line-up 1: (1967)

- Tommy Andre (aka Thom Andriola) -- vocals, guitar

- Reid King -- vocals, guitar

  supporing musicians:

- Hal Blaine -- drums, percussion

- Ron Carter -- bass

- Van Dyke Parks -- keyboards
 

- Papa John Creach (Reid King)

- Reid King (solo efforts)

Genre: sunshine pop

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  The Sound of the New Wave

Company: Canterbury

Catalog: CLPM-1501

Year: 1967

Country/State: Los Angeles, California (?)

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: mono pressing; white label promo copy

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 4381

Price: $100.00

Cost: $50.00

Can't say I know much about this short-lived duo.  The line-up consisted of singers/guitarists Tommy Andre (aka former child actor Thom Andriol) and Reid King (the latter looking like a young Paul Williams).  If you trust the album's brief liner notes (always an iffy proposition), the pair met while attending college (UCLA I'm guessing) where they discovered a common interest in music.  

Performances on the L.A. club scene and a couple of demos saw them signed by the late Ken Handler's L.A.-based Canterbury Records.  The pair debuted with  1967's  pretentiously titled "The Sound of the New Wave".  Produced by Handler with arrangements from Gene Page and backing from the Wrecking Crew, most of the album's eleven tracks are group originals showcasing the pair's heavily orchestrated sunshine-pop moves.  Lots of references carry this as a psych effort. but other than the cover art, be forewarned it isn't.  Tracks such as 'Shadows of Good Bye', 'The Evening Mist - A Mourning Dew' and 'In a Lonely Towne' aptly exhibit the duo's decent voices and nice harmony work.  Most of the songs boasted attractive melodies, though the arrangements were occasionally overwhelming and their lyrics suffered from standard college student angst which probably drove young female English majors crazy.  Stuff like 'Live for Today' and the dreadful 'Autrefois (J'ai AIme Une Femme)' (the one non-original) were simply too MOR for my personal tastes, but anyone who likes prime Chad and Jeremy or Peter and Gordon (the phase where the duos start to get arty) might enjoy this lesser known act.  Understandable, but there were simply too many ballads on this one.  That made non-ballads like the opener 'Little Dreams', 'The Evening Mist - A Mourning Dew' and 'Live for Today' some of the standout performances.  With an ominous melody and lyric that would have made Paul Simon proud, 'Where Do We Go From Here' was easily the album's best performance.

In case stuff like this influences your buying habits (it shouldn't), this one shows up in Hans Pokora's 4001 Record Collector's Dreams.

Even though the album did nothing sales wise, the pair traveled to the UK where they signed a deal to record a sophomore album for Chris Blackwell's Island Records.  Intended as a more experimental effort, the project was ultimately shelved.

Reid spent several years as a member of Papa John Creach's recording and touring band.  He has also recorded some solo material.  For anyone interested, King has a small FaceBook page at: (2) Reid King | Facebook

No idea what happened to his partner Thom Andriola.

"The Sound of The New Wave" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Little Dreams (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:30   **** stars

Well I'll be darn ...  Falling victim to the old "judge a record by its cover" syndrome my expectations for this one were pretty low.  Admittedly the folky ballad 'Little Dreams' was a bit on the sensitive-songwriter side of the equation, but their voices blended well and there was something calming in the pretty melody and Gene Page's tasteful orchestration.  Geez how often do you hear an oboe on a pop song.  I was listening to the song on YouTube and came across this posting from writer Reid:  "It was the 3rd song I ever wrote. I partnered at the time with Tommy André (Thom Andriola) who I met in high school in Westwood/LA. The story of my music business history is a "long and winding road" but I have been composing music for the gut-string guitar that has always been way ahead of its time. Yes a dozen years before the term "New Wave" was hijacked, that was what we decided to call our duo."

