LOST TREASURES – Gordon Alexander

Posted on 22 April 2016

Lost Treasures

 

GORDON ALEXANDER

“Gordon’s Buster”

Gordon Alexander

When I was in elementary school, my sister received as a birthday present a copy of Tiny Tim’s debut album, God Bless Tiny Tim. She must have been thirteen or so and was entirely flummoxed. She could not fathom why anyone would think she would want such a curiosity. Being curious myself, I gave it a few spins and I loved it. Tin Pan Alley meets psychedelic variety show. Even today, it is one of my favorite records (in fact, in my studio I have a framed Tiny Tim autograph with the inscription, “Believe in your dreams, not your fears”). Over the years, I have tracked down works by the various collaborators on the album. Richard Perry, of course, and Biff Rose and Gordon Jenkins, too. But none more obscure than Gordon Alexander, the writer of one of the album’s most psychedelic numbers, “Strawberry Tea.”

 

Born in St. Louis, Alexander came out to California in 1964, bit by the Beatle bug and seeking success as a musician. He got caught up in a rash of signings of progressive singer-songwriters. Reprise signed Randy Newman; RCA signed Harry Nilsson; and, well, Columbia signed Gordon Alexander. His debut album, eventually titled Gordon’s Buster and released in 1968, features a veritable who’s who of West Coast ’60s pop: Carole Kaye on bass, Al Casey on guitar, and Jim Gordon and John Guerin on drums, for starters. Curt Boettcher produced three of the songs (Sonny Knight, the rest) and David Angel did the string arrangements.

Gordon Alexander 2

The album is an amalgam of vaudeville, psychedelia, acid folk and pop as is apparent from the outset with “Looking for the Sun.” Alexander’s voice is distinctive and pitched significantly lower than the pop star norm. The vibe is vaguely menacing and the lyrics impenetrable. It’s a little like John Hartford; a little like Stan Ridgeway.  “Letter to Baba” is decidedly more upbeat, a swinging blues with a jazzy horn arrangement. The lyrics follow the blues pattern closely, but there a few curveballs and the entire effect is charming. “Topanga” is a downtempo soft-shoe that builds to an arrangement that almost approximates a big band. It’s one of the highlights on the record. “Autumn is a Bummer” offers some loose folk-rock, not dissimilar to The Jefferson Airplane. The next song is the wonderfully titled “A Bunch of Us Were Sitting Around a Candle in San Francisco Getting Stoned and I Hope You’re There the Next Time.” It features a sweeping string arrangement and some bizarre vocal effects quite similar to those used by Cook and Moore on “L.S. Bumblebee.” By comparison, “Waiting for the Time” is downright earthbound, a solid midtempo folk-rock number than sounds a little like a collaboration between Bobby Russell and Tim Buckley. It’s a little out-of-place here, but still a solid tune. “Thinking in Indian Again” returns to the ether. Trippy, lysergic lyrics, shambling instrumentation and quite impressionistic singing. “One Real Spins Free” is another highlight, alternating soaring strings with beaty ’60s pop and culminating with a wild freakout tag. Again, I have no idea what it’s about. My favorite song on the record, though, is “Miss Mary,” a droning psych-pop love song about a girl in a library (one of my favorite themes, too!). Of all the tracks on Gordon’s Buster, it strikes perhaps the best balance between bizarre and accessible.

GOrdon Alexander 3

A promo 45 (“One Real Spins Free” b/w Topanga”) was distributed to radio stations, but generated neither interest nor airplay and the single was never issued commercially. Alexander would not release another LP. He went on to become a real estate agent and, if we are to believe his official bio, has since been mostly devoting himself to the activities and leadership of various lodges and brotherhoods. A different drum, indeed.

 

Gordon’s Buster was reissued on CD by Kismet in 2011 and is available in the legit digital domain as well. The original vinyl goes for about $20 and up. Fans of late-’60s singer-songwriters and West Coast psych will want to check this one out!

 

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  Peter has a new project in 2015 under the name MARSTON.   Marston have a track on the latest “Power Pop Planet – Volume 5” compilation just out now and available at:  www.PopGeekHeavenStore.com.

CHECK OUT SHPLANG out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

All Music Guide:  http://www.allmusic.com/album/gordons-buster-mw0000851706

Blog Post:  http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2012/11/gordon-alexander-gordons-buster-1968-us.html

Blog Post #2: https://outsiderandacidfolkrecordsyouneed.wordpress.com/category/gordon-alexander-gordons-buster/

VIDEOS:

ONE REEL SPINS FREE AUTUMN IS A BUMMER

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