, who had played the college bars with their previous groups that included The Wombats (Nave), Ivan and the Sabres (Browne), and Tony and the Bandits (Bartlett, Albaugh and Dudek). The band played a mixture of blues, hard rock and folk rock, with a few covers from The Byrds and The Who.           


The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover details
cover design & photos by
Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso
detail photos of album cover by Styrous®


The album's liner notes, written by Buddah General Manager Neil Bogart, described the band as "five very intelligent young men with a solid sound and a real interest in all kinds of music. They perform folk ballads, soul, psychedelic, blues, country and western and write much of their own material."   


The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover details
cover design & photos by
Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso
detail photos of album cover by Styrous®


Buddah Records did not know how to handle the band at first and the group's debut on the label was a Bartlett composition, Turn Around and Take a Look. When the song failed to make the charts, the label asked Leka and his songwriting partner, Shelley Pinz to come up with a song. The pair wrote Green Tambourine and the band reluctantly recorded it (link below).

The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of 1967 and reached No. 1 in February 1968 on the Billboard and Cashbox charts. The song peaked at No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart, and was also a hit worldwide. It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) in February 1968.             


The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover details
cover design & photos by
Ron Silver & Serena Macaluso
detail photos of album cover by Styrous®


The success of Green Tambourine caused Buddah to put pressure on the group to stay in the bubblegum genre, and in March 1968 the band released another Leka/Pinz song, Rice Is Nice, which peaked at No. 46 on the US Billboard charts, No.42 on the US Cashbox charts and No. 41 in the UK in May. The band had little enthusiasm for either song, however, dubbing them "funny-money music" and recording them only because they knew they would be dropped by Buddah if they refused. Ordinary Point of View, written by Eric Ehrmann and featuring a Bartlett country solo, was recorded, but rejected by Buddah. Disenchanted with Buddah and the music industry, Ehrmann stopped writing songs and went on to become one of the early contributors to Rolling Stone magazine. As is common with the music associated with the 1960s, a few copyright and royalties issues connected with the previous owner of Buddah Records inherited by current owners of the Kama Sutra music publishing catalog and Lemon Pipers songs remain unresolved.        

  
The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


A side note: in 1966, Tony and the Bandits (Bartlett, Albaugh and Dudek) released the song, I'm Goin' Away (From You), which was in the same vein as Through With You (link below).       


The Lemon Pipers ~ Green Tambourine
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


The band recorded a second album for Buddah, Jungle Marmalade, which again showed both sides of the band – another Leka/Pinz bubblegum song, Jelly Jungle, (released as a single and peaking at No. 51 on Billboard and No. 30 on Cashbox in the US), a version of the Carole King/Gerry Goffin penned song I Was Not Born to Follow, and an 11-minute, 43 second epic, Dead End Street/Half Light.        




The band left the Buddah label in 1969 and later dissolved. Bartlett, Walmsley and Nave formed Starstruck, whose recording of a Lead Belly song, Black Betty, was reworked by Super K Productions producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz, and released in 1977 under the name of Ram Jam, featuring Bartlett. Browne moved to California to continue playing music, Walmsley played bass around Oxford. Bartlett became despondent and reclusive following the death of his wife Dee Dee. Nave became a jazz disc jockey on WVXU in Cincinnati and played organ occasionally with The Blues Merchants in southwestern Ohio venues.           


detail photo by Styrous®


Drummer Bill Albaugh died on January 20, 1999, at the age of 53. Keyboardist Bob Nave died on January 28, 2020, at the age of 75.                       
        







Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Rice Is Nice, written by Leka*, Pinz* - 2:18
A2 - Shoeshine Boy, written by Leka*, Pinz* - 3:19
A3 - Turn Around Take A Look, written by B. Bartlett* - 2:42
A4 - Rainbow Tree, written by Mizrahi*, Laguna* - 2:16
A5 - Ask Me If I Care, written by Ehrmann* - 3:03
A6 - Stragglin' Behind - 2:32
A7 - Green Tambourine, written by Leka*, Pinz* - 2:22

Side 1:

B1 - Blueberry Blue, written by Leka*, Pinz* - 2:19
B2 - The Shoemaker Of Leatherwear Square, written by Leka*, Pinz* - 2:00
B3 - Fifty Year Void, written by Lemon-Pipers* - 5:41
B4 - Through With You, written by Bartlett* - 8:31

Companies, etc.

    Engineered At – Cleveland Recording
    Engineered At – Olmstead Studios
    Mastered At – Bell Sound Studios
    Designed At – Silver & Morris, Inc.
    Published By – Kama Sutra Music, Inc.
    Published By – Anjoe Music
    Published By – B. Piper Corp.

Credits:

    Arranged By, Conductor – Paul Leka
    Bass Guitar – Steve Walmsley
    Cover – Ron Silver (2), Serena Macaluso
    Drums – Bill Albaugh
    Engineer – Bill Radice, Kenny Hammond
    Lead Guitar – Bill Bartlett (2)
    Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar – Ivan Browne
    Organ, Tambourine, Horn [Fog Horn], Toy [Toys] – R.G. Nave
    Producer – Paul Leka
    Strings – Irv Spice Strings*

Notes:

"Meet The Lemon Pipers or The Cincinnati Underground Arrives".
This album is dedicated to Irene Wabau (whoever she may be)

Publishing info:
A1, A2, A4, A5, A7 to B4 - Kama Sutra Music, Inc.
A3 - Anjoe Music
A6 - Kama Sutra Music, Inc. & B. Pipers Corp.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Side A, Stamped): BDS 5009A-1B Bell Sound
    Matrix / Runout (Side B, Stamped): BDS 5009B-1A Bell Sound
    Rights Society: B.M.I.

The Lemon Pipers ‎– Green Tambourine
Label: Buddah Records ‎– BDS 5009
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1968
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Pop Rock, Bubblegum

       

Viewfinder links:     
        
The Byrds      
The Who        
      
Net links:        
       
buckeyebeat ~ Ivan and the Sabres
buckeyebeat ~ Tony and the Bandits             
Cincinatit Magazine ~ Green Tambourine: Off the Charts           
libraries.wright.edu ~ Ivan and the Sabres             
      
YouTube links:           
                
The Lemon Pipers ~                    
       Green Tambourine       
       Jelly Jungle (of orange marmalade)       
       Rice Is Nice       
       Through With You      
Ivan And The Sabers - Just Let Her Go                  
Tony and The Bandits - I'm Goin' Away (From You) (1966)   
           



         
Styrous® ~ Thursday, February 12, 2020       
       









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