That Sixties Music - The Group That Covered Their Own Song

[@Lcash218]

I met Barry McGuire when I was a student at Christ For The Nations in 1978. He played and sang a revised version of Eve of Destruction, and a song called “The Communion Song”. When he finished that there was no one in the audience that was not in tears! He is a very gracious and giving man!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yep! It’s too bad that Barry just couldn’t pull off another big mainline commercial success, even with all of his recording work. Thanks for the view and the great comments! Please share the channel and the videos for me!

[@davidg2122]

My God, I do not understand why you don't have a million subscribers. GREAT vid, I always learn so much interesting info from you.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey, Thanks for the view, David!! Help me get those missing subscribers and share the videos - and tell them to share too! That’s how viral postings happen!

[@sixwingsram]

The best time for folk rock, early to mid-sixties❤

[@the_guitar_trooper]

True!

[@ReapWithRick]

And now we know the rest of the story. Great video.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi, Rick! Thanks for the view, Man! Please help me spread the love 💕 and share the videos!!!

[@JimDeButts]

Outstanding video! I’d heard most of the story before but had never seen the early photos of the group in the studio and never knew the extent of Bones Howe’s involvement in the process. Isn’t it ironic that so many iconic records like California Dreaming never made to number one?

[@israeldelaluz]

I could listen to 50s, 60s, and 70s music over and over, but after watching your videos and listening to their stories, I now listen to and enjoy them in such a different way!! ❤️☺️🎵 Thank you, GT!! You’re AWESOME!! 😎👍

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi, Israel! Great to see you on the channel again! And Thanks especially for the kind words! Please do me a favor and spread the love 💕 by sharing this and other videos!

[@israeldelaluz]

@@the_guitar_trooper absolutely!! We need more good music in our lives, and these stories need to be shared!! I’m always recommending your channel with friends and colleagues. 🎵☺️👍 Thanks for your time dedicated to research and prepare your videos. Such great vibes, always a pleasure!! ❤️👍 Greetings from France!! 🇫🇷

[@Wally97523]

I’m in the middle of the binge process having just discovered your channel. Being a child of the 60s I am having great fun listening to your stories and because I’m old enough to have been in the era of albums, I studied the information on the album covers and did a lot of my own digging as well. What makes your channel so fun for me Is that most of your stories I’ve never heard. It’s very refreshing. As a sidenote, the Epiphone hollow body hanging on the wall behind you bears a striking resemblance to my Epiphone hollow body except mine is the Joe Pass model.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi Wally! Thanks for the view! And please subscribe if you haven’t yet! The Epi on the wall is a Casino. It’s essentially the same design as a Gibson ES330 - fully hollow, P90 pickups. It differs from the Joe Pass Emperor a lot. It’s a thin body and double cut. I had a Joe Pass many years ago and sold it for a Strat, which I sold some years later to get a Godin XTsa. Ain’t it fun? Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and videos! Thanks again!

[@rickmacarthur8622]

That is one powerful story and a richly produced presentation. I love listening to your historical explanations and especially enjoy your technology insights. I worked the midnight shift on a small AM station in North Carolina beginning in 1968 and find myself wistfully reminiscing those days when I hear your melodic voice and the sounds surrounding you. Thank you kind sir for all you do.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it, Rick!!

[@cindyspears5369]

Fascinating! Well done as always, Trooper!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank you kindly as always, Cindy! Share this thing and let’s go viral!!

[@rocksinger45]

Always felt that Cass was the one who was the true star of the band ~ What a voice ~ Thanks for again filling in the gaps for me ~ Truly one of the bands that made it into my own personal memory as one of the best during my prime teenage years ~

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yeah - Like that of Karen Carpenter, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt,and many others, Cass had a voice that was recognizable in seconds.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Please help me spread the love 💕 and share this video!

[@johnb9507]

You're so right. Cass was AWESOME!

[@dankennedy8266]

This has always been a mystery to me as the flute was always off. I'm taking this to work to play for my workmates. Bravo.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks a million Dan! Please share the fool out of this video and help me spread the love 💕!!

[@howie9751]

The Beach Boys used a sax for the instrumental for their version.

