The David started in 1965 when lead singer and vocalist Warren Hansen got together with bassist Chuck Spieth, drummer Tim Harrison, and rhythm guitarist Mike Butte. Once they added lead guitarist Mark Bird, they got bookings in the Los Angeles area as "The Reasons."
In 1966, while attending a gig at the Santa Monica Auditorium, the band met an enthusiastic young man named Steven Vail who convinced them to let him manage them. Vail redubbed them "The David" to be unique and memorable to a young listening audience. Within months, Steven Vail landed the group a recording contract with 20th Century-Fox Records.
In October 1966, The David went into the recording studio for the first time with 20th Century-Fox producer Jackie Mills. They recorded "Bus Token" (sometimes called "Bus Token Fare"), "Foolish Man," and what would become their first A-side, "Forty Miles." The single was released in December 1966 (backed with "Bus Token").
The group went out to promote it in their clean-cut white corduroy suits and neatly-trimmed long hair. 20th Century-Fox involved them in a nationwide promotional contest where the grand prize was a trip to Los Angeles, a studio tour, and a date with The David. "Forty Miles" received heavy airplay on the West Coast and went to #19 on Bakersfield, CA's top 40 outlet, KIFM.In November, for their second 20th Century-Fox session, they recorded "Out Of My Mind" and "People Saying, People Seeing," but it took more than six months, til June 1967, for 20th Century-Fox to release "People Saying, People Seeing" b/w "Forty Miles."
The group then went through changes. They parted ways with 20th Century Fox, rhythm guitarist Mike Butte left the band, while Steve Vail formed The Vance Music Company, whose first signing was The David. Plans were madefor an album with big production. String arranger extraordinaire Gene Page (who was all over the & many disco hits of the 70s) brought to Sound Recorders in Hollywood a full panoply of horns, strings, sitar, and additional vocals for the sessions that began on November 20,1967.
The sessions later switched to American Recording Co. in Studio City, CA with Richard Podolor as the engineer. Capping Steven Vail's conglomeration and masterpiece of a production was the cover stunningly designed by painter Alan Maynard. When VMC issued the album at the tail end of 1967, the label picked "I'm Not Alone" as the first single, which was issued in a fancy picture sleeve TV beach performance: featuring a photograph by close friend of the band, Chris Georgesco.
But radio station program directors had other ideas, especially on the East Coast where "Another Day, Another Lifetime/I Would Like To Know," "Sweet December" and "Time M" got most of the airplay. "Time M" is an obvious example of the theme of time that runs throughout the album, but the song's title is itself a mystery lost in time. The song was originally just called "Time" but when it got on the session take sheet it had become "Time M," though no one knows why.
"Mirrors Of Wood" features Warren playing an instrument of his own design called a plasmatar, a six-foot long wooden frame strung with piano wire and played with a bottleneck to give the vibrant rasp heard on the song. All the songs were written by Warren Hansen, except for "(Mister) You're A Better Man Than I," which Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann wrote for The Yardbirds.
The David recorded it in March, 1968, at T.T.G. Studios in Hollywood along with "I Don't Care," featuring the combined vocals of Mark Bird and Chuck Spieth. Tom Moulton found the two T.T.G.- recorded songs on the original 8-track session tapes during the remixing of the CD. Used by the group to warm up, "(Mister) You're A Better Man Than I" was never intended for release and never had vocals put down on it, but anyone familiar with The Yardbirds' version can tell how skillfully The David do it.
The group's promotional efforts included an appearance at the annual Miss Teen Screen Magazine pageant at the Hollywood Palladium. They were also a Gramophone To Groovy, a tv documentary on rock and roll. The group continued on after the album's release, eventually drifting apart in the »early 1970s. Warren Hansen started college at UCLA and then moved away to start an environmental consulting firm.
Tim Harrison went up to Alaska to work on the oil pipeline but moved back to manage properties in the Los Angeles area (when not surfing). Mike Butte continued to live in the Pacific Palisades area and became a finishing carpenter. Chuck Spieth died from smoke inhalation in an accidental house fire in Oregon in the early 70s. While psychedelic in nature, the album does not pinpoint exactly whom The David sound like because theycreated a sound all their own.
They could have been the next big thing if only top 40 radio by late 1967 had not started sticking to the sound they knew, afraid to try something new. Looking back, the album should have sold a lot better than it did. Thirty years later, The David continue to garner fans in the psychedelic/garage band underground. The time has come for The David to get the recognition they truly deserve. It is long overdue.
Steve Kolanjian
Tracks
1. Another Day, Another Lifetime I Would Like To Know - 5:53
2. I'm Not Alone - 1:50
3. Sweet December - 3:06
4. Tell Me More - 2:25
5. Now To You - 2:50
6. Professor Crawford - 2:41
7. Time M - 3:49
8. So Much More - 2:17
9. Mirrors Of Wood - 3:24
10.Of Our Other Days - 2:08
11.I Don't Care (Unissued) - 2:12
12.Mister, You're a Better Man Than I (Unissued) - 2:52
The David
*Warren Hansen - Organ, Vocals
*Mark Bird - Guitar
*Chuck Spieth - Bass
*Tim Harrison - Drums
[ Rip and Scans by MARIOS ]
originally published in PHROCK at Friday, November 06, 2009
CODE: 50475
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