It’s a Beautiful Day
It’s a Beautiful Day
1969: San Francisco Sound SFS 11790
Because of the opening track’s appearance in Mark Christopher’s short film “The Dead Boys’ Club” (on the videotape Boys’ Shorts), this album’s been on my wishlist for a long, long time...but I’d not felt it was crucial to actually acquire until late Spring of 2005, when suddenly all relevant lights turned green and I immediately scored a copy on CD.
Having played it over and over again many times, I can safely say that “White Bird” is the only reason I’ll have this CD in my collection *and* that it will remain a staple for that one track. The rest of the album veers from the kind of material that makes me force a pained smile of “yes, that’s nice, but...” to the milieu I described in my assessment of the track “Violin” on Kate Bush’s Never For Ever. And then there’s all that dissonant/spacey organ-playing...ergh.... So I’m going to ignore the rest of the album and concentrate on the reason I have it.
“White Bird” is sadly enchanting from its opening bars, transporting me to a special space removed from the rest of time and space as its gently swaying plucked intro draws a pentagram around a protected zone. The imagery is arguably trite but nonetheless succinctly paints the essential pieces which express the song’s feeling of sadness and lost chance.
I’m a bit curious about this CD issue of this album: there’s no “original LP issue” credits, nothing even indicating the album’s original year of issue or crediting the curiously involving cover artwork...it’s all quite vague.
Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.