ONE AND DONE: "The Yellow Balloon" by The Yellow Balloon
The 1960s were a beautifully strange and fruitful time for music with the evolution of rock and roll rapidly taking place before our eyes. Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly were soon influencing the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys who influenced countless generations of artists and bands in their wake. While many know the names of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, and Mick Jagger there was another movement of pop music that was happening concurrently with the rise of "real rock bands" that originally took its form under the name "bubblegum pop" which consisted of catchy pop jingles that was often created by acts who were singles-oriented, without having anything resembling Pet Sounds in their arsenal and ready to strike but instead were content to churn out songs that would terrorize the pop charts. These acts were often studio creations with anonymous singers and studio musicians making the backing tracks and though there were major exceptions, the "bands" in question were often one-hit wonders.
Call it an evolution, call it a deviation, call it a product of the times, or call it inevitable but bubblegum pop soon found itself influencing other genres of music in the late 60s as well, but one of the less notable ones was called "sunshine pop." Influenced by some of these bubblegum pop acts as well as the more commercial sounds of bands like The Mamas and The Papas, sunshine pop was never quite a "commercial success" but it has gone on to become something of a cult classic niche genre from that fruitful time in the 60s. (Believe it or not, but The Mamas and The Papas were directly associated with this month's album as well, but we'll get to that later!)
Normally for this kind of article I'd do my best to talk more about the band in question and what they were doing in the buildup to the album, but, in part due to the reasons explained before, there really is no "before the album" for the band. This isn't like The Young Veins who split up from their previous band to do their own thing, this isn't like Voxtrot who despite only having one album had also put out a handful of EPs that have gone on to become beloved classics in their own right. No, this album is the sort of project that only could've been made in the 60s and it's due in part to Jan and Dean. Enter Gary Zekley.
In 1966 Jan and Dean were experiencing their most successful period as a group when in April of that year Jan Berry got into a car accident (ironically near Dead Man's Curve) that put him into a coma for roughly two months and left him learning to walk again while recovering from the brain damage that came as a result of the crash. While Jan was incapacitated, Dean Torrence started working on the next Jan and Dean record without Jan, calling it Save For A Rainy Day. The album was a song cycle where all the songs related to rain in some way/shape/form. My honest take on the album? It was alright. Not bad, but not really great either. Gary Zekley would write two songs for the album, "Like A Summer Rain" and what would be the opening song on that album as well as the lead single "Yellow Balloon." "Like A Summer Rain" is pretty damn good, but "Yellow Balloon" was... not, and Gary Zekley knew it. After trying to explain to the band and the studio musicians how he wanted the song to sound, he was shot down and told "we've got this under control." Gary knew something was wrong and so he goes around banging on every door and any door in Los Angeles that would listen to him until he finally meets Ken Handler of Canterbury Records. He plays a demo of "Yellow Balloon" for Ken, Ken thinks it's a good song, Gary explains that Jan and Dean were also recording a version so they had to beat it out or else the song would most likely be dead on arrival, and immediately Ken helps get everything together right then and there on the spot. Much like the bubblegum pop songs of the era, the song features studio musicians and "anonymous" singers (it's actually Stan Farber singing, who despite being a fairly "anonymous singer" apparently sang on the theme song for Gillians Isle and did some backing vocals on Roger Waters' 1990 live version of the Pink Floyd classic The Wall) and eventually becomes a hit; "Yellow Balloon" peaks at #25 on the charts while the Jan and Dean version was, in fact, dead on arrival, only ever peaking at #111. It beat out the Jan and Dean version and as evidenced by the fact that they tried their hardest to get their version out first, the b-side to "Yellow Balloon" is, I kid you not, "noolaB wolleY" or basically, the same song just played backwards. It works as a one-time novelty listen but I don't find myself revisiting it for much of any reason at all.
