"The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading" / "The Great Conspiracy" 1967
Evolving out of the remains of The Ashes, which has included Brackett, Merrill and Robinson, they recorded their first 45 for Vault before signing with the major-label Columbia in November 1966. Much of their material was written by Brackett and Merrill and produced by Gary Usher. It was well produced and often orchestrated. Their first album was a fine debut. The stand-out track was Then Came Love, a beautiful love song on which Sandy's gorgeous voice was supported by excellent orchestration. Also of note were the goodtime sounds of You Took Too Much and Why Did l Get So High? which sounds like an anti-drug song. The second LP was in similar vein, bursting with ravishing harmonies and psychedelic lyrics (e.g. "Everyone has a bomb / In their mind / And when it explodes / Blows your mind" from the transcendent Living, Loving Life).
However, the end of the flower-power era sounded the death bell for the band. Their third album dispensed with the folk-rock and psychedelia in favour of gospel-rock and gruff male vocals fronting horns and girlie choruses (the CD bonus tracks, however, do include a couple of glorious Barbara Robison vocal performances). After the album's failure, Al Brackett went into session and production work, Lance Fent played for Randy Meisner and Bill Wolff (who'd also played with Sound Machine) later joined Fusion. Sadly, Sandy Robison died a few years back.
01. It's A Happening Thing 2:27 02. Then Came Love 3:44 03. Twice Is Life 2:50 04. Second Hand Man 3:26 05. You Can't Be Found 2:48 06. Why Did I Get So High 2:10 07. Dark On You Now 2:22 08. The Market Place 4:05 09. You Should Know 2:12 10. The Most Up Till Now 2:36 11. You Took Too Much 2:10
"The Great Conspiracy"
12. Turn On A Friend (To The Good Life) 2:22 13. Lonely Leaf 3:53 14. Pleasure 3:26 15. Too Many Do 6:35 16. Living, Loving Life 3:20 17. Invasion Of The Poppy People 0:41 18. Captain Sandwich 2:11 19. Living Dream 4:20 20. Ecstasy 6:20 21. Time Is After You 3:04 22. Wonderment 4:12 бонус: 23. I'm A Fool 2:36 24. It's So Hard 2:33 25. Peter Pan
Состав: Al Brackett - бас-гитара John Merrill - гитара Barbara "Sandi" Robison - вокал Jim Voigt - ударные Lance Fent - гармоника, гитара (на первом альбоме) Mike Kallender - гитара (на втором альбоме)
A collection of rare and unreleased recordings from the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and the Ashes
