Recorded - November 19, 1964
Released - December 3, 1964
#1 for weeks of February 20 and 27, 1965.
Looking back through the 1960's, it's easy to make an assumption that bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys were boy bands who played strictly for a female audience. In actuality, that's far from the truth as both bands were more artistic in their craft. Gary Lewis & The Playboys, on the other hand, can easily be pigeonholed into the teeny bopper category. Here was a group who were very clean cut with very innocent lyrics, perfect for Mom and Dad to take their daughters to go see. While most of their material is a bit too sugary for my taste, I do admit that their first single, "This Diamond Ring" is rather good.
Front man and lead singer Gary Lewis, son of famous comedian Jerry Lewis, was actually the group's drummer. Unfortunately, "This Diamond Ring" is entirely played by session musicians so we don't get to hear him on his own instrument. Although these session musicians, including Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye on Bass, and Leon Russell on piano, are certainly among the most noteworthy of Los Angeles' top session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew". Another bummer is that this song wasn't even written by Gary Lewis, and instead was co-written by several composers including Al Kooper.
"This Diamond Ring" is certainly an interesting sounding track as it is almost two different songs mixed into one. The first 20 seconds of the song which contain the intro and first verse sounds downright awesome. Seriously, if they had built the rest of the song upon this minor keyed, reverb-heavy slice of rock, I'd have ranked this as one of the best songs of 1965. However, the choruses of the song are much more happy and cheerful sounding, even a bit Beatle-esque at times. Naturally, that's not a bad sound at all, it's just a bit of a mood whiplash after those amazing first 20 seconds.
Despite Gary Lewis & The Playboys ostentatiously being more of a ladies band, lyrically, the song is actually quite relatable to both genders. It's about a man who presumably just went through a divorce or perhaps a broken engagement. He's asking "Who will take her place". In a world where the divorce rate seems to get larger every day, there's quite a few people who can relate.
Gary Lewis & The Playboys would continue to have top 10 success throughout 1965 and 1966. Then, in January 1967, Gary was drafted for a year's worth of duty in the Army. Upon his return in 1968, the pop scene has completely changed. The band mostly struggled to stay afloat in these more culturally progressive times and eventually called it quits in 1970.
Final Verdict - A surprisingly well-crafted pop-rock song that Gary Lewis gives his best vocal performance on. If this song was completely constructed like its verses are, I'd give this song a very spirited thumbs up. Even then, I'd still recommend giving this song a listen or two, or three...
Coming Up Next - "My Girl" by The Temptations.
Until Next Time - This Dr. Rock still shines for you-u-u -
No comments:
Post a Comment