So, you've got a hit with a bunch of hired guns and session vocalists, and the year is 1967. What happens when it's the late 60s and you've got a hit on your hands? Well, at that point you have to do the media rounds and try to convince people to keep buying the record, convince radio to keep playing it, and deal with a whole bunch of "industry stuff" but what happens when the band that "made" this hit wasn't even a real band? You grab random people from different groups and they become the band, of course. Enter Alex Valdez, Paul Canella, Don Braucht, Frosty Green and Luke R. Yoo. Here comes The Yellow Balloon.
The first thing we need to talk about is ironically the one thing this person didn't want to talk about; while the identity of Gary Zekley would go on to be clouded in some mystery by going under the name Yodar Critch when he produced the band's first album, the actual identity of Luke R. Yoo, the "drummer" for The Yellow Balloon was a big mystery. During the very brief lifetime of the band the identity of this drummer did get called into question quite a bit because Luke went out of his way to be... "mysterious." You can see it on the album cover when he's wearing the sunglasses
...you can see it in one of the official band photos where he's still wearing the sunglasses but he also has a mustache this time
...and again on this particular clip where he kinda goes out of his way to be a man of few words.
And there he is again with the sunglasses and the hat but no mustache in this one...
...so who exactly even is Luke R. Yoo?
Well... have y'all ever heard of a show called My Three Sons? It was a show that ran from 1960 to 1972 on ABC but by 1967 the show had moved to CBS, and one of the leads on that show was a young man by the name of Don Grady. The show was never a major sensation that swept the nation but it was popular enough to where Don Grady would take on a disguise and drum in a little-known band called The Yellow Balloon and go under the alias of Luke R. Yoo. Grady didn't want his celebrity status to overshadow the band, hence the whole charade. He also is a major reason why The Yellow Balloon ended up being a "real band" because he would keep in touch with guys from all over the country Grady thought were fantastic musicians. Eventually that's how the "band" was formed outside the context of a studio creation.
Alright, you've got two guys donning aliases and disguises to go on with a charade, a handful of anonymous nobodies, a hit single and the opportunity to create an album because your self-titled single was popular enough to warrant the creation of an album, so what do you create?
Enter Yodar Critch and The Yellow Ballon with the opening track of their album, entitled "How Can I Be Down."
Gary Zekley takes the mic on "How Can I Be Down," which is an underrated gem of a pop song, though honestly I think I could say that for a majority of the songs on this record. The way the song slowly crescendos on the first verse before coming in fully with the harmonies (which are TIGHT by the way), the way the song itself is simply arranged, the way Zekley just sings it, it all comes together in a perfect way. Even the little "keep recording" flub you hear around the 1:50 mark may be unprofessional, but Gary recovers quickly and turns the song back on its heels.
The Yellow Balloon's songs across the whole album are far from "wordy" much like many pop bands of the era, and though I definitely gave The Young Veins a lot of shit for it, I'll just say that the few words of "How Can I Be Down" just work in a way a lot of the lyrics on Take A Vacation! simply didn't because it all feels effortless when Zekley does it, especially for such an upbeat love song. I think it helps that the vocalists on this album all have more vocal range than Ryan Ross did, and there's actual harmonies on this record and not just one guy trying to harmonize with another guy occasionally. Truly I think that's really one of the only spots as a whole where Take A Vacation! fell flat, but that's enough about all that for now, okay?
I made a big deal about Don Grady and his involvement with the band, so what does he have to contribute to the album?
Three words.
"Stained Glass Window."
Grady not only wrote this one with Zekley but he also takes the lead vocal part here and it's a gentle reminder of how amazing it is that Grady never really went on to have a successful solo career in his own right because he's got such a smooth and wonderful voice on this track. Overall this song is a truly beautiful piece of orchestral pop that meshes well with the rest of the "band." String sections will interact with guitars while horns and handclaps will collide with the harmonies of the band, and it's wrapped up in two minutes. The lyrics recount the feeling of falling in love with someone and sharing those first moments of intimacy at what Don calls "the threshold of love." See, this is what I mean, it's not wordy but it's the right words.
