Evergreen, Volume 2

Evergreen, Volume 2
Studio album by The Stone Poneys
Released June 1967
Recorded Spring 1967
Genre Folk rock
Length 32:51
Label Capitol
Producer Nik Venet
The Stone Poneys chronology
The Stone Poneys
(1967)		 Evergreen, Volume 2
(1967)		 Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys & Friends, Vol. III
(1968)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Evergreen, Volume 2 is the second album from the Stone Poneys, released five months after The Stone Poneys. The volume number is a reference to this being the band's second album. This was the most successful of any Stone Poneys album.

Release data

The album was released in the LP format on Capitol in June 1967 in both monaural and stereophonic editions (catalogue numbers T 2763 and ST 2763, respectively), and subsequently, on 8-track tape and cassette (the latter being catalogue number C4-80129). In 1995, Capitol reissued the album on CD (catalogue number CDP-80129)

In 2008 – more than 40 years after this album was released – Raven issued a 27-track "two-fer" CD featuring all tracks from this album and also the band's first album (under its 1975 reissue name), The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt, plus four tracks from their third album, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III.

Notes on the tracks

Unlike the first album, Linda Ronstadt was the lead vocalist on almost all songs, with only occasional harmony vocals. The exception is the title song, "Evergreen" (which was also the flip side of the first single from the album); Kenny Edwards sang lead on "Part One", while "Part Two" is an instrumental. Both parts have a psychedelic rock feel and feature fine sitar playing (also by Edwards).

The album is notable for the appearance of the band's biggest hit song, "Different Drum", which was a #12 hit; the song was written by Mike Nesmith prior to his joining the Monkees. As Edwards recalled, the band based their original performance of the song on the version by the Greenbriar Boys that appeared on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!: "We cut a version very much like that, with mandolin, kind of a jug bandy, bluegrass-lite version."[2] Record producer Nik Venet apparently sensed that the song could become a hit and had it re-recorded with other musicians. However, the song did not chart until November 1967 – after the band's four-month tour to support the album – and Edwards had already left Stone Poneys by then.

The first single from the album, "One for One" did not chart. The song was co-written by Austin DeLone, later a member of the seminal country rock band Eggs Over Easy, which is credited with launching the pub rock movement in British music.[3]

Five of the songs were co-written by bandmembers Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards; unlike the first album though, Ronstadt was the lead singer on all of them. Also, Kimmel co-wrote "New Hard Times" – having the unusual theme of examining the downside of Sixties affluence – with Mayne Smith, a member of the Bay Area's first bluegrass band, the Redwood Canyon Ramblers.[4]

Many of the other songwriters – such as Steve Gillette and Pam Polland – like the Stone Poneys themselves, were struggling singer/songwriters in the Los Angeles folk scene; the same is true of Tom Campbell and Linda Albertano, whose songs appear on other Stone Poneys albums.

Steve Gillette contributed "Song about the Rain" and "Back on the Street Again"; Gillette sung harmony vocals with Ronstadt on the latter song. Sunshine Company had their biggest hit with "Back on the Street Again" (reaching #36 on the Billboard singles chart), and Gillette included the song on his own debut eponymous album;[5] both versions were released in 1967. More than 30 years later, the West Coast bluegrass band Laurel Canyon Ramblers (led by Herb Pederson) included the song as the title cut on their third CD in 1998.[6]

"December Dream" - the album's opening track - was written by John Braheny who had a brief career as a singer-songwriter before moving on to other aspects of the music business. Fred Neil recorded the song in the same general time period, although it was unreleased until the 1998 double-CD compilation album The Many Sides of Fred Neil.[7] Braheny also included it on his own eccentric 1970 LP, Some Kind of Change.[8]

Track listing

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "December Dream"  John Braheny 3:30
2. "Song About the Rain"  Steve Gillette 2:40
3. "Autumn Afternoon"  Ken Edwards/Bobby Kimmel 2:35
4. "I've Got to Know"  Pamela Polland 2:38
5. "Evergreen (Part One)"  Edwards/Kimmel 3:10
6. "Evergreen (Part Two)" (instrumental)Edwards/Kimmel 3:33
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Different Drum"  Mike Nesmith 2:45
2. "Driftin'"  Edwards/Kimmel 2:30
3. "One for One"  Al Silverman/Austin DeLone 2:50
4. "Back on the Street Again"  Steve Gillette 1:50
5. "Toys in Time"  Edwards/Kimmel 1:50
6. "New Hard Times"  Mayne Smith/Kimmel 3:00

Personnel[9]

Band members

Other musicians

Other credits

References

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Review of Evergreen, Vol. 2 at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  2. ↑ Online excerpt, Richie Unterberger, Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock, 2003: Backbeat Books, ISBN 978-0-87930-743-1. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  3. ↑ Thompson, Dave. Biography of Eggs Over Easy at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  4. ↑ Redwood Canyon Ramblers. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  5. ↑ Roach, Pemberton. Review of Steve Gillette by Steve Gillette at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  6. ↑ Pendragon, Jana. Review of Back on the Street Again by Laurel Canyon Ramblers at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  7. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Review of The Many Sides of Fred Neil by Fred Neil at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  8. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. Review of Some Kind of Change by John Braheny at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  9. ↑ Credits for Evergreen, Vol. 2 at AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
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