The Sunshine Company


Band members                             Related acts

  line-up 1 (1967)

- Merle Bregante -- drums, percussion

- Maury Manseau -- vocals, lead guitar, keyboards

- Mary Nance (RIP 2019) -- vocals

- Larry Sims (RIP 2014) -- bass

 

  line-up 2 (1967-69)

- Merle Bregante -- drums, percussion

- Maury Manseau -- vocals, guitar, keyboards

NEW - Douglas 'Red' Mark -- lead guitar

- Mary Nance (RIP 2019) -- vocals

- Larry Sims (RIP 2014) -- rhythm guitar

 

 

 

- The Dirt Band (Merle Bregante)

- Feather (Merle Bregante)

- Loggins and Messina (Merle Bregante and Larry Sims)

Redeye (Douglas "Red" Mark)

 

 

 


 

Genre: sunshine-pop

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  The Sunshine Company

Company: Imperial

Catalog: LP-12368

Year: 1968

Country/State: Los Angles, California

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: --

Available: 1

Catalog ID: --

Price: $20.00

 

Maury Manseau and Mary Nance met while choral students attending Long Beach's Harbor Junior College.  The pair formed a duo and eventually added drummer Merle Bregante and bassist Larry Sims to the line-up.  Their break came when Nitty Gritty Dirt Band manager William McEuen saw them playing at a Long Beach bar and offered to help them score a recording contract.  With The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band signed to Liberty, his efforts saw quartet (now operating as The Sunshine Company)  sign a recording contract with the Liberty associated Imperial Records.

 

Released in 1968, the group's sophomore album "The Sunshine Company" continued their musical partnership with producer Joe Saraceno.  Not a surprise, the second album found the group continuing to mine the sunshine pop vein.  With Manseau and Nance splitting vocals, the album again featured a mixture of covers and original numbers - Manseau and Sims handling the writing chores.  At least to my ears the collection sounded very much like their debut.  Yeah, they sounded a little more confident this time around - witness their stabs at pop-psych 'I Can't Help But Wonder', 'Love, That's Where It Is' and a blissful cover of Curt Boettcher's 'If You Only Knew'. Elsewhere  tracks like 'Sunday Brought the Rain' and their cover of Les Baxter's 'It's Sunday' bore a strong resemblance to The Mamas and the Papas catalog.  Manseau and Nance had nice voices and the performances were all professional and at least mildly entertaining.  The album's biggest problem stemmed from George Tipton's suffocating orchestration.  Tipton seemingly never heard a song he didn't think could be improved by waves of syrupy strings, even when they threatened to drown Manseau and Nance.  The single 'Look, Here Comes The Sun' and the closing ballad 'Without Really Thinking' stood as good examples of the damage done.  Between crowding out Manseau's fragile voice, the strings overwhelmed the song's likeable hook. Stripped of the orchestration both tracks would have been far stronger/   Sadly the same thing happened time after time.  It also made their folk-rock cover of Steve Gillette's 'You Don't Know Her Like I Do' all the more interesting as an example of how good they could have been without the orchestration and studio baby-sitting.

 

"The Sunshine Company" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Look, Here Comes The Sun (John Boylan - Terry Boylan) - 2:53 rating: *** stars

Spotlighting Maury Manseau's fragile voice, 'Look, Here Comes The Sun' was a sappy, heavily orchestrated ballad.  The title track hook was actually pretty good, but George Tipton's orchestration threatened to overwhelm Manseau and just sucked the energy out of the performance.  Imperial went ahead and tapped it as a single:

- 1968's 'Look, Here Comes The Sun' b/w 'It's Sunday' (Imperial catalog number 66280) # 56 Billboard pop charts

2.) Reflections On an Angel (Maurice Manseau) - 2:38 rating: **** stars 

One of three group originals, Manseau's ballad 'Reflections On an Angel' showcased a sweet folk-rock arrangement that would not have sounded out of place on an early Lovin' Spoonful album.  Helped by Mary Nance's backing vocals, Manseau's light vocals sounded much better on this one.  My life seemed so much more innocent in that time.

3.) Love, That's Where It Is (Bob Schwartz - January Fine - Thomas Kaye) -  2:09 rating: *** stars

With Nance handling lead vocals, 'Love, That's Where It Is' was one of the album's more upbeat, pop-oriented performances.  I'll admit her little girl voice was quite sweet, but once again Tipton's heavy orchestration threatened to bury her.  No idea if Douglas  Mark actually played it, but if so the album sported a nice fuzz guitar solo.  Should have been tapped as a single.

4.) Sunday Brought The Rain (Gregory Allman) - 2:41  rating: **** stars

The sweet group vocals and traded lead vocals bore more than a passing resemblance to The Mamas and the Papas.  In fact 'Sunday Brought The Rain' could easily have slotted on a Mama and the Papas album.  Certainly a mid-'60s time piece, the song was even more fascinating as one of the first Greg Allman covers I've encountered.  Nah, it wasn't a proto-'Whipping Post' ...  The track also appeared as the "B" side on their 'Let's Get Together' 45.

5.) I Can't Help But Wonder (Tony Michaels - Vinny Gormann) -  2:11   rating: **** stars

Hum, 'I Can't Help But Wonder ' found  the group dipping their collective toes into pop-psych ... Treated vocals, pounding keyboard pattern, Sims' awesome bass line, what sounded like an early Moog ...

6.)  I, To We, and Back Again (Larry Sims - Maurice Manseau) - 3:33   rating: **** stars

Sounding like someone was putting an album on a record player, the opening sound effects were funny.  From there showcasing Maurice on lead vocals and the rest of the band on harmonies, 'I, To We, and Back Again' was the album's prettiest performance.  

