Various Artists - Sing Me A Rainbow: A Trident Anthology (1965-67 us, marvelous sunshine psych folk garage beat, double disc set)

Previous volumes in the Nuggets From The Golden State series devoted to the late Frank Werber’s Trident Productions have been enthusiastically received, and Big Beat is proud to issue the best of the rest in this double CD package, “Sing Me A Rainbow: A Trident Anthology 1965-67”.

Werber formed Trident Productions in 1964 and dissolved it in late 1967. As manager and ‘fourth member’ of the incredibly successful Kingston Trio, he had taken the act’s profits and invested them on their behalf in a range of intellectual properties, such as publishing, and physical ones, such as the Trident Restaurant in Sausalito and, most significantly, the flat iron Columbus Tower building in San Francisco’s North Beach district. With the production company, Werber wanted to apply his proven management abilities to a new wave of artists, but he didn’t bargain with how different, and contrary, that next generation might be. Based as it was in the San Francisco of the mid-1960s, Trident was at once in the vanguard of rock’s next phase, and a victim of it. The organization only foundered because, after ten years at the top of his profession, the man driving the whole shebang didn’t want to play the game anymore.

Based on a thorough investigation of his catalogue, this collection documents Werber’s attempts to create a Brill Building-like production line of writers, producers and acts, though focused on the new folk-rock San Francisco sound. His flagship artist in this regard was the hugely popular We Five, and the comp includes rare mono single and album mixes not previously on CD. Cuts by the Mystery Trend, Sons Of Champlin and Blackburn And Snow are also previously unissued rarities that are not featured on their respective anthologies.

Werber believed in nurturing his handpicked acts, and we have included his best examples here, such as the Justice League, the San Franciscans, the Front Line and the Tricycle. Outside of We Five, none of Trident’s acts had any success. Yet, although Sing Me A Rainbow contains 95% unissued material, it is a surprisingly strong and accomplished set of folk rock, pop and garage band sounds with a San Francisco flavour. There is also a rare folk rock experiment by Kingston Trio member John Stewart and selected demos by hopefuls who auditioned for Trident, including Thorinshield, The All Nite Flight and The New Tweedy Brothers.

by Alec Palao 

Artists - Tracks - Composer

Disc 1

1. We Five - You Were on My Mind (Sylvia Fricker) - 2:36 

2. Randy Steirling, John Stewart - Leave Me Alone (Randy Cierley, John Stewart) - 2:52 

3. Front Line Assembly -  Need You No More (Dennis Lanigan) - 2:00 

4. San Franciscans - I Love You So (Jack Fischer) - 2:16 

5. Blackburn And Snow - Stranger in a Strange Land (Samuel F. Omar) - 2:41 

6. Herb Jackson Group - She's Mine (Herbert Jackson) - 1:55 

7. Front Line Assembly - I Don't Care (Dennis Lanigan) - 2:58 

8. San Franciscans - If You Lie (Jack Fischer) - 2:25 

9. We Five - You Let a Love Burn Out (Randy Steirling) - 2:11 

10.Front Line Assembly - Got Love (Dennis Lanigan) - 1:51 

11.Randy Steirling - Green Monday (Randy Steirling) - 3:10 

12.Blackburn And Snow - It's So Hard (Jeff Blackburn) - 2:10 

13.Justice League Featuring Kwame - Love Me Not Tomorrow (John Stewart) - 2:12 

14.We Five - Five Will Get You Ten (Frank May) - 2:19 

15.Thorinshield - Brave New World (Bobby Ray) - 2:04 

16.Randy Steirling - Places I've Been (Randy Cierley) - 2:29 

17.The Mystery Trend - Carrots on a String (Bob Cuff) - 2:01 

18.Frank May - I'll Make You Happy (Frank May) - 2:08 

19.Justice League Featuring Kwame - I Really Want You (Ron Cornelius) - 2:11 

20.The Sons of Champlin - Sing Me a Rainbow (Estelle Levitt, Lou Stallman) - 3:06 

21.New Tweedy Brothers - Letters (Steven Ekman) - 3:27 

22.Jeff Blackburn, Randy Cierley, John Lennon, Estelle Levitt, Paul McCartney, Rob Moitoza, Lou Stallman - MGM Verve Presentation Medley: Green Monday/Sing Me a Rainbow/Fat City/ - 5:27 

Disc 2
1. Blackburn And Snow - Stranger in a Strange Land (Samuel F. Omar) - 2:28
2. We Five - There Stands the Door (Herbert Jackson) - 2:25
3. New Tweedy Brothers - Time (Steven Ekman) - 4:01
4. The Mystery Trend - Johnny Was a Good Boy (Bob Cuff) - 2:37
5. Justice League Featuring Kwame - Thinkin' It Over - 2:12
6. Thorinshield - Wrong My Friend (Bobby Ray) - 2:03
7. All Nite Flight - Here I Stand (Jack King) - 2:39
8. We Five - What's Goin' On - 2:16
9. Ron Davies - This Time (Ron Davies) - 3:45
10.The Mystery Trend - Mambo for Marion (Bob Cuff) - 2:04
11.Justice League Featuring Kwame - Can't Get Over How You Left Me (Ron Cornelius) - 2:59
12.The Sons of Champlin - Go and Hide (Bill Champlin) - 2:13
13.Tricycle - All the Time (Mason Williams) - 2:20
14.Ron Davies - Pleasant Avenue (Ron Davies) - 1:45
15.Tricycle - Not a Single Word (Debbie Burgan, Jerry Burgan) - 2:33
16.Crystal Set - She's on My Mind (Ron Cornelius) - 2:34
17.Blackburn And Snow - Time (Jeff Blackburn) - 2:47
18.Ron Nagle - 61 Clay - 1:33
19.Crystal Set - Peaceful Times (Ron Cornelius) - 2:50
20.Tricycle - Somewhere (Ron Davies) - 2:25
21.Blackburn And Snow - See More Tomorrow (Jeff Blackburn) - 3:32
22.The Sons of Champlin - Shades of Grey (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) - 3:13

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