rare ... ADVANCED RELEASE PROMOTIONAL

Beautiful MINT VINYL

SPARE COLLECTION RARITY ::: THE HARDEST TO FIND WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIEMENTAL BAND LP = VOLUME 4  : "WHERE'S MY DADDY"

If you dug Part One, Volume II and Part THREE you'll not want to miss this similar trippy mix of memorable melodies spiced with the California acid sound:::

Original 1969 first pressing vinyl of the rarest (and great) last album by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band on the near hoplessly obscure AMOS RECORDS label...

***Check the beat of their music by clicking on this line ==>

Whatever the hippie dream entailed for Young America in the 1960s, this was not it. Summer burned and winter blown, Where's My Daddy? exemplifies the dark underbelly of the California good life, as it grants the listener a sneak peak at some hidden corners of the not-so-glamorous side of Sunset Strip life.

The record kicks off with the title track, a blast of swagger that lays it all out within its first minute: "Father went from can to can/ Mother goes from man to man". The song establishes our protagonist-hero Bob Markley as literally an unwanted bastard born under some not very good circumstances. He eventually leaves home, but quickly finds himself bemoaning his lack of financial security on a funky-ass little rocker titled "Where Money Rules Everything" and subsequently joins up with the Army on the hysterical "Hup Two, Hup Two". The experience understandably leaves our Bob a little worn down and confused ("A little queer on the third floor likes me/ But I won't wrestle him!") as he longs just to be set free from the constraints of the military life. ("Hup two! Hup two! Left-right! Left-right! I can't wait for the party tonight!", he intones.)

Musically the first three songs on side one are outside the realm of what one might expect from the WCPAEB based off their previous records. The title cut, for example, is a tight and restrained acoustic number, almost perfect in its sense of economy. "Money" and "Hup Two" both feature some uniquely strange wah-wah guitar patterns from newly rejoined bandmember Mike Lloyd. While some have viewed the copious use of wah-wah as the group playing catch-up with their peers, it becomes apparent that Lloyd is really using this effect in a way that is far different from anything else heard at the time. It's about as far a cry from the bastardized Hendrix tone that was taking over rock music in '69 as you can imagine.

The album then sharply dovetails into a couple of beautifully longing, if more traditional (by WCPAEB standards) ballads featuring Shawn Harris-- "My Dog Back Home" and "Outside/ Inside"-- separated only by some Markley-infused insanity in the form of "Give Me Your Love Thing" which is a loose, tribal sort of cut. Due to these various approaches towards defining an arch sound for the LP, the overall effect of side one is musical schizophrenia-- of the best sort.

On the album's second side, things start to get even more interesting. We are now removed from the mind of Markley, and are instead given a glimpse into the life of Poor Patty, a young girl whose life perhaps mirrors that of Markley's character in the title track. (It should be noted for the record that in real life Bob Markley was the adopted son of an oil tycoon and presumably didn't want for much of anything.) From the sound of her spoken introduction, we're immediately made aware that this Hollywood street-urchin-to-be is probably at most about 10 years old, which the lyrics of the opening "Everyone's Innocent Daughter" hammer home in no uncertain terms. Patty is at the cusp of adolescence ("listening for what you haven't yet heard/ looking for what you haven't yet seen" our protagonist sweetly sings to her) and is putting away her toys in anticipation of more exotic pleasures to be found in the city where people's faces are "grim as granite". Danny Harris, singing lines no doubt written by and about Markley, tells her frankly, "I want to run, tell the world how much fun you are." I think we can safely assume he's not just talking about his experience playing hop scotch or tiddlywinks with her.

"Free as a Bird" further chronicles Patty's relationship with the Markley character/ construct. Now she's sneaking out of her house to visit him "on the outside edge of town." The narrator is again addressing the girl directly here with sage advice: "This is your precious time. Don't waste any of it apologizing to your friends for all your loose ends." Because, of course, "this time won't come again".

Yet surprisingly, the music to both "Everyone's Innocent Daughter" and "Free as a Bird" is not the creepy/weird hard psych that was the group's prior stock-in-trade, but rather gorgeous, harmony drenched guitar pop. There's absolutely nothing sinister about the melodies whatsoever, which simply adds to the commensurate quality of these songs. Instead of a lewd come-on, we now see that this relationship is a truly compex situation, filled with many fluctuating emotions. Markley's affection for this girl less than half his age appears to be genuine and rooted in infatuation and appreciation rather than base lust.

On the following cut "Not One Bummer", we now see that Patty is set free of her parents and has been unleashed on the Sunset Strip in a scenario not unlike the one brought forth in the classic Catherine Hardwicke film Thirteen. The ebullient joy found in this bouncy track mirrors what Patty must surely be feeling, and is contrasted by the dizzy "Have You Met My Pet Pig?" where Patty first begins to encounter difficulties related to life on the Strip ranging from the mundane (curfew violation) to serious (best friend getting busted). The song itself is probably one the finest ever written about life on Sunset Strip, on par with classics such as Love's "Between Clark and Hilldale" or the Mothers' "Plastic People".

If you're thinking to yourself that this story can't have a happy ending, then you won't be surprised by the album's magnum opus, "Coming of Age in L.A.". Over a wicked instrumental groove Patty is first heard to be hustling the L.A. Free Press for change (a common technique used by runaways for quick cash), then taken into an alley where she is summarily "beaten, raped and robbed". While the scene unfolds, we are introduced to a who's who of Hollywood freaks and weirdos-- people Markley and the Harris Brothers no doubt knew well. Presciently, at the end of the while bizarre tragi-comedy, Patty is dragged in front of a drunk judge, and when asked to comment on her situation, offers up the best response she can think of: "Judge... Not one bummer, the whole beautiful summer!"

If the boys in the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band had decided to end the album right at this point, it would have been enough, and the album would have already been enough to disturb, offend and generally infuriate 90% of the people who bought it. However, the listener is treated to one more vignette in the life of Poor Patty, or perhaps Markley himself-- By this point the two characters' lives are so intertwined it's almost impossible to separate them, hence the final song's title: "Two People". It appears that our protagonist is now 74 years old, perhaps sitting out on the porch in a rocking chair, and is matter-of-factly recounting all the horrors of their life. In this, the answer to the question Where's My Daddy? is finally made clear: "My father died pushing a plow, while I was off beating a cow."

As such, the album has neatly resolved back to its beginning, and as such the listener will be rewarded with additional insight the next time they listen to it, and the next, and the next, and so on.

Where's My Daddy? is not a record that anybody possessing an absolute, traditional sense of Judeo-Christian morality will enjoy. More than likely, such a person would be so put off by the story told within Where's My Daddy? that they would likely break the album in half and throw it in the trash or set fire to it. So it goes without saying that one must be open to what the characters in this sordid (and it *is* sordid) tale are trying to say in order for that person to appreciate this record. If you as a listener can make the leap of faith, then you might find this record as rewarding as we do. Certainly, you'll never hear another album like this in your life.

Oh, and by the way-- The identity of the girl on the album cover reveals more clues to the story found within the grooves, if you know who she actually was