"Baby Baby It's You" is the third track on here and is another song that Zekley had previously penned for another band, this time for a band simply called The Group. Keyboard player Frosty Green takes the lead vocal on this and he honestly outshines the original vocal that The Group does by a country mile. While the original version may have slightly better arrangements and production, Frosty's vocals bring The Yellow Balloon's version way out in front. Whether it's just those little extra inflictions in his voice or the general feel of it, there's just something there.
Often when I talk with my friends about albums we personally believe would be a 10/10 if it wasn't for one song just killing the vibe, I would always bring this album up because with all due respect "Panama Red" is far from good. The lyrics are cheesy and try too hard to not make it obvious they're talking about marijuana ("the grass is always greener
N O W"), the instrumentation and arrangement on it is questionable at best, and the only upside is that it's only about 90 seconds. Seriously. 90 seconds. Some fun facts though; according to Discogs there's also percussion in the form of a music stand, an ash tray, and a chair, and I can't pick out what any of it is supposed to be unless it's all the cheering and whatnot at the end. If you should take away anything from this it's that the song is bad and it's best left skipped if you're not a completionist like many folks. In a way I'm actually kinda mad this song is the one that introduced the band's lead vocalist Alex Valdez, he deserved better than this.
"I've Got A Feeling For Love" brings the mood right back up after that buzzkill of a song, this one does a lot of gear shifts and it feels effortless. It goes from the straight-forward thumps on the verse to the little marching drums on the chorus before going to the little "Dennis Wilson shuffle" on the pre-verse part before going into the waltz on the bridge. Gary Zekley's songwriting is joined by the minds of a few different writers but most notably Jill Gibson, who was temporarily a member of The Mamas and The Papas, replacing Michelle Phillips for a time, and who also would occasionally write songs for Jan and Dean. The harmonies on this are tight as ever and interact with Valdez's voice perfectly. I can say it over and over again; part of what makes this album work is that the harmonies are at the top of their game here. I know in the 60s the Beatles were a major influence on a lot of bands but here you get the full Beach Boys influence clear as day. For a while, actually, I used to say this album was what it would sound like if Brian Wilson didn't "fuck with the formula" but also kept his artistic visions towards the more grandiose and lush instrumentation. Let this be a subtle reminder that Brian Wilson is god.
"Yellow Balloon" closes off side a, and we've heard that one already. We remember how it sounds, right? Right. I'll give the song this; it works well as an album track as well as a standalone song. I know it's partially committing to the trope that I call "The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" (band, song, album all have the same name) but if there was ever a song that deserved to help carry that trope, it's this one. Also while it's on my mind, not only is it one of the only songs where I don't completely loathe the key changes that happen, but I love that the lyrics in the song compare someone's love to "a yellow balloon on a rainy afternoon." Who's coming up with lines like that anymore? It also took me way longer than I'd like to admit to realize that a "yellow balloon" is supposed to be a metaphor for the sun and sunshine. Of course it's easy to forget that when the band would do their TV appearances surrounded by literal yellow balloons. The song is a gem and there's a reason it became a hit.
"Good Feelin' Time" opens up the second side of the record and it's another one of Don Grady's tunes. It's fairly average and honestly there isn't a whole lot I could say about it outside of "well Grady's vocals are nice at least." Seriously, he holds his own on this song pretty well. I do like the switch-ups from the slow to fast parts but that's really all I can add to this.
"Follow The Sunshine" is one of three songs on the album that doesn't have Gary Zekley at the songwriting helm, and it shows almost immediately with that thumping drum intro. This one also does the trick of switching from a shuffle beat to something a bit more straightforward on the choruses. The backing vocals aren't just harmonies and the way they play off Alex Valdez's lead is nothing short of outstanding. Did I mention there's also a banjo solo in here? And pretty fucking banging banjo solo at that? Yeah, so for all you Saskatchewan Roughriders fans you can finally feel represented in these articles I write!
