{"id":22211,"date":"2022-01-18T05:30:11","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T10:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22211"},"modified":"2021-12-17T13:00:43","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T18:00:43","slug":"reviving-the-old-guard-the-palace-guard-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/18\/reviving-the-old-guard-the-palace-guard-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviving the Old Guard: The Palace Guard, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"Far better was the A-side of The Palace Guard\u2019s second single, the moody, minor-key \u201cA Girl You Can Depend On.\u201d The flip side of that single \u2013 released as a promo disc only \u2013 was a credibly soulful cover of Wilson Pickett\u2019s \u201cIf You Need Me.\u201d Moser says that recording sessions were quick affairs. \u201cIn the beginning, it was just all of us going into an 8-track studio somewhere and recording,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At the same time the singles were being recorded and released, The Palace Guard stayed busy with local gigs and their standing engagement at the Hullabaloo. In that role, the group came into close contact with some of the biggest emerging acts of the era, including The Association, The Yardbirds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Hollies and many others. \u201cWe hung with them, we talked to them,\u201d Moser says. \u201cEverybody was very, very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

They even crossed paths with their more famous Hawthorne neighbors. \u201cThe Beach Boys used the Hullabaloo to practice,\u201d Moser recalls, offering his view that their band\u2019s drummer, Dennis Wilson was \u201ca head case.\u201d He says that Dennis had trouble playing the drum part for \u201cGood Vibrations.\u201d They tried it ten, twelve times and then finally gave up,\u201d Moser says. \u201cWe played it in our set, and did it as well \u2013 if not better \u2013 than they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s strict practice regimen made them a tight performing unit. \u201cWe played songs exactly like the records,\u201d Moser says. \u201cNo turnarounds, no extra anything. And we were only allowed to have five seconds between songs.\u201d When one tune ended, after a cursory thank-you from one of the Beaudoin brothers, Rhodes would count in the next song, and off they\u2019d go.<\/p>\n

As Moser writes in his liner notes for the new Omnivore anthology, the band\u2019s management was intent on keeping The Palace Guard local. That lack of exposure meant that wider success was never in the cards. Budding artist Emitt Rhodes wasn\u2019t given an opportunity to sing or write. By 1966, Rhodes had had enough, leaving the group and joining The Merry-Go-Round. His place behind the drum kit was filled by Terry Rae from The Driftones (who subsequently changed their<\/i> name as well, becoming The Yellow Payges).<\/p>\n

Even without Rhodes, the Palace Guard\u2019s third single for Orange-Empire was a solid entry. \u201cFalling Sugar\u201d combines bright, bouncy folk rock style with Brill Building pop and winning vocal harmonies. When Rhino\u2019s Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965\u20131968<\/i> was reissued in 1998 as an expanded 4CD set, \u201cFalling Sugar\u201d was included. The song\u2019s flip side, \u201cOh Blue (The Way I Feel Tonight)\u201d applies an Everly Brothers style to a folk-rock arrangement, but it\u2019s marred by an out-of-tune guitar solo.<\/p>\n

A stomping fuzz-guitar riff is at the center of \u201cSaturday\u2019s Child,\u201d written by David Gates and also recorded \u2013 around the same time \u2013 by The Monkees. Backed by a cover of r&b singer Claudine Clark\u2019s 1962 ditty \u201cParty Lights,\u201d it was released as a single on the Parkway label. Also in 1966, The Palace Guard cut two Don and John Beaudoin originals. The waltzing A-side, \u201cCalliope\u201d featured gimmicky wooden train whistle and was wholly out of step with the rock sounds of \u201866. The flip, \u201cGreed\u201d was much better, a driving garage rock with a stomping rhythm section and deft taps on a gong. Like the previous Parkway single, it sank without a trace in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

The circumstances under which it all took place are murky, but in 1966, a single (\u201cLittle People\u201d backed with \u201cSummertime Game\u201d) was released and credited to Don Grady and The Palace Guard. At the time, Grady\u2019s star was in ascension; he was an actor on the popular TV comedy My Three Sons<\/i>. Initially the session was to feature Grady on lead vocals plus additional vocals by the three Beaudoins and backing singer Mike Conley. The instrumental parts would be cut by session musicians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI was called out of high school by my dad,\u201d Moser recalls. \u201cHe said, \u2018Hey, they need you at Gold Star. Go to the office and check out, and get up there as fast as you can.\u2019\u201d Apparently, arranger Don Ralke didn\u2019t like the bass playing of the session musician, so Moser got the gig.<\/p>\n

The two Grady songs don\u2019t sound a lot like The Palace Guard; Grady\u2019s vocal style is very much in an early \u201860s teen idol crooner mold, sort of a third-rate Rick Nelson. The flip side tune features some ersatz Tijuana Brass styling. In the new CD liner notes, Moser makes the point that while Grady did appear onstage with The Palace Guard on one occasion, he was never a member of the band.<\/p>\n

The Palace Guard\u2019s management did eventually let the group hit the road, but rather than embark upon a tour of major U.S. markets, the band was routed through clubs in Montreal and Toronto, with one gig in New York City. The group auditioned for the Ed Sullivan Show<\/i> but ultimately weren\u2019t chosen to appear; Moser doesn\u2019t know why. The entire experience left the band \u2013 Moser in particular \u2013 disillusioned.<\/p>\n

Threatened with a lawsuit if he quit immediately, the bassist remained with the group long enough to appear on an episode of popular daytime variety TV show Where the Action Is<\/i>. The band folded not long thereafter. Today, Rhodes and two of the Beaudoin brothers have since passed away; the other surviving members haven\u2019t been in touch in years.<\/p>\n

The ten Palace Guard sides (plus the two backing Grady) have been compiled once before, on a 2003 CD release from the Gear Fab label. That compilation featured liner notes including reminiscences from late-period drummer Terry Rae. The Omnivore release features a different track order and much improved, remastered audio by Grammy winner Michael Graves.<\/p>\n

Moser recalls how the Omnivore reissue came about. \u201cI got a call from [producer] Brad Rosenberger. He said, \u2018Hey, I want to put your album together again and maybe do a better job than the last guy did.\u2019 Of course, I said yes,\u201d Moser recalls with a chuckle. \u201cI didn’t realize there was still such a market for music from the ’60s.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Far better was the A-side of The Palace Guard\u2019s second single, the moody, minor-key \u201cA Girl You Can Depend On.\u201d The flip side of that single […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,41,51],"tags":[2807,1622,4739],"class_list":["post-22211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compilation","category-interview","category-pop","tag-emitt-rhodes","tag-omnivore-recordings","tag-palace-guard","cat-19-id","cat-41-id","cat-51-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22219,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22211\/revisions\/22219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}