Tandyn Almer

[sgcim]

I had never heard of this pianist/songwriter until a few days ago, when someone mentioned that he wrote the song 'Along Comes Mary' for The Association in the 60s.

Wiki and some other online articles said that he was born in 1942 in Minnesota, was able to play classical pieces by ear when he was four, went to a conservatory as a kid, but then started listening to Trane, Miles and Ahmad Jamal, and dropped out of high school to move to Chicago and become a jazz pianist.

He then moved to LA, where he roomed with fellow jazz pianist/upright bass player Bob Bruno, and they gigged as a duo in clubs, until Almer got involved with the pop recording scene in LA of the 60s.

After doing some things with Brian Wilson, he went to Washington DC for a film score, which fell through, and wound up staying in DC for the rest of his life.

Anyone familiar with his music?

[JSngry]

Became familiar a few years ago when his name kept popping up on various blogs focusing on "Sunshine Pop", a genre which I very much enjoy in pretty much limited doses. I got a copy of this and liked it well enough.

If you enjoy the genre enough to buy records of it, it's a good record to add to the collection. If you're not that avid an enthusiast, check out a few YouTupe clips and be cntent with knowing who he is (was?).

In the meantime...

 

[JSngry]

Oh yeah, the "Sunshine" in "Sunshine Pop" might well have be Orange Sunshine, some of that stuff was pretty trippy in it's own way.

I not know, though, that he was a co-author of "Sail On Sailor...not my favorite Bach Boys song by any means, but I've found that people who don't usually like The Beach Boys like "Sail On Sailor". Go figure.

Anyway, Tandyn Almer,...it's a world of mostly obscure mostly B-sides from a very certain time period.

 

Here ya' go!

 

[felser]

I picked up the Almer CD when the  label had a clearance sale a couple years ago, and I like it quite a bit (but I am a fan of the best of the sunshine pop genre).

[sgcim]

On 1/7/2018 at 6:34 PM, JSngry said:

Oh yeah, the "Sunshine" in "Sunshine Pop" might well have be Orange Sunshine, some of that stuff was pretty trippy in it's own way.

I not know, though, that he was a co-author of "Sail On Sailor...not my favorite Bach Boys song by any means, but I've found that people who don't usually like The Beach Boys like "Sail On Sailor". Go figure.

Anyway, Tandyn Almer,...it's a world of mostly obscure mostly B-sides from a very certain time period.

 

Here ya' go!

 

Thanks for Poor Old Organ Grinder!

I managed to find the other cuts and Sleepy Hollow People on YT, but Poor Old Organ Grinder was a nice surprise.

I like the psychedelic, episodic tempo changes he throws in there; very inventive guy.

He had another tune on The Association's first LP that he co-wrote with Curt Boettcher, a ballad called 'The Message of Our Love' that was pretty nice.

I checked out a bunch of Boettcher things, and wasn't impressed with his songwriting; pretty bland, unimaginative stuff.

The Association dragged in Clark Burroughs of The Hi-Los for the great vocal arrangements on things like Cherish, Never My Love and Windy,

although I don't know who was responsible for the vocal charts on 'Requiem For the Masses' .

I checked out samples of 'And Then Came Tandyn', and there didn't seem to be anything on the same level as 'Along Came Mary', or 'Poor Organ Grinder', but they were only 20 second samples...

On 1/7/2018 at 6:02 PM, JSngry said:

Became familiar a few years ago when his name kept popping up on various blogs focusing on "Sunshine Pop", a genre which I very much enjoy in pretty much limited doses. I got a copy of this and liked it well enough.

If you enjoy the genre enough to buy records of it, it's a good record to add to the collection. If you're not that avid an enthusiast, check out a few YouTupe clips and be cntent with knowing who he is (was?).

In the meantime...

 

Is there a full version of that interview of Tandyn and Lenny? They only show a very short exchange between them, but it looks like Tandyn is seriously bugged with Lenny, and it could get really good!

[JSngry]

AFAIK, that's the entire CBS show.

Curt Boettcher is another big hero of Sunshine Pop, but I think Almer's was the more...crunchier talent.

[sgcim]

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

AFAIK, that's the entire CBS show.

Curt Boettcher is another big hero of Sunshine Pop, but I think Almer's was the more...crunchier talent.

Yea, the only CB things worth listening to are the ones Almer wrote. CB wanted co-credit for 'Along Comes Mary, because he sang on the demo!

Yeah, right... Then CB didn't give credit to Almer on his Sagittarius LP for one song Almer wrote, probably to get revenge.

Another great Almer song is 'Little Girl Lost and Found', which brings out another heavyweight from this scene, Ruthann Friedman, who sang it on a single. Friedman wrote 'Windy', and was able to live off the residuals till the Internest ruined that. She retired in 1972, but made a comeback in 2006, probably because she needed the dough.

Both she and Almer were also inventors; Almer designed some special bong that became famous, and she designed some type of stationery that you could also use as rolling papers!

She made one LP that features her songs, with only her doing a great job accompanying herself on the guitar, straddling both folk and jazz.influences.

They did another compilation LP, 'Hurried Life' which features some tunes with Van Dyke Parks playing and producing.