[@paulcollins557]

Great explanation of processing genius, super video.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you liked it! And THANK YOU for watching! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos!

[@billdescoteaux]

Great video! I never knew about the Barry McGuire connection to the song, I knew he was close to the band, as he was mentioned several times in their 1967 hit "Creeque Alley". But I never knew that he actually recorded the song first, with them as the backing vocals. When I saw the title, I was actually expecting this to be about The Ventures, who covered their 1960 hit "Walk Don't Run" four years later with a reverb-drenched version titled "Walk Don't Run '64". The original went to #2, I believe, and the cover went to #9, so both were Top 10 hits.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! Good guess! Thank YOU for the view and comment! Please help us spread the love 💕 by sharing this video!!

[@sidemann8593]

Love The_Guitar_Trooper! He's like the Uncle Remus of Rock.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks a MILLION!! Help me spread the 💕 by sharing this and other videos!!

[@ciaranmurray6623]

I had heard this story before but your really explained the details so well GT. Barry Maguires voice didn't really suit the song whereas it's perfectly suited to Eve of Destruction.Thank you for a brilliant video as always.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Good to see you on the channel again, Ciara! And thanks for the kind words. My goal is to present a story that is entertaining even if you have heard it before! Please help me spread the love 💕 and share the videos!!

[@kiwihib]

@@the_guitar_trooper Barry lived in New Zealand for a while.

[@jtbutlerjr]

That was excellent! Thank you for sharing their stories.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! Please help spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos with your friends!!!

[@ming294]

Thanks so much for the research on the flute solo. I first heard this in junior high school when it was first released. But as I got older I would cringe every time I heard the solo, wondering why the flute was out of pitch.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

THANKS FOR THE VIEW - and especially for the kind words! Please help me spread the love 💕 and share the videos!! As I said in the vid, that is an educated, but plausible guess as to the cause. As far as I can tell, there is no definitive explanation out there, only discussions and such.

[@shuroom57]

Great story! And don't forget the "🎶 I saw her......I saw her again___last night..... 🎶" gaffe that sounded intentional! Mama and Papas' song, I mean.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

yep. I'm not sure if I can gather enough interesting stuff to do one on "I Saw Her Last Night". I already did a short some time ago. I'll reopen the research and see if there's enough fodder for a long form. If so, I'll pull the short and schedule a log form for production.

[@LanceDiehl]

Very good from behind the scenes explanations! I loved the Motown/ Supremes video also! I am lucky to have lived in this era of so much golden entertainment.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! Please share it with your friends!

[@royzug2847]

That was very interesting. I never heard that production procession before. Thanks for posting.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!! Please share it for me and help spread the love 💕!!

[@DavidAndrewsPEC]

Trooper, sir ... Yet another beautifully animated story - supported with an interesting photo sequence - from you ... yes, I did enjoy it! I particularly love how you take what is usually seen as a cold process and bring it alive with the details about mic types and pattern selections! Almost makes one feel like one was there. Thank you!!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank you kindly, David! These things take a long time to produce, so I appreciate your feedback! Thanks for the view and your subscription!

[@renemies78]

The fact that the master tapes and multi-track tapes were destroyed is such a sad part of the bands history. Great video!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks SO MUCH for watching! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing this video!!

[@aaronmcmahon544]

One of your best trooper, keep it up 👍

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks, Aaron 👍! Great to see you again!

[@McSynth]

Excellent analysis. Thank you for your work writing and producing this video. Fascinating insight to such a beloved classic.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it, and THANKS for the view! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos and the channel!!

[@bobwyckoff7552]

Love your channel! Your content is fascinating and so professionally put together. And it doesn't hurt that you have the perfect DJ voice to go with it!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank you so much, Bob! Please help spread the love 💕 by SHARING the videos! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tpatrick44]

It wouldn’t have been the same without the Flute Solo. What a Nightmare Mixing 😱 Experience!!! Great Video GT! Had no idea about any of this. I was in 8th grade when it came out. Everyone Loved the first two singles. I bought their first 2 Albums…

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! My sister had Eyes and Ears. Once I heard Monday, Monday, I played that thing over and over to decipher the vocal parts.

