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What a unique band was Sunlight (a.k.a. Creation of Sunlight) in their day! There really was nothing else in 1968 that could match their particular combination of psychedelic elements (with the occasional progressive tendency),intelligent, lyrical songs, great vocals, and a sunshine pop sensibility (which all too aptly suits their name, does it not?), taken all together, you have a masterpiece that sold millions, right? Well, not exactly. Few would disagree that this is a great album. So, what happened?
Nearly all of the members of the band – Sunlight, not Creation of Sunlight, as most people have come to know the album – were from the environs of Long Beach, California. Gary Young was the exception to this rule, as he came to California from Oklahoma in the early 1960's with his band the Torques. He and his bandmates asked Jerry Griffin to join the Torques as organ player in 1964/65. It didn't take long for Griffin, as the main song-writer, to become the unofficial leader of the band. Over the course of the following year, several of Griffin's friends from high school joined the Torques; by 1966 the group had changed their name to Sunlights Seven.
The newly dubbed Sunlights Seven recorded a single, although just when it was recorded is unclear. The single contains future Creation of Sunlight staple 'David; backed with a psych version of John Fred & his Playboy Band's hit song 'Judy In Disguise', and was released on Entra Records, with a Long Beach address, as catalogue number EN1082/1083.
There is evidence that Sunlights Seven recorded at least one side of an LP entitled Sunstroke in 1968. This recording never got beyond the acetate stage and is apparently in the hands of a private collector. A photo of the acetate, taken from the book 1001 Record Collector Dreams, shows that at least five songs were recorded, two of which were not included on the Creation of Sunlight LP the band recorded the same year for Windi Records. These songs are Sevens Theme and Judy In Disguise. The other three songs, David, Light Without Heat and In The Middle Of Happy, were included on the Windi LP, but whether or not they were from the same session, or were re-recorded versions, no one from the band recalls.
Around the time of these recording sessions, Gary Young met Bob Engemann of the Lettermen, who had just launched his Windi label. Engemann's brother was a big producer with Capitol Records, which is evidently what encouraged this strange venture into the seamy independent music business. The label was based out of Utah (an even stranger decision), hence the connection with the other rarity on the Windi label, Merkin's "Merkin Manor" LP.
After the Sunstroke project was scrapped, if it was scrapped (?), the band recorded a single for Windi Records under the name of Sunlight.This single contains the songs Colors Of Love and Sometimes A Woman, and was released as Windi catalogue number W-1001/1002. The versions of these songs are reputed to be different from the ones that appear on the LP. It is possible that these versions first appeared on the flip side of the Sunstroke acetate – if in fact there was a flip-side!
The release of the Colors Of Love single led to the excellent decision by Windi to record an entire Sunlight album. This was done with amazing rapidity, and released in 1968 (Windi WS-1001) in an edition of a mere 500 copies. Poor promotion from the hopeless Windi label staff greatly limited sales – although, the fact remains, with only 500 copies to sell, how great an impact could the album ever have been expected to make?! The album contains ten songs, eight of which are original compositions, with Gary Young and Jerry Griffin doing most of the songwriting duties.
Windi released a second single from the LP, catalogue number Windi W-1005/1006, which contains David and The Fun Machine; this made as much impact, if not less, than the album had done. The band played concerts at a number of famous venues, trying to stir up interest in their album; they finished second in a massive "battle of the bands" at the Hollywood Bowl, and spent many a night at the Whiskey A Go-Go with other notable bands of the day. There was talk of a second album, but nothing came of it, making Creation of Sunlight the band's most significant (and only available) musical legacy.
And what of the Creation of Sunlight album? It is a pop psychedelic masterpiece like no other – very cool from start to finish, oozing a sunshine and acid vibe, with multi-layered harmonies, juicy Hammond organ, and lean and mean fuzz guitar. The overall sound is a bit like Strawberry Alarm Clock, I suppose, only with bigger arrangements which include some brass. Sunlight were one of the few bands to successfully merge US pop with late 1960's psychedelia, making fine use of virtually every instrument available at the time. The vocals are superb, and the playing is of consistently high quality throughout.
Now, of course, original copies of the Creation of Sunlight album are virtually never seen; when they do manifest themselves, they fetch more than $1,000 in collector's circles. This is one of the (too) few rarities that can musically justify their price tag. We are very pleased to offer the first official CD version of this great album. Our thanks to all the members of Sunlight for their help in making this reissue possible.
Personnel:
RON CLARK A
CARLOS ESTRELLA A
JERRY GRIFFIN keyb'ds, vcls A
BOB MORGAN A
STEVE MONTAGUE A
DON SAIN A GARY YOUNG A
Track Listings
1. David
2. Rush Hour Blues
3. Light Without Heat
4. In the Middle of Happy
5. Hammond Eggs
6. Sometimes a Woman
7. Second Thoughts
8. Seven Times Infinity
9. Colors of Love
10. Fun Machine
http://rapidshare.com/files/162760450/Creation_Venenos.rar
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