The Lemon Drops - A Classic Collection /Crystal Pure ! & Second Album

Anyone who likes the Leaves, the Seeds et al will love the early cuts by this band, a hard-luck Chicago outfit who couldn't turn a local wave of popular enthusiasm into something bigger, despite some good songs. Their later stuff was more self-consciously psychedelic, but it's still very well done, with superb playing and harmonies. The Lemon Drops were Jeff Brand (bass), Bobby Lunack (rhythm guitar), Gary Weiss (drums), Eddie Weiss (rhythm guitar), and Danny Smola (vocals), who began rehearsing in the Weiss home when they were between 14 and 17 years old. With lead guitarist Ricky Erickson in tow and later an official member, they cut their first record, "I Live In the Springtime," for Rembrandt, a local label co-owned by one of the Weisses' elder siblings. "I Live in the Springtime" got an enthusiastic reception locally, and was played as far away as New York. The bandmembers became celebrities among the local kids when they were thrown out of school for their long hair. By that time, they were on their second single, the angry anti-Vietnam rocker "It Happens Everyday," and soon after had a new lead singer, Dick Sidman. The band slipped easily into the psychedelic blossoming of the Summer of Love, adding more overt flower-power references to their mix of sounds. It looked as though RCA was interested in the group, but a mix-up prevented the tapes for their third single, "Sometime Ago"/"Theatre of Your Eyes," from getting to the company in New York on time. A potential contract with Uni Records came to nothing, and their third single, as well as a dozen tracks cut live in the Weiss home in January of 1968, went unheard. A few more songs were cut on behalf of Buena Vista Records, but the death of the label head scotched the deal, and a potential contract with Alden Records fell apart, along with the group, following an acid party at the owner's Los Angeles mansion in the summer of 1969.

  1. The Lemon Drops - I Live In The Springtime  (3:04)

 2. The Lemon Drops - It Happens Everyday  (2:20)

 3. The Lemon Drops - Sometime Ago  (3:42)

 4. The Lemon Drops - The Theatre Of Your Eyes  (3:22)

 5. The Lemon Drops - Popsicle Girl  (5:20)

 6. The Lemon Drops - Flower Pure  (4:03)

 7. The Lemon Drops - Paperplane Flyer  (2:35)

 8. The Lemon Drops - Talk To The Animals  (4:21)

 9. The Lemon Drops - Fairytales  (2:28)

 10. The Lemon Drops - Hi, How Are You Today  (3:11)

 11. The Lemon Drops - Alone  (1:34)

 12. The Lemon Drops - Sleeping On Colors  (4:56)

 13. The Lemon Drops - Somtime Ago (Acoustic)  (0:26)

 14. The Lemon Drops - Guinevere  (4:04)

 15. The Lemon Drops - Learn To Fly  (2:06)

 16. The Lemon Drops - Flower On The Hillside  (4:07)

 17. The Lemon Drops - Flower-Dream  (2:41)

 18. The Lemon Drops - Flower Child Eyes And Arms  (2:27)

 19. The Lemon Drops - My Friend  (0:33)

 20. The Lemon Drops - To The Tower  (2:00)

 21. The Lemon Drops - Death Calls  (2:05)

 22. The Lemon Drops - Saturday Be-In  (2:55)

 23. The Lemon Drops - Love Is A Word  (2:43)

 24. The Lemon Drops - I Like You  (2:07)

 

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