THE SUNSHINE COMPANY
This is the Self-Titled LP by The Sunshine Company, Southern California's Folk-Pop, Bubblegum & Baroque-Rock quintet, The
Sunshine Company, was comprised of singer Mary Nance; singer/guitarist Maury
Manseau; guitarist/violinist Douglas Mark; bassist Larry Sims & drummer
Merle Bregante. The Sunshine Company's very name summons the spirit of the
mini-genre of 1960s Soft-Pop Rock known today as "Sunshine Pop"
or "Fading Yellow". The Sunshine Company's roots were not in pop,
but in folk. Guitarist/keyboardist Maury Manseau, guitarist Larry Sims,
singer Mary Nance, and drummer Merle Bregante met as students hanging around
the same cafeteria table at Los Angeles Harbor Junior College, where Maury
& Mary sang in the choir. Manseau had sung in a folk duo with John Bettis
(who later co-wrote Carpenters songs with Richard Carpenter) & often
opened for Hoyt Axton. The future Sunshine Company members moved in a circle
of acoustic-oriented singer-songwriters based a little south of L.A., in
Orange County & beach towns like Huntington Beach. Some of their friends
in this fertile So.Cal. scene were Jackson Browne, Tim Buckley, Steve Noonan,
Pamela Polland, Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys; The Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band; and Steve Gillette, all of whom went on to be recording artists
with widely varying degrees of success. The Sunshine Company signed to Imperial
Records, in the fall of 1967 & the group issued its debut LP "Happy
Is the Sunshine Company", scoring their lone Top 40 hit with the single
"Back On The Street Again". The album also generated the minor
hit "Happy". With this, their self-titled 2nd release, The Sunshine
Company's commercial momentum dissipated, and in the wake of their third
LP, 1968's Sunshine & Shadows, the group disbanded. Sims & Bregante
later recorded with the duo of Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina. Selections
are: Look, Here Comes The Sun; Reflections On An Angel; Love, That's Where
It Is; Sunday Brought The Rain (Gregg Allman song); I Can't Help But Wonder;
I, To We, & Back Again; It's Sunday; You Don't Know Her Like I Do; Your
Heart Is Free Just Like The Wind; If You Only Knew (Curt Boettcher song);
Darcy Farrow (Tom Campbell & Steve Gillette song, also recorded by Ian
& Sylvia); Without Really Thinking. With luxuriant late-1960s LA studio
production by Joe Saraceno, you'll find tinges of eccentric melancholy that
set them apart from many of the frothy 'Mamas & Papas' styled groups
of the period. This is an original Mono PROMO ONLY pressing on IMPERIAL
RECORDS (LP-9368) in a Stereo record cover, with a Mono Sticker on the upper
left corner indicating that this is a Mono Audition Copy. Someone tried
to peel the sticker off, but most of it remains. There were no stock Mono
copies of this LP as far as I know. The jacket appears in overall near Excellent
condition, while the Mono labels & playing surfaces appear overall near
MINT!
FULLY AUTOGRAPHED BY ALL FIVE MEMBERS!