"Springtime Girl" comes next, and this is another one Zekley didn't have any hand in writing but his production is top-notch. The vocal harmonies and the arrangements are all stellar on this, it's not just the third over the fifth and the rest, there's actual interplay here with the leads and the backups. The instrumentation is pretty great, too, though unfortunately outside the core guitar-bass-drums-keys I couldn't tell you much about what's happening elsewhere but it sounds different from most pop music of the era. If nothing else it gets a thumbs up from me because that hook gets stuck in my head way more often than I'd like to admit
"Can't Get Enough of Your Love" is the song on the album. It's another one that The Group did a year beforehand but let's be honest here, Alex Valdez absolutely stuns on this version and he's a major part of why The Yellow Balloon's version is not only my favorite, but this might actually be one of my favorite songs to come out of the 1960s point-blank. The way the harpsichord comes in with the bass before the drums kick in, the way the song slowly builds up before it hits that first big "YEAAAAAAAHHHHHH OOOOOOO BABYYYYYYYY" is chill-inducing. I've said it before to friends when speaking on this album, but that part around the 1:40 mark is where I think I saw god for the first time and it absolutely changed my view on a lot of things in my life. It's good that The Yellow Balloon were able to give this song the recording it deserved because goddamnit it's a beautiful song that does everything it should be doing in a two minute pop song. In a perfect world it would be the last song on the album because that's the strong note you want to end on, but it goes in a completely different direction.
Enter Don Grady one final time for "Junk Maker Shoppe."
If you knew me when I ran a vaporwave label the name may come as a bit of a surprise because this song is where I got the name for it. "Junk Maker Shoppe" is probably my favorite song on the album if only because it's such a complete departure from the rest of what's happening on here. It's not a mid-tempo pop ditty whose lyrics are about sunshine and happiness, it's a fast-paced almost proto-punk song about wanting to turn leave town, getting a job to "be someone" and starting a new life at the magical shoppe the song gets its title from. The harmonica is also absolutely blistering on this one and while the harmonies aren't exactly in full force as they usually are on the album, they're still here albeit tastefully applied on the choruses. Honestly I've been trying (and failing) for years to work out a cover for this song that would showcase how it works perfectly in a fuzzier rock setting but life has a way of making these things not happen.
Anyway, that's the final song on the album proper. There's an "expanded deluxe edition" of the album on streaming that features some demos and songs Don Grady did in other bands, but I wanted to focus on the album as it was originally presented and intended.
Was the album any good?
You bet your ass it was. This album is one of the unsung gems of the 60s and part of why it has managed to have any afterlife at all is because the record collectors who obsess over this stuff know it as well as I do. If I had to give this a rating, it would be a solid 9/10, it's a good record full of nice little psychedelic pop ditties and damn good earworms.
So what happened after this album came out? Why is The Yellow Balloon the band's sole album?
Well, Don Grady was still an actor so when the band was gigging during the week he'd have to be absent from the drum kit which left a man by the name of Daryl Dragon, better later known as The Captain in the band Captain and Tennille, to take over drumming duties during the week while Grady would only be available on the weekends. I'm going to be honest, I wouldn't mind living in the alternate universe where the band kept making music and Daryl Dragon would eventually start contributing to the band the way Grady and Zekley did. The public did also eventually find out that Don Grady was the one drumming for The Yellow Balloon after an alleged contest came out identifying him as the man behind the kit, but it didn't do much to promote the band. In fact, I kinda think it didn't do nearly as much as Grady thought it would when he decided to go incognito.
The band themselves would go on tour in an attempt to promote the record and two singles were released afterward, with "Good Feelin' Time" and "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" getting some time in the spotlight but not enough because both songs failed to follow-up on the success of "Yellow Balloon." After a while it became clear that a one-hit-wonder band wasn't going to have much further success and wouldn't hit the charts again, and with Canterbury slowly falling apart as well the band eventually decided to split up, thus ending The Yellow Balloon as they're known.
Anything Else?
