Audio CD review:
The Lemon Pipers - The Best of the Lemon Pipers: Green Tambourine

The Lemon Pipers - The Best of the Lemon Pipers: Green Tambourine

Band: The Lemon Pipers Title: The Best of the Lemon Pipers: Green Tambourine Rating: Release Date: 03 April, 2001 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Green Tambourine 2: Rice Is Nice 3: Shoeshine Boy 4: Rainbow Tree 5: Blueberry Blue 6: The Shoemaker Of Leatherwear Square 7: Jelly Jungle (Of Orange Marmalade) 8: Everything Is You 9: Love Beads And Meditation 10: Catch Me Falling 11: I Was Not Born To Follow 12: Wine And Violet 13: Dead End Street/Half Light

Customer Reviews Psychedelic Bubblegum Was Buddah's Least Successful This was in 1968/69, and by this time the industry had started to breed the "progressive" faction of artists and critics. The Buddah stable of artists was easily the most successful purveyor of the 1960's phenomenon known as "bubblegum" - that heavy, repetitive bass beat combined with simplistic - and, yes, at times moronic - lyrics. It wasn't long before they took dead aim at anything and everything enjoying huge commercial success. And make no mistake, groups like The Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co. , The Archies, The Monkees and, to a lesser degree The Lemon Pipers, were enjoying huge success. Wallowing in self-righteous indignation, the "progressive" set lashed out blindly at such groups, all the time failing to heed some sage advice on the ills of jealousy and envy. Such as that of Henry Fielding who wrote, way back in 1742, "Some folks rail against other folks, because other folks have what some folks would be glad of. " Let's face it. You'll find a lot more 55+ people walking around today recognizing and whistling or humming along to Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, Simon Says, or Green Tambourine than anything ever done by The Velvet Underground or Psychedelic Furs! In terms of hit singles, this group consisting of Ivan Browne on vocals and guitar, Bill Bartlett on guitar, R. G. Nave on organ, Steve Walmsley on bass and drummer Bill Albaugh, pulled up the rear at Buddah with just three Billboard Pop 100 single hits, compared to seven each for the 1910 Fruitgum Co. and Ohio Express [not counting their two Cameo hits]. But they were the only ones with a # 1 to their credit, as Green Tambourine reached that pinnacle early in 1968 b/w No Help From Me. Nothing else, however, even came close, as Rice Is Nice peaked at # 46 in March 1968 b/w Blueberry Blue, and Jelly Jingle (Of Orange Marmalade) topped out at # 51 in May b/w Shoeshine Boy. All those tracks are in this set, but for some reason the producers opted to leave off No Help From Me, and for that reason this collector had to deduct one star. . My inspiration Along with being the top frontman on vocals on the Gretna scene, I also played an off the charts triangle. I'm a big lemon pipers fan for one giant reason, their triangle player was the gold standard as far as triangling went. I played triangle in a speed metal cover band called Rotweilers Buttcrack. We played covers of Pantera and Gorky Park songs and just tore the roof off of club after club. I didn't front this band as I really had to concentrate on making the triangle howl. I would play it on my back, doing cartwheels, on my head and just straight headbanging triangle. There was a solo I played on one of our original songs called, "The trip to hell on the triangle of doom" where I was so on that three girls in the front row fainted at the sheer force of what I was doing. Unfortunately I got all caught up in the scene like most triangle players do and I was pulling all nighters at waffle house. I was ordering hash browns with all of the fixings and pouring chocolate milk on them. Yes, it was messed up and I'm having a hard time holding together even as I type. I've got my life turned around now and play the triangle like it was meant to be played, for the fans and not myself. This band got me hooked on the greatest instrument though and for that I thank them. 3 Degrees of Separation... The group Steam, who sang "Na Na, Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" held in its membership one Paul Leka, who was part of The Lemon Pipers. Rather than offering a critique of the album, I'd like to point out some interesting connections to this band: 1. 2. The group The Peppermint Rainbow, who sang "Will You Be Staying After Sunday" and "Don't Wake Me Up in the Morning, Michael", also includes Paul Leka. And they even included a near-identical cover of "Green Tambourine" on their album. So, if you want to get a really interesting snapshot of the evolution (or perhaps lack thereof, should you decide such) of a group of musicians, listen to the recordings of all three groups. . You can see a complete list of all The Lemon Pipers discography, or go back to the The Lemon Pipers tabs