2.) Shadows of Good Bye (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:31   rating: *** stars

Normally an MOR track like 'Shadows of Good Bye' would send me screaming to turn off the turntable.  Yeah, it's pretty saccharine, but again Andre and King sound great together and there's a nice acoustic guitar on this one.  Reid also posted some comments about this one on YouTube: "I wrote/composed this song, it was the 4th song I had written. I arranged the higher harmony for Tommy André to sing and he came up with the single note guitar parts when it was recorded."

3.) The Evening Mist - A Mourning Dew (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:34  rating: **** stars

It wasn't quite rock, but 'The Evening Mist - A Mourning Dew' found the pair opting for a tougher sound (though there was still plenty of orchestration), while introducing a bit of social commentary to the mix.  Ah the mid-'60s.  And here are Reid's YouTube comments on the song:  "This song was a lyrical idea of Tommy André and he had the basic starting chords with melody. I got together and composed the musical structure and added the musical bridge. The A minor to F was a pattern I really liked so used it for the main structure. He was a good strummer and had taken guitar lessons early on from the Romeros so knew how to strum and do some of their Flamenco-style right hand techniques. I did the fingerpicking underneath the strumming and added Ooh harmonies behind his main vocal."  Another album and would have made a good single.

4.) Autrefois (J'ai AIme Une Femme) (Michel Legrand - Jacques Demy) - 2:29  rating: ** stars

The song was originally featured on the soundtrack to Jacques Demy's 1964 film "Les Parapluies De Cherbourg"  ("aka The Umbrellas of Cherbourg").   Always wondered if Paul McCartney was inspired by the film when he wrote 'Michelle' and how many French language pop songs were in turn inspired by that  Beatles tune ...   Given their labored delivery, I'm guessing Andre and King learned and sang this one phonetically, though for all I know they could have been French majors.  Can't say this bossa nova-tinged one did anything for me.  Very supper club-ish.  Why it was tapped as a single in the States is a mystery to me.  

- 1967's 'Autrefois (J'ai AIme Une Femme)' b/w 'Little Dreams' (Canterbury catalog C-512)

5.) In a Lonely Towne (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 3:04  rating: *** stars

'In a Lonely Towne' comes off as saccharine Peter and Gordon-styled twee pop, made worse by the spoken word attempt at sincerity.  I'm giving it an extra star for this nice refrain and the fact their voices blend so well.

(side 2)

1.) The Shade of the Sun (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:26   rating: ** stars

It's not identical, not even close but for some reason every time I hear the bossa nova rhythms of 'The Shade of the Sun' it reminds me of Jose Feliciano's 'Light My Fire.'

2.) Walkin' On Down the Street (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 1:46  rating: ** stars

Mindlessly upbeat and complete with cartoon character sound effects, 'Walkin' On Down the Street' could have been one of those wake-up-the-kids tunes.  It's funny hearing Andre and King speed their way through the song - wonder if they were on speed, or something.

3.) Once (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:13  rating: ** stars

Sappy acoustic ballad that most of you can skip without any loss.

4.) Live for Today (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:35   rating: **** stars

'Live for Today' opened with some pretty acoustic picking and then proved a surprise when it showed itself to be one of the few tracks to feature an up-tempo melody and a traditional rock arrangement - well at least strumming acoustic guitars, drums and keyboards.  With Andre and King sharing lead vocals, it had a nifty jazzy feel.

5.) Not From Here (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:28  rating: ** stars

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

6.) Where Do We Go From Here (Tommy Andre - Reid King) - 2:27   rating: **** stars

Feathering a dark and haunting melody that was slathered in heavy-handed orchestration 'Where Do We Go From Here' was probably the pair's best vocal performance.  The lyrics were equally dark.  King's YouTube comments on the song: "This song was written/composed 35 years before 9/11 happened, and it was not in release in 2001, but should have been the music behind the footage of that tragic time."  You know, I can agree with King's comments on this one.  Easily the album's highlight.  The song was tapped as the album's second 45, though the dark theme probably guaranteed radio wouldn't touch it.

- 1967's 'Where Do We Go from Here' b/w 'Not from You' (Canterbury catalog C-503