 

(side 2)
1.) It's Sunday (Les Baxter) -  2:15 
  rating: **** stars

A staple of Salvation Army record bins, Les Baxter is best known for the vast amount of exotica music he recorded and for scoring dozens of long forgotten "B" films.  That makes The Sunshine Company's cover of 'It's Sunday' one of the album's biggest surprises.  Their cover was nothing short of great.  Upbeat, bouncy and a load of fun, it was as good as anything John Phillips and company put down.  The Friends of Distinction also recorded a version of the song though their arrangement sounds like The Fifth Dimension at their jazziest.

2.) You Don't Know Her Like I Do (Steve Gillette) -  3:10   rating: **** stars

The album's most interesting performance, their folk-rock cover of Steve Gillette's ' You Don't Know Her Like I Do' finally displayed what they sounded like as a self-contained band.  No orchestration, just lots of electric guitar and bass.  Very impressive and an indication of what might have been.  Extra star for Manseau's tasty lead guitar.

3.) Your Heart Is Free Just Like The Wind (Christian Chevallier - Frank Thomas - Jean-Michel Rivat - Joan Shakespeare) - 2:27 rating: * star

Oh geez, this heavily orchestrated MOR ballad gives me visions of Richard Harris.  For goodness sakes Vicki Carr even recorded a version of the song.

4.) If You Only Knew (Curtis Boettcher) -  2:50   rating: **** stars

The late Curt Boettcher is one of my favorite pop-psych writers and his original version of 'If You Only Knew' is simply dreamy.   With Manseau on lead vocals and backing vocals, The Sunshine Company's cover stuck with the original melody and arrangement and the result was simply gorgeous. Powered by some simple organ fills, light percussion and a nifty little guitar riff, this was one of the album highlights. Hard to believe it wasn't tapped as a single.

5.) Darcy Farrow (Steve Gillette) - 2:35 rating: ** stars

Steve Gillette's Darcy Farrow' has become something of a folk classic covered by scores of musicians.  With Nance and Manseau sharing lead vocals, their versions was simply too folksy for my tastes.  Admittedly their voices melded nicely.
6.) Without Really Thinking (Maurice Manseau) - 3:36
rating: *** stars

Another track where Nance and Manseau shared lead vocals, 'Without Really Thinking' was a pretty ballad.  Unfortunately Tipton's Baroque orchestration came out of nowhere and served as a good example of overwhelming the rest of the song.

 

 

© Scott R. Blackerby November, 2024

 

 

 

 


Genre: sunshine-pop

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  Sunshine & Shadows

Company: Imperial

Catalog: LP-12399

Year: 1968

Country/State: Los Angles, California

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: gatefold sleeve; sticker on cover

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 4830

Price: $20.00

 

 

Drummer Merle Bregante, guitarist Maury Manseau, singer Mary Nance and guitarist Larry Sims met while attending Los Angeles' Harbor Junior College.  Manseau and Nance were members of the school choir, but all four quickly discovered they shared mutual interest in folk music.  Low key performances on the local club circuit saw the group attract the attention of manager Bill McEuen who helped them score a contract with Imperial Records.

 

By the time The Sunshine Company got around to releasing their third and final studio album (there's supposedly a fourth set that was shelved by Imperial), popular tastes had moved on leaving these folks with little in the way of an audience.  That's somewhat unfortunate since 1968's Joe Saraceno produced "Sunshine & Shadows" actually had some nice moments. The Mamas and Papas comparisons remained apt throughout much of the collection with tracks like 'On A Beautiful Day', the pretty ballad 'I'm Gonna Love You' and 'Wingate Square' underscoring their long-standing 'sunshine pop' sound.  On the other hand material such as a cover of The Youngblood's 'Come Together' (mis-titled as 'Let's Get Together') and the hysterically inept 'Love Poem' found them trying to increase their 'hip' factor.  The album also saw the group trying to flex their creative influence.  Unlike earlier releases, this time around almost half of the songs were group originals.  Unfortunately record company demands for a safe commercial project limited the group's flexibility resulting in a rather MOR sound.  Still, tougher numbers like 'A Stitch In Time Saves None' provided a taste of what these guys might have been able to do with a little more artistic freedom.  

 

"Sunshine & Shadows" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) On A Beautiful Day   (Gene Stashuck) - 2:15

- 1968's 'On a Beautiful Day' b/w 'Darcy Farrow' (Imperial catalog 66308)

2.) To Put Up with You   (Paul Williams - Roger Nichols) - 2:33

3.) Lets Get Together   (Chet Powers) - 3:12

- 1968's 'Let's Get Together' b/w '' (Imperial catalog number 66298)

4.) I'm Gonna Love You   (Larry Sims - Maury Manseau) - 2:50

5.) Out On the Town   (Larry Sims - Mike Collins) - 1:56

6.) Love Poem  (Larry Sims - Maury Manseau)  - 2:40

9.) Wingate Square   (Carol Conner - Ron Nadel) - 3:55

 

(side 2)
1.) Sunshine Theme (instrumental)  (Larry Sims - Maury Manseau) - 2:51

2.) Willie Jean   (Hoyt Axton) - 4:25

- 1968's 'Willie Jean' b/w 'Love Poem' (Imperial catalog number 66324)

3.) Springtime Meadows   (Tom Campbell) - 4:27

4.) A Stitch In Time Saves None   (Phillip Freed) - 2:46

3.) Ways and Means  (Larry Sims - Maury Manseau) - 2:27

6.) Bolero  (Larry Sims - Maury Manseau) - 2:30

7.) I Hate Pigeons   (Victor Milrose - Dave Hess) - 1:10

 

 

One last non-LP single, 1969's "The Only Thing That Mattered (After All)" b/w 'Bolero' (Imperial catalog number 66399) and they were history.

 

 

 

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