Merry Go Round

TjbBmb

Well-Known Member
I’ve been listening to (and enjoying) this group lately. They peaked my curiosity so I decided to do some research on them.

Pretty interesting stories about the band being robbed of money and bad management deals. I found it odd that many people say they were a product of “greedy record labels,” since they were on A&M... I wonder why A&M or Herb was unable to help them. Any thoughts?

Emit Rhodes seems like an interesting person. Quite bitter and depressed by what happened to him by the industry, it seems to me....

Any other fans out there?
 
Yes I do have The Merry Go Round on Rev - Ola CD!! The song "California Girls" (Beach Boys remake) has Herb Alpert playing the trumpet which is a hidden track at the end of the CD!! I also have Emitt Rhodes comeback CD "Rainbow's End" which came out 3 or 4 years ago!!
 
I'm a big Rhodes and Merry-Go-Round fan. I was hooked on them as soon as I heard "Early In THe Morning" for the A&M sampler Family Portrait. (That album also got me into Phil Ochs and all the CTi artists).

I don't think it was because A&M was greedy (at least not initially)and I think the article you got that from was placing the blame more on ABC/Dunhill and their unrealistic contractual obligation placed on Emitt Rhodes. The problem with Merry-Go-Round was they were young (all were teenagers when A&M signed them) and got into squabbles that many teen friends get into, over girls cars and possibly more "adult" issues prominent ion the mid 1960s. They broke up before they finished their second album.

A&M elected to let Rhodes, as the guiding force of the band and the primary songwriter, continue. It's not clear on anything I've fond whether they viewed him as a potential solo artist or staff songwriter. Sadly nothing came of it until he was signed as a solo artist to ABC/Dunhill in 1970 and his first single for them shot up the charts.

Here's where the A&M half of the "greedy" allegations comes in... Seeing the success of the song and its album, A&M dusted off those incomplete Merry-Go-Round songs and solo demos that Rhodes had done and, (with some extra production in the form of orchestrations, etc by A&M staff producer Larry Marks) put out an Emitt Rhodes solo album of their own. Allegedly the record buying public was confused by two Emitt Rhodes album in the bins simultaneously and sales for both were hurt as a result. I personally don't believe that people were that stupid. The ABC/Dunhill one had a sticker that read "Contains the Hit 'Fresh as a Daisy' and more" and that was the song that drew the buyers.

His ABC/Dunhill contract, BTW, required an album be delivered every six months for 5 years, a task that a one-man band/songwriter (which is what Rhodes became after MGR broke up) working from his home studio was unable to fulfill, especially with a label that rejected many of his submissions.

Rhodes occasionally comes out of "retirement" and performs in southern California at small venues like McCabe's or in his native beach town of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach or other nearby areas. Last I heard he still had his studio there in the home he grew up in.

--Mr Bill
 
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