[@tpatrick44]

@@the_guitar_trooper Cass Elliott was simply an Amazing Singer. Juilliard Trained. It’s too bad John was a drug attic and perverted. His Talent was wasted on a seemingly tortured soul…☹️

[@99RiverSt]

Another 'somewhat familiar' tale, but with much more detail. Very well done Trooper, and just why I subscribed. Having been an aware teen in the 60s, what you now bring to my memory bank is with all the dividends and accrued interest. Thanks for the background !!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Welcome aboard! and thanks very much for your view! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and the videos!

[@Ken-l2e]

An absolute stellar video!, you should be at 14 million subscribers with this kind of work. I thoroughly enjoy the history segments. Your short stories are very well done as well. Mamas and papa’s were on RCA in Canada. I have the first lp on RCA with the toilet showing, couldn’t show that in the states back then lol.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Please help me spread the love 💕 and share the videos!!

[@sapelesteve]

Now that was a very interesting and fascinating video! Well done GT! 👍👍📀📀

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank YOU for watching! Do me a favor and share it to a couple of friends!!

[@franksmith6871]

Another great video! I love all the technical details that you always include. Love The Mommas and The Papas music, especially Cass Elliot's wonderfully versatile and powerful voice. Her voice remains one of the best ever in popular music IMHO.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks so much, Frank! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing the video!

[@hartleycwhite]

Great story Mr. Trooper. Be safe and keep the info coming.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

You got it! Thanks a MILLION for the view! Please share the videos and spread the love 💕

[@kenkinnally6144]

Super interesting stuff! Always really liked that flute solo. It's unique, even if the pitch is a bit off. The song would not be the same without it.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yep. It is exactly what the song needs!

[@cseamen]

What an awesome story! I always loved the Mamas and the Papas. I wish they had lasted a lot longer.😢

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey! Thanks SO MUCH for the view and the kind words! Do me a favor and spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos!

[@fredfox3851]

An extremely convoluted birth of an extremely iconic hit. Thanks for revealing the background story Mr. Guitar trooper. Accountants at ABC Dunhill should have been flogged. P.S. You are my favorite old guy, though I suspect there is only a few years between us. : )

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks ever so much for the view and comment! Please help spread the love 💕 by sharing the video!

[@kennethswain6313]

Amazing!You really are so much more than that “old guy” You give us more than we comprehend- but keep it coming

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks SO VERY MUCH for the view! Please help spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos with a couple of friends!!

[@russellcampbell9198]

Great work, mate. Love the detail. That flute solo is so right on.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for listening, Russell! Please help spread the Love by sharing the videos!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks a MILLION for listening! Please help me to spread the Love by sharing the videos!

[@Music_is_Breathing]

Too cool!!! How do you find out all of this stuff??? I agree, McGuire's vocals wouldn't have worked. I love that they mention Barry McGuire in "Creeque Alley"--one if my favorite M&P songs. It's even cooler after knowing all this :)

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I read a lot. Thanks as always!!

[@jeffcarney2375]

Outstanding

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks, Jeff!! Help me spread the 💕 by sharing this and other videos!!

[@paulfredricksen34]

Great show as always. I always found it fascinating that whenever The Mamas & The Papas appeared on television to sing one of their songs; I could tell they were just lip syncing to their original hit tune because it sounded exactly like the record. Plus, the background music involved several instruments that were mysteriously missing on stage. I know many groups from that era did not sing live on TV, but The Mamas & the Papas ALWAYS seemed to do it. Any insight on that observation GT?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi Paul! Good to see you again on the channel!! With very minor exception, Mamas and Papas songs were done with studio musicians. They only SANG the songs. Hence, lip sync playbacks were required on TV. Michelle went out of her way to chomp on a banana during one lip sync session because they were tired of doing them.

[@bobbyb5582]

I'm a new subscriber. You have a fantastic channel my friend! Great content and well researched.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Welcome aboard, Bobby!

[@joe44850]

Fantastic! Loved this video, had no idea about the story behind this hit.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it, Joe! Look around at some of the other videos on the channel! And help spread the love by sharing the videos!!

[@dlhdonn]

The Gary Usher recording of "My World Fell Down" by Sagittarius might be a story worth telling.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Interesting choice! I’ll put it down! And THANKS for the view! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel link and videos!!

