The American Dream - Emitt Rhodes (1970)

 


The American Dream was an album that Emitt Rhodes recorded for A&M Records in the late sixties after his amazing psychedelic pop band The Merry-Go-Round broke up and he still owed them a record. Had they released it, it might very well have been released under the name The Merry-Go-Round, but in fact it is a solo album, self-produced by Rhodes and recorded with The Wrecking Crew.

A&M sat on the record for a couple of years, releasing it only when Rhodes was releasing another album: his official debut, Emitt Rhodes.

Emitt Rhodes is a bit of a cult figure: a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Hawthorne California (I swear there is something in the water there!), he recorded a few albums in a relatively short time, didn't sell anything and then decided to stuff the record industry  and became an engineer for his own studio in Hawthorne.  But the flame was kept burning by various retro-minded groups and musicians over the year, notably The Bangles who covered one of his songs on their debut album and Linda Rondstadt who did the same song back in 1971.

In recent decades he's become a bit better-known thanks to the inclusion of some of his songs in some Wes Anderson movies. 

The American Dream is a gorgeous album one of the best of an amazing year, 1970 (though it was recorded earlier)...I want to say it's "in the McCartney vein", but in fact, it pre-dates McCartney, and , frankly, I think it's better than anything McCartney has done solo, though it may lack a bit of McCartney's arty risk-taking, arrangement-wise.

Be that as it may  "McCartney-esque" is probably a good way to describe the music to someone who hasn't heard it: there's a definitely sixties pop/rock thing going on and the songs have a sweet, and rather peppy feel to them that makes you feel good. It's good spring-time music: youthful, alive, tuneful and free, but shot through with darker hints of autumnal melancholy, on songs like "Someone Died" and "You're a Very Lovely Woman"(which was actually originally a Merry-Go-Round song rereleased on this album in later issues -- not the first one.)

 There's a slight psychedelic pop/baroque thing going through this album, too. It's fantastic.

It's criminal that people like Emitt Rhodes, who is actually one of the great songwriters of the late sixties and early seventies fall through the cracks and never really make it. This album is really great and really deserved to be be famous. and Emitt Rhodes deserved to be more htan a footnote in pop culture.

 I'm glad he got some recognition thanks to Wes Anderson before he died a few years back. 

5/5

Herés "You're A Very Lovely Woman":


Spotify Link: note the link is to a release that collects all his solo recordings. The first 12 songs or so are the proper The American Dream album.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6r4mUQIagaCmJjrOBW3SIB?si=TDA5etzMR7KVXKJ-J8ByrA



Coming Up:

All This Useless Beauty - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The American Dream

American Idiot - Green Day

Amnesiac Radiohead

Another Life - Another Life

B

The B-52s

Bachelor No. 2 (Or, The Last Remains of the Dodo) - Aimee Mann

The Ballad of Easy Rider - The Byrds

Bambu - Dennis Wilson

Band on the Run

Bangles EP

The Basement Tapes - Bob Dylan & The Band

BARB

The BBC Sessions -- Belle & Sebastian

The Beatles [The White Album] 

Beatles For Sale 

Beauty and Sadness -- TheSmithereens

Beauty and the Beat -- The Go-Go's

Become What YOu Are - The Juliana Hatfield 3

Before & After - Tim Finn

Beggar's Banquet. The Rolling Stones

Begin Here - The Zombies

Being There - Wilco

The Bends -- Radiohead

Berlin - Lou Reed

The Best of Badfinger

The Best of Dark Horse - 1976-1989 - George Harrison

The Best of Sam Cooke

Best Shots - Pat Benatar

Betchadupa

Between The Buttons - Rolling Stones

Big Canoe - Tim Finn

the Big Express - XTC

Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi - Camera Obscura

Billy Idol

A Bit of Previous - Belle & Sebastian

The Black Album - Prince

Black Gold - Nina Simone

Black List - Alex Chilton

Black Market Clash - The Clash 

Black Sea - XTC

Black Snake Diamond Role -- Robyn Hitchcock

Black Spring - Lush

Black-Eyed Man - Cowboy Junkies

Blind Man's Zoo - 10000 Maniacs 

Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan

Blondie

Blood And Chocolate - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

Blue Kentucky Girl -- Emmylou Harris

Boats Against the Current -- Eric Carmen

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan In Concert: Brandeis University 1963

Book - They Might Be Giants

Bookends -- Simon and Garfunkel

Booker T & The M.G.'s

The Bootleg Series 1-3 Bob Dylan

Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Born toDie - Lana Del Rey

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Bossanova - The Pixies

The Both

Boy - U2

The Boy with the Arab Strap - Belle & Sebastian

Boys Don't Cry - TheCure

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan

Brutal Youth - Elvis Costello

Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

Buena Vista Social Club

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buoys - Panda Bear

Byrdmaniax - The Byrds

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