It's A Good Thing

[TonyCurrie]

Just came across details of an album titled "In Search of the American Dream" (Unreleased masters from the early 1960s).

One of the tracks is "It's a Good Thing" credited to "Herb Alpert and Glen Campbell"

Anyone here heard it/got it?

 

[Rudy]

Tony--is that credited as a songwriter credit, or performing credit?

 

[Captain Bacardi]

This song was on a Sharon Sheeley CD called Songwriter. These were a bunch of demos by Sheeley and Herb supposedly was the vocalist on the song "It's A Good Thing", although it sounds more like Burl Ives to me. Other artists on it include Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Mac Davis, David Gates, Hal Blaine and Jeff Beck. These were recorded between 1959-1962.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Harry]

I've always thought that sounded like Burl Ives too, but it may be Herb slowed down a bit, as if the tape were dragging. I've wanted to attemp a speedup to see if it sounds more like Herb, but haven't got a variable speed CD player.

Harry

 

[Dave]

...This song was on a Sharon Sheeley CD called Songwriter... ...Other artists on it include Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Mac Davis, David Gates, Hal Blaine and Jeff Beck... ...recorded between 1959-1962...

Capt. Bacardi

Jeff Beck?? Wonder what HIS early stuff from this period must sound like...? Just odd to see him included here with the other names, normally associated with L.A.'s "Wrecking Crew", that's all...

Mac Davis and David Gates did start out as songwriters and like, Jimmy Webb, wrote and sold songs that they've never recorded THEMSELVES... That is, never appeared on any albums either Gates' group Bread or Mac Davis made (though I was going to go out and look at some of his records with a song I have just gotten by John Davidson, "Five O' Clock Shadow", on an album of his, Everything Is Beautiful which I'm curious about whether Davis made his own version of, or not...)


Dave

 

[Harry]

Old thread.

The more I listen to this track, the more I'm convinced that it's really Burl Ives, and someone mistakenly labeled it as Herb Alpert.

Harry

 

[Harry]

I ran across this again today.



It's posted to YouTube by Herb's official channel. Still sounds like Burl Ives to me...

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I ran across this again today.



It's posted to YouTube by Herb's official channel. Still sounds like Burl Ives to me...

I missed this thread until today.

The reason I believe that it’s Herb (apart from the official channel posting it), is that Burl had a warble of sorts in his voice. It‘s missing here.

If you listen to Herb’s first “Well, it’s a…”, it sounds like Herb, a bit. Given the date, I’m guessing Herb picked either picked up some side money recording a demo that Sharon Sheeley hoped to get Burl Ives interested in, or that Herb was hoping he could catch the folk wave before “Lonely Bull” happened.

 

[Harry]

I was just playing around with this recording in a sound editor and sped the thing up by 5% - at that point, to me, it starts sounding more like Herb, but I still hear the Burl Ives effect even at that speed. And with a 5% speed-up, the backing singers start to sound a little chipmunk-y.

Just a little mystery from the past.

 

[abstract_fan]

The background voices sound similar in Little Lost Lover and It's a Good Thing.

 

[JOv2]

Like Glen Yarbrough, Burl's tenor voice is immediately recognizable and like Glen, no one else during that time sounded like him. It's Burl.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Like Glen Yarbrough, Burl's tenor voice is immediately recognizable and like Glen, no one else during that time sounded like him. It's Burl.

Which leaves the question of why Herb’s YouTube channel, which is run by family and not some corporate label, would post it as Herb.

I still say it doesn’t have Burl’s warble.

 

[Rudy]

I can't listen to it right now, but I'd lean towards Herb for the reasons that 1) his own site lists it as his performance (or, one would hope they actually asked him if he performed on it!), and 2) timing. I doubt Burl Ives, at that point in his popularity, would be singing on song demos as a session singer, whereas Herb was just starting out, and Glen Campbell was also a session musician during that time. Anyone at those early stages in their career would take on song demos.

But we're all guessing. There's only one person who knows the answer to this...

 

[JOv2]

I still say it doesn’t have Burl’s warble.

I'll defer to you as I have only two Burl LPs. If it was Herb purposely sounding like Burl he did a heck of a job. (I read that Roger McGuinn imitated Gram Parsons' voice on The Christian Life from the Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (1968) and did such a stellar job of it that no one knew it wasn't Gram until the the '90s reissues told the story of the sessions.)

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I'll defer to you as I have only two Burl LPs. If it was Herb purposely sounding like Burl he did a heck of a job. (I read that Roger McGuinn imitated Gram Parsons' voice on The Christian Life from the Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (1968) and did such a stellar job of it that no one knew it wasn't Gram until the the '90s reissues told the story of the sessions.)

Vocal impression—especially musical vocal impression—is fascinating to me.

Here’s a clip of Sammy Davis, Jr. at a 1965 benefit, doing several (including Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole and Dean Martin) in one song. It begins 2 minutes and 45 seconds into the video:

 

[JOv2]

Vocal impression—especially musical vocal impression—is fascinating to me.

On both of Sammy's 1960s live LPs he goes off on the many of these same impressions. I wasn't aware of this talent of his until I picked up the CDs. He's quite good! Thanks for posting