It's a Beautiful Day (album)

It's a Beautiful Day
Studio album by It's a Beautiful Day
Released 1969
Genre Psychedelic rock
Length 40:42
Label Columbia
CBS
San Francisco Sound
Producer Matthew Katz, David LaFlamme
It's a Beautiful Day chronology
It's a Beautiful Day
(1969)		 Marrying Maiden
(1970)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone(negative) [2]

It's a Beautiful Day is the self-titled debut album by San Francisco psychedelic band It's a Beautiful Day. This album's song "White Bird" was the band's biggest hit. The album rose to #47 on Billboard's Top LPs American albums chart.[3]

The cover

The cover was designed by George Hunter and painted by Kent Hollister based on the cover of a housekeeping magazine from around 1900.[4] The cover used an old version of the Columbia logo that George Hunter felt fit with the feel of the rest of the cover.[4] The album cover is number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest album covers.

A 1972 reissue of the album in The Netherlands on CBS used a modern painting of a beach scene as the front and back cover.

Album content

The group's signature song "White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. For a few weeks in December 1967 the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at a Seattle venue originally known as The Encore Ballroom. The band's manager Matthew Katz had recently assumed control over the club and renamed it "San Francisco Sound". In an ironic twist on the band's name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. In a later interview David LaFlamme said:

Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.[5]

A substantial part of the theme and arrangement of the song "Bombay Calling" was used by Deep Purple as the basis for their song "Child in Time".[6]

The song "White Bird" is used in three episodes of the 1980s television series Knight Rider. It is the theme song for the relationship between main character Michael Knight and his one true love, and appears in the episodes "White Bird" in season 1, "Let It Be Me" in season 2 and " The Scent of Roses" in season 4. The song was also featured in the 2015 movie Focus with Will Smith.

Track listing

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "White Bird"  David LaFlamme, Linda LaFlamme 6:06
2. "Hot Summer Day"  David and Linda LaFlamme 5:46
3. "Wasted Union Blues"  David LaFlamme 4:00
4. "Girl with No Eyes"  David and Linda LaFlamme 3:49
Side two
No. Title... Length
5. "Bombay Calling"  Vince Wallace and David LaFlamme 4:25
6. "Bulgaria"  David LaFlamme 6:10
7. "Time Is"  David LaFlamme 9:42

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Bangs, Lester (26 July 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. (38): 37.
  3. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/its-a-beautiful-day-mn0000109012/awards
  4. 1 2 Thorgerson, Storm; Powell ,Aubrey (1999). 100 Best Album Covers. Dorling Kindersley. p. 84. ISBN 0-7513-0706-8.
  5. ↑ "It's A Beautiful Day". pnwbands.com. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
  6. ↑ Ian Gillan interview
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