[@chrissherri1614]

I really enjoy your videos.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks SO MUCH, Chris! Please help me spread the love 💕 and share this and other videos!!

[@richardwhitfield9901]

Another great video, Thanks GT!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey, Richard - Thanks!! Help me spread the 💕 by sharing this and other videos!!

[@Music_is_Breathing]

I wish we still had the awesome stereo stack--I mean the turntable, amplifier, cassette player, equalizer, played through Top Of The Line speakers. Music never sounded so good!!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I still have enough audio equipment to recreate a moon rocket launch. All old school.

[@Music_is_Breathing]

@@the_guitar_trooper Wow!!

[@garythorstenson6783]

A great video and personnaly interesting to me. You are clearly one of the very best on KZbin. Content is super. Presentation is perfect. You are truly professional in your writing, speaking and command of your subject. I can be a real jerk when watching and commenting on KZbin content providers, but it's providers like you that makes the others look like rank amatuers.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Wow, thank you! I try to set these apart from the normal fare. Please help me spread the love 💕 and share the videos!

[@michaelangelo7511]

Great narration!👍🏻🇺🇸

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank you kindly! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing this and other videos with your friends!

[@jimwalshonline9346]

Well done...

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks, Jim! Help me spread the 💕 by sharing this and other videos!!

[@oddshot60]

Hey ... you're pretty good at this. SUBSCRIBED.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey, thanks! Share these videos for me please!!

[@jasongordon13]

Thanks this was great!!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it, Jason!! Please help spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos!!

[@michaeldelucia7352]

Great stuff! More?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yup. More on the way, but there’s a lot of stuff, both long videos and Shorts, already on my channel main page! youtube.com/@the_guitar_trooper

[@worshipgeek]

Thank heaven for Peter Jackson's magical AI process he perfected for the "Get Back" material. Now a new multi-track master can be created! (One wonders if we really need it though, considering how amazing the released recording is.)

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yeah. Being someone blessed (cursed?) with sensitive perception of music details, the sonic quality of the instrumental track on this recording has always bothered me. It is dull and has unreasonable wow, which is a possible symptom of master bouncing between machines. I hate to blame it on Ampex, but you can’t deny that many Beatles recordings (i .e. the entire Sgt Pepper album), which were mastered on Studer equipment with multiple track reductions, don’t exhibit objectionable amounts of either of these issues. So - here are the specs: Studer J37 wow&flutter is 0.075% Ampex 300 wow&flutter is 0.1% Is that enough to cause the extreme issue exhibited on the “California Dreamin’ “ backing track? I honestly don’t know.

[@worshipgeek]

@the_guitar_trooper Given what ypu said regarding the pitch corruption, likely caused during a reduction, it certainly seems plausible the sound quality issues were human related. .025% is not nothing, though, and it seems like loss due signal to noise is logarithmic rather than linear. Well, we chalk this up to "the studio" being the invisible contributor to this recording, and wow is just part of the charm of the recording. 😀

[@Music_is_Breathing]

Back again, New Christie Minstrels, eh??? Such a hokey band. My Mom thought they were great 🙄 Love the Mamas and Papas!!! Love this song!!! Utterly classic!!! Wondered whatever happened to McGuire. I also wondered why they more or less disappeared. Oh! I meant to ask, you're doing mainly 1960's songs, right?? Nazz is one of fav early 1960's groups--well, at least, I love Nazz Nazz. I wondered if there was any story behind "Meridian Leeward" or "Letters Don't Count". Two of my fav songs from Nazz Nazz, tho IMHO the whole album is great!!!! Anyway...any cool stories???? I know "Hello It's Me" is the big hit, and it's good but... Also wondering about early Genesis with Peter Gabriel--"Musical Box"-- so many rumors about what it was really about... Please?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I have not ever looked into Nazz, but I DO remember them. I’m adding them to my research list now. THANKS!! I’m not doing just the sixties exactly, it’s just where my core audience hits and the sixties videos get a lot more views generally than 50’s or 70’s.

[@Music_is_Breathing]

@@the_guitar_trooper Thank you!!! Be sure to listen to the second album Nazz Nazz. The first and third were just fair.

