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Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Yankee Dollar - The Yankee Dollar (1968 us, excellent west coast psychedelia, 2002 edition)



According to the liner notes on their album, drummer Nick Alexander, singers Liza Gonzales and Dave Riordan, guitarist Greg Likens, keyboard player Bill Masuda and bassist Bill Reynolds met while students at San Luis Obispo's Cal Poly.

Signed by Dot, their 1968 debut teamed the band with producer Frank Slay. Musically "The Yankee Dollar" was nothing less than wonderful. Gonzales and Riordan were both gifted with nice voices and on tracks such as "Sanctuary" and "City Sidewalks" effortlessly trading lead vocals. Backed by Likens' fuzz guitar (check out the great solo on "Live and Let Live"), Masuda's stabbing organ chords and occasional sound effects, the collection sported a sound that successfully blended folk-rock with Jefferson Airplane-styled psychedelic.

Musically the set offered up a standard mix of popular covers (Donovan's "Catch the Wind", Dylan's "The Times, They Are A-Changin'" and Chet Power's "Let's Get Together") and original material. While the covers were all nicely done, group penned originals such as "Follow Your Dream's Way" and "Johann Sebastian Cheetah" were even better. Inexplicably the set failed to sell. The band apparently subsequently called it quits.
Bad-Cat 


Tracks
1.  Sanctuary (Carter, Gilbert) - 2:16
2.  Good Old Friends (Carter, Gilbert) - 2:36
3.  Catch The Wind (Donovan) - 2:55
4.  If In Swimming (David Riordan) - 3:53
5.  Follow Your Dream's Way (Greg Likens) - 6:36
6.  Live And Let Live (Carter,Gilbert) - 2:18
7.  City Sidewalks (Carter,Gilbert) - 2:56
8.  Let's Get Together (Chet Powers) - 4:30
9.  Winter Boy (Buffy St. Marie) - 2:22
10.The Times, They Are A-Changin' (Bob Dylan) - 3:06
11. Johann Sebastian Cheetah (David Riordan, Greg Likens, Freeman) - 3:04

The Yankee Dollar
*Nick Alexander - Drums, Percussion
*Liza Gonzales - Vocals
*Greg Likens - Guitar
*Bill Masuda - Organ
*Bill Reynolds - Bass
*Dave Riordan - Vocals

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10 comments:

  1. Χίλια ευχαριστώ Μάριε, καταπληκτικός δίσκος!

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  2. The sample sounds very interesting. Thanks Marios!

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  3. Always something good coming from you, thanks Marios !!!.

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  4. Marios,,thanks so much for this. when i got to the library today and saw this ...made my day.
    peace,
    DrDoom

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  5. is a re up possible? the link is broken and only leads to dead ends. thank you for all you've upped!!!!

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  6. In response to the question about why this album didn't sell move copies: Originally known as Pacific Grass & Electric,Yankee Dollar originated in San Luis Obispo in 1966. Their name was changed by lengendary music producer Frank Slay (Strawberry Alarm Clock, Sugarloaf, Sal Mineo, Freddie Cannon, Danny and the Juniors), who worried that the original name would inhibit its station play on the conservative "Drake stations". (Bill Drake banned Slay's client, Rainy Daze when he discovered their hit record, That Acapulco Gold, was about buying marijuana.) Ultimately, because of Slay's involvement in the project, Yankee Dollar was banned from the Drake stations anyway, otherwise, as Billboard surmised at the time, their album would have been a major hit.

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  7. bought this album in 1969. Back then I was 9 yrs old and today I listened to the actual album with memories dancing thru my mind . Awesome album. Another great band blacklisted by the extremes of a few stuck up wannabe dj's of rhe time . Free the mind ... play the Yankee Dollar

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  8. Anonymous, "The Yankee Dollar - The Yankee Dollar", actualizado..

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