RACHEL AND THE REVOLVERS - THE REVO-LUTION b/w NUMBER ONE

In the summer of 1962, a young, talented, creative and charismatic fella by the name of Brian Wilson was breaking out in a big way; in August, his first major label 45 with the Beach Boys ('Surfin' Safari") began to hit big on the national charts. Brian's talent was looming so large that it couldn't be contained within The Beach Boys alone; compositions written by Brian and Gary Usher were so prolific and the need to prove his budding talent as a producer spread the legend out on to some other cool records.

The first of Brian's outside productions was the gorgeous "Surfer Moon", performed by Bob & Sheri. This record was self released by Brian's father Murray, and was pressed in very limited numbers (I DREAM of owning this record, that fetches a minimum of $3000 when it pops up). The same month that "Surfin' Safari" began ascending the charts, Brian went into the studio to cut a record that was strongly influenced by both Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" and the massive amount of twist records that had littered the scene since 1960. While "The Revo-lution" isn't exactly on par with the sophisticated tracks Brian began to compose in the coming months, it certainly is cute and the play on the word revolution is pretty damn clever. As my wife, hearing it for the first time this morning said (before knowing of Brian's involvement) "that's an interesting one! nice play on words". When I told her the story and of Brian's involvement, she said 'THAT figures!!!".

"Rachel" is L.A session singer Betty Willis, and she shows off her gorgeous voice in a sublime way on the b-side, "Number One". On "Number One", Brian wears his Four Freshmen influence on his sleeve with a melody that's so pretty it's almost corny. But like the rest of this man's work, the sincerity cuts through any cynicism and "Number One" completely melts me into a puddle.

from 1962...

 RACHEL AND THE REVOLVERS - THE REVO-LUTION

b/w NUMBER ONE