Cherry People: Cherry People (1968) Original Heritage Records Stereo Vinyl Transfer

Despite the dark and trippy album cover, this record is East Coast sunshine pop at it's cheeriest, verging in on bubblegum territory at times even. Cherry People were a psychedelic-rock band from the DC area and were considered a reputable live act, known for their intense, guitar heavy sound. But you wouldn't know it having listened to their album. They were signed to legendary producer Jerry Ross's label Heritage Records, a subsidiary of MGM, and set about recording their debut album under the guidance of their producer Ron Haffkine. Apparently Haffkine and the execs at Heritage weren't interested in letting the Cherry People unleash their acid rock sound on the world. I'm guessing that Heritage, particularly Jerry Ross, were looking for a semi-established psychedelic act they could convince to record some tunes they had published and that they wanted to release, potentially as singles material, that they could market to a "hipper" audience.

One song they did manage to get the Cherry People to record was the Left Banke composition "And Suddenly", a swingin' pop song that managed to break the Billboard top 50 in early '68. It's a very upbeat tune, with a really ornate instrumental blend featuring a string section, organs galore, big vocal harmonies, pretty much all the bells & whistles (literally, there are bells and whistles on this track). Great song. Somewhere along the line Cherry People decided they weren't gonna play ball with Haffkine and record the pop and radio-oriented material that was presented to them and there must have been some confrontation between the two parties, as the band were basically kicked out of the studio and studio musicians were brought in to play all the instrumental parts on the album. Is this a good thing? In my opinion, yes. I love the studio sound of the 60s and this album is chock full of that sound.

The album's sound is pretty similar to what we heard on "And Suddenly", lots of orchestral flourishes and neat studio tricks that give these simple, cheery bubblegummy songs alot more depth. There are some psychedelic moments as well, particularly on the band penned track "Imagination". It's a barely two minute piece of dazzling psych-pop, with great orchestral work and tripped out vocal effects, one of the best songs on the record. Another band penned tune "I'm The One Who Loves You" is also a highlight, with a tight, grooving chorus, all kinds of audio treats and a cool disco-y string section. "Mr. Hyde" is another good one, really nice flute section on the intro and tons of high Harpers Bizarre-esque harmonies throughout song. Also on the album is a really cool cover of Tommy James' funky-soul bubblegum number "Do Something To Me."  The majority of the tunes are pretty lightweight, lyrically and musically, but the inventive production and top notch studio musicians keep things interesting. I'd say theres definitely a resemblance to early Cowsill's and alot of Jerry Ross's productions like Spanky and our Gang and Keith, as it's got that very "east coast" pop vibe, distinctly different from the sunshine pop that was coming out of L.A., with more of an emphasis on bubblegum than on psychedelia.

I believe this album was reissued by Collectables, who usually do a pretty mediocre job at remastering and reissuing in general, and the disc hasn't really been in print since the 1990s. So, I present to you my rip of an original near mint copy of the LP. Ripped using EAC's .WAV editor and converted down to 320vbr using LAME 3.97. Really nice sounding stereo copy, no EQing, no pop removal just a flat transfer from vinyl to mp3.  Enjoy! http://www.mediafire.com/?0vzdmubwopx2b7i

-Casey