The bulk of the band would allegedly go on to form a new group called The Popcorn Explosion (properly psychedelic, huh?) though from what I've tried finding there are no recordings to be found, however there was an album released in 1989 by a different group under the same name. Frosty Green would go on to put out a solo single that just feels like such a bizarre artifact for some reason.
Jan and Dean wouldn't get a proper release for Save For A Rainy Day until 1996, almost 30 years after the "Yellow Balloon" debacle when Sundazed released it on CD and vinyl. Not many reviews of the album exist but for the most part it's been given a thumbs up.
Don Grady would leave My Three Sons right before its final season but still put out music here and there, including a 1967 single "Impressions With Syvonne" that would be included on the deluxe version of The Yellow Balloon. That song is pretty great, the fuzz guitars playing off the saxophones work way better than they should, and the bridge is a work of beauty as well. Unfortunately Canterbury would fold right around 1968 and so we didn't get a full Don Grady album until 1973 when he released Homegrown with Elektra Records under his proper name (Don Agrati), where it would be his only solo record. It's alright, I guess, though it wasn't something I found myself visiting frequently. I guess if you find yourself to be very curious about it, then you can listen to it for yourself. He also did musical scores for various movies and documentaries, so that's not exactly the worst case scenario for the best of both worlds there, right?
Though The Yellow Balloon would ultimately be known as a smaller but significant part his lasting artistic legacy, Gary Zekley would produce a couple more bands including The Clique, Solar Heat, and The Fun And Games who are all bands that qualify for this series but those may come at another time. He also wrote some songs for the Grass Roots which would go on to become some of their biggest hits. The other part of his lasting legacy? Oh, you know this song he wrote for The Clique that R.E.M. ended up covering. Yeah, THAT is a Gary Zekley song and arguably it's one of R.E.M.'s more well-known hit songs. Also, as a bonus, enjoy this video of Gary joining the band on stage to play the song. Zekley would pass away in 1996, a few years before Sundazed Music would put out the deluxe edition of The Yellow Balloon, which helped cement the band's legacy as a notable 60s act. On the back cover they dedicate the album to "the artistic vision of Gary Zekley." If anything, it truly is a lasting impression of the group and the man who took a major risk and created one of the greatest albums of the 60s. In his words, it may have been Yodar Critch who ended the record, but it's Gary Zekley who stared it.
Would A Second Album Be Good?
Maybe? I feel like Zekley's writing indicated that if a second album was going to happen it would've been just as good if not better than The Yellow Balloon's lone effort, but there were certainly other x-factors to keep in mind including Grady's songwriting and whether or not the other members would've wanted to start doing their own thing with the band as well. I wouldn't have minded hearing Alex Valdez do a take on "Superman" though if I'm being honest. I think all the tools would've been there for a decent second album, but whether or not they would've been used is a different story. Either way I would've loved to see a second album from them.
Did They Deserve Better?
I think they got what they deserved, honestly. I did mention that I wouldn't mind seeing a second album from them, but their story is pretty much on-par for the 60s and the studio bands that came from that era. I think Gary Zekley deserved to be alive and see just how much his legacy has bloomed with time, but I also think he knew good and well what his legacy was the minute R.E.M. said they were gonna make him rich and famous. Maybe Don Grady got the short end of the stick a little bit, but he still had a pretty decent career as an actor, I think. Grady passed away in 2012. Maybe the other guys in the band deserved better but that's really it.
The Yellow Balloon's legacy as a one-hit-wonder did eventually make way for their legacy as an act with an underrated album that also acts as a gemstone of sunshine pop goodness. Even if they're only remembered for their one song though I think it's important to remember that Zekley's big gamble of trying to beat out Jan and Dean ended up having the most significant of consequences because if it wasn't for that gamble we wouldn't have the music we have, so thank you Gary Zekley. Your music is like a yellow balloon on a rainy afternoon.
This is Harvey VD reminding you to kick out the ROUGE! motherfuckers! Peace.