Artist: Grapefruit
Genre(s):
Trance: Psychedelic
Discography:
Around Grapefruit
Year: 1968
Tracks: 13
Grapefruit were one of the better Beatlesque late-'60s British pop-rock bands. In 1968 they seemed on the way to stardom, with a mates of small attain British singles and, more significantly, some avail from the Beatles themselves. Led by George Alexander, brother of the Easybeats' George Young, the grouping were at the first cheerful harmony pop/rockers with similarities to the Easybeats, Bee Gees, and some Paul McCartney-penned tunes from the Beatles' have psych-pop earned run average. Not quite a as forever jaunty as the Easybeats, non as histrionic as the Bee Gees, and certainly not as inventive as the Beatles, they were nonetheless similarly skilled at blend melodious bulge out with sophisticated arrangements that employed baroque/psychedelic touches of strings, orchestration, and various varieties of keyboards. A dissatisfactory endorsement record album, however, helped sink them verboten of sight, and the Beatles couldn't be of help as they were preoccupied with their own impendent licentiousness.
George VI Alexander (born Alexander Young), wHO wrote most of the songs for Grapefruit, was the elderly buddy of George Young and had stayed behind in the U.K. when the remain of his family emigrated to Australia. He was signed to Apple Music Publishing in 1967 by Terry Doran, wHO had been affiliated with Brian Epstein and the Beatles' organisation for some time. Doran besides managed the band, which was completed by several members of the low-cal harmony pop-rock chemical group Tony Rivers and the Castaways (wHO were managed by Brian Epstein's NEMS Enterprises). Guitarist and track singer John Perry has remembered that the idea behind Grapefruit would be to play music in the stamp of the Beatles' before bolt down ikon, filling a gap left empty by the Beatles' growth into psychedelia and more than sophisticated territory. The Beatles besides got behind the mathematical group to some extent, as John Lennon named the band (after Yoko Ono's book with the same deed) and went to press receptions introducing the band to the media. Members of the Beatles pitched in ideas for Grapefruit arrangements and recording sessions, and Paul McCartney even directed a promotional video for their individual, "Lift." Grapefruit, disdain all the Beatles associations, were non on Apple Records, which mightiness have seemed their logical home. There was a pragmatic reason for this: Although Grapefruit began releasing discs in early 1968, Apple Records was non formally launched until rather a few months by and by.
Citrus paradisi just lost the Top 20 with their number one individual, "Beloved Delilah," with its swinging melody, uplifting harmonies, and creative habit of orchestration and electronic phasing. A cut through of the Four Seasons' "C'mon Marianne" merely lost the Top Thirty, and although at that place were several other singles in 1968 and early 1969, zippo else made the charts. Their number one LP, Around Grapefruit, was mostly comprised of songs from their low gear five singles.
In demarcation to Around Grapefruit, their second album, 1969's Deep Water, was an perfectly insignificant endeavor that could have been by an all different band, as its turn later '60s rock'n'roll was quite different the band's debut. Grapefruit went into a much heavier sound, with deeper traces of blues and once in a while nation, and virtually abandoned the harmonies, pop melodicism, and originative multi-textured arrangements that were the strongest points in their favour. For good measure, their association with Apple Publishing concluded in November 1968, although John Lennon did suggest in early 1969 that the band should record the then-unreleased Lennon-McCartney vocal "Deuce of Us" (which they didn't). Following some personnel changes, the mathematical group stone-broke up about the end of the 1960s, although Alexander did vivify Grapefruit for a 1971 unmarried, "Universal Party"/"Sha Sha," which as well featured ex-Easybeats George Young and Harry Vanda.
Afterwards Alexander worked with Vanda and Young on other production and songwriting projects, while John Perry made an unlikely retrovert to the public center as a member of the new wave band the Only Ones in the late '70s. Grapefruit's deuce albums get been reissued on CD by Repertoire with some non-LP tracks. There are likewise trinity songs from a BBC academic session, including two they never released on record -- "Breakin' Up a Dream" and "Stressful to Make It to Monday" -- on Hard Up Heroes II, a various-artists bootleg compiling of unreleased recent '60s BBC recordings.
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers
