Contents |
| The Love Exchange | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | psychedelic rock, garage rock |
| Years active | 1967–1969 |
| Labels | Uptown Records Tower Records |
| Associated acts | The Crusaders Charity |
| Past members | |
| Danny Altchuler Fred Barnett Jeff Barnett Walt Flannery Mike Joyce Lana Hale Bonnie Blunt |
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By 1967 The Crusaders's manager Barry Kaye, who was "a real Hollywood creep ... [who] took every penny we made off of some real big gigs",[1] persuaded The Crusaders to change their name to The Love Exchange,[2] and moved to San Francisco, California.[3] According to Richie Unterberger: "The Love Exchange were a typical support-level Los Angeles band of the psychedelic era, right down to their name.[4] After experimenting briefly with 14 year-old Lana V. Hale,[5] the only daughter of actor Alan Hale, Jr.,[6] famous as the skipper on Gilligan's Island, as their female lead singer,[7] they replaced Hale with 16 year-old lead singer Bonnie Blunt,[8] described as "the group's strongest asset, giving them the competent vocals in the soaring, folky Mamas & the Papas/early Jefferson Airplane style",[9] and whose voice was described as "a heavenly hybrid of Grace Slick and Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane [that] burns bright as the sun".[10] Their sound was described as "the perfect soundtrack for a Griffith Park Love-In".[11] By 1967 they were signed by Uptown Records, a subsidiary of MCA Records.[12]
By late November 1967 The Love Exchange released a single "Swallow the Sun" (written by John Merrill) (backed by "Meadow Memory") (Uptown Records 755),[13] which is described as the band's "chief claim to fame", and "a nice folk-rock-psychedelic tune that's emblematic of the time with its trippily optimistic lyrics, garage-like Mamas & the Papas female-male harmonies, and swirling organ".[14] "Swallow the Sun" was "a re-titled cover of 'Dark On You Now' (with some different lyrics) by the Peanut Butter Conspiracy",[15] which had previously been recorded by Merrill's previous band, The Ashes.[16] The song was anthologized on the Los Angeles portion of the Highs in the Mid-Sixties series, and also on the folk-rock volume of the vinyl Nuggets series on Rhino in the 1980s.[17]
The Love Exchange's eponymous 1968 album Love Exchange was recorded in one day at Leo de Gar Kulka's Golden State Recorders Studios at Harrison Street, San Francisco,[18] produced by Number One Productions of Larry Goldberg,[19] who "put his name on our songs",[20] and was credited with writing most of the songs,[21] with the exception of "the appropriately melancholy and ghostly 'Ballad of a Sad Man' (written by bassist Mike Joyce)".[22] In an act of "psychsploitation", Goldberg took some of the LP's backing tracks and used them on a soundtrack album for a musical titled How Now, Dow Jones, credited there to the Floor Traders".[23] These songs were "Step to the Rear" and "Live a Little", both with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and music by Elmer Bernstein. The original soundtrack album "How Now, Dow Jones" was released by RCA Victor (RCA LSO-1142/ RCA LOC-1142) by January 1968.[24]
In April 1968 Love Exchange was released without the two Broadway songs, and received a favorable rating by Billboard magazine.[25] However, Richie Unterberger described this album: "In addition to featuring "Swallow the Sun," [it] had an assortment of minor-league psych-folk-pop crossover efforts, few of them written by the band. ... These were pretty shallow garage-psych-folk-rock efforts with their utopian rose-colored lyrics and organ-modal-guitar combinations, like a minor league Peanut Butter Conspiracy (who weren't such major talents themselves)."[26]
The Love Exchange played often in Los Angeles, including gigs at the Pandora's Box and other Sunset Strip clubs, the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and at some festivals, but broke up after appearing at the Newport '69 Pop Festival in June 1969.[27]