6
Thealbumwas recordedandmixed inone18hour sessionatColumbus
Studios in San Francisco. Louie doesn’t remember any left-over takes
or songs from that session.
“Those times are so distant now.We just went up to San Francisco in
one vehicle, veryhappily so.Wedidn’t knowanythingabout recording
studios and such, we just played. No overdubs, hardly more than
two takes. Wham bam, that’s it.”
The band never saw any money whatsoever from the deal.
“Dougwas rather relaxedwhen it came tomoneymatters. He’d been
through the Huey P. Meaux school, remember? But he once supplied
us with a set of second-hand amps”.
There were other benefits.
“We were still teenagers, more like brothers than a rock band, and
when the album came out it felt like we owned the entire world. We
were on cloud nine.”
Thephotographon theoriginal album,which for some reasonappears
in reverse, shows from the left bassist Steve Vargas, drummer Albert
Para, guitarist Frank Paredes, and Louie Ortega, guitarist and lead
singer. The picturewas taken in a tree house in the boys’ hometown,
Prunedale. What is most impressive about the album - besides the
delightfully laid-back grooves and the superb vocal performances - is
Ortega’s mature songwriting. With the exception of an OK version of
Rock Me Baby
and a brilliant interpretation of the Kaleidoscope song
If The Night
, all of thematerial bears Ortega’s signature.
I Know You
Know, Royal Oakie
, and the title track are straightforward pop tunes