[@glennso47]

Barry McGuire went on to Contemporary Christian Music for a while. Haven’t heard of him since.

[@Music_is_Breathing]

@@glennso47 me either. He was a flash in the pan. I hope he's still getting royalties from that one song.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@glennso47 Yeah, His voice simply wasn’t good enough for widespread popularity. It worked when buried in an ensemble, but not as a solo.

[@SmilingIbis]

13:37 Toilet on an album cover?? Bold move!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yep. That was a controversial issue when they first published the cover. They later cropped the toilet out so that on later pressings the jacket did not have the toilet on it.

[@johnb9507]

I wonder why ABC felt it necessary to destroy the master recordings. Also, wasn't MCA involved somehow? I had a copy of the Best of the Mamas & Papas on the MCA label.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The decision to discard was based mostly on storage cost, but also the recordings were deemed to be of relatively low technical quality. Go figure. I suspect that it was also driven by ABC’s binge buying of many other labels during the late 60’s to early ‘70’s. MCA didn’t acquire ABC Records until 1979.

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

Very interesting story. The only part I had heard was where John woke up Michelle in the middle of the night.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks as always!! Share this puppy for me?!

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

@@the_guitar_trooper You got it.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@Mick_Ts_Chick WOOF! Thanks!!

[@Jeffrie_Baer]

Cass Elliot IS the real Star. 🙏❤❤❤

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Definitely a unique voice! Thank you SO VERY MUCH for your view and comment and subscription! Please help spread the love 💕 and SHARE the videos for me!!

[@robertewalt7789]

I thought the solo was an ocarina, never heard of an alto flute.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

They are for real, alright. I don't know if it was the only instrument that he happened to have with him that day, but I kinda doubt it. He probably had a regular one as well.

[@steveshattah]

Mr Eve of destruction really wasn't very convincing on California dreamin'.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

His version, in my opinion only, sounded amateurish. - both the vocal and the harmonica. But- what do I know?

[@willswalkingwest7267]

It kills me how people continue to idolize John Phillips. He incestually assaulted his daughter, treated her like a girlfriend rather than a daughter, fed her narcotics continually, and really, couldn't sing. Cass Elliot and Denny and Michelle carried the vocals.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I have sidestepped John’s personal issues, and that of the group as well, because it’s one of those stories that just makes one feel bad.

[@Odo55]

Oh c'mon , Really was it all that complicated ? It's soo disappointing to know that these artisans were so manipulated . It does take away what was such simple and pleasurable tunes.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

The music business is, after all, a business.

[@Foul_Quince]

And then Taylor Swift came along and, in a monumental fit of hubris, got away with covering her entire catalogue. And managing NOT to improve it in any way.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi Qiince! Well, “get away with” is something of a misnomer because her action was allowed under the original contract. Her action was rooted in a contract that was initiated when Taylor was 15, which gave her label, Big Machine Records, ownership of her masters for the duration of the contract. Just before her contract expired, Big Machine sold out, with the proviso to their purchaser that the former owner of Big Machine would continue to receive partial royalties on her catalog. Hence, she decided to re-record the works, making the new recordings assets under her ownership. I understand that, because of this incident and others of similar circumstance, new recording contracts now include a clause to prevent re-recording.

[@Foul_Quince]

@@the_guitar_trooper Umm. It wasn't as if she lacked for adequate legal representation when the contract was signed, specially seeing her dad was part owner of the company (and benefitted to the tune of about 15 million dollars when the company sold out) and she had two other clear offers to buy back her masters before Braun finally disposed of the catalogue. But control of the Taylor is a Victim Narrative was more valuable to her than the percentage of royalties she lost. Good luck to her, she's brilliant and I'll be camping out overnight to get a new copy of the album tomorrow, but its disappointing she was so lazy in remaking the record and not taking the opportunity to recontextualize her work.

[@glennso47]

Dunghill Records. 💩

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! ABC thought so.

[@glennso47]

The video was good until it was interrupted by a political commercial for Kamala Harris. I had to quit at that time. I’m not a fan of any political party especially not Kamala or Biden.👎

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ouch. I can’t control that