It's a Beautiful Day is the debut album by San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. This album's song "White Bird" was the band's biggest hit. The album rose to number 47 on Billboard's Top LPs American albums chart.[3]
| It's a Beautiful Day | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1968–1969 | |||
| Studio | CBS Studios (Los Angeles) | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock | |||
| Length | 40:42 | |||
| Label | Columbia CBS | |||
| Producer | David LaFlamme | |||
| It's a Beautiful Day chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from It's a Beautiful Day | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Rolling Stone | (negative) [2] |
The cover
editThe cover, designed by George Hunter and painted by Kent Hollister, was based on the 1912 painting Woman on the Top of a Mountain by Charles Courtney Curran. The design used an old version of the Columbia Records logo because George Hunter believed it fit better with the feel of the rest of the cover.[4][5] The album cover is number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest album covers.
Album content
editThe group's signature song "White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. For a few weeks in December 1967 the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at a Seattle venue originally known as The Encore Ballroom. The band's manager, Matthew Katz, had recently assumed control over the club and renamed it "San Francisco Sound". In an ironic twist on the band's name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. In a later interview David LaFlamme said:
Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.[6]
A substantial part of the theme and arrangement of the song "Bombay Calling" was used by Deep Purple as the basis for their song "Child in Time".[7]
Critical reception
editLindsay Planer at AllMusic, gave the album four stars out of five, writing:
It's a Beautiful Day were no less memorable for their unique progressive rock style that contrasted well with the Bay Area psychedelic scene...It's a Beautiful Day remains as a timepiece and evidence of how sophisticated rock & roll had become in the fertile environs of the San Francisco music scene.[1]
In popular culture
editThe song "White Bird" is used in three episodes of the 1980s television series Knight Rider. It is the theme song for the relationship between main character Michael Knight and his one true love, and appears in the episodes "White Bird" in season 1, "Let It Be Me" in season 2 and "The Scent of Roses" in season 4. The song was also featured in the 2015 movie Focus with Will Smith. The album cover is used in Naoki Urasawa's 2018 one-shot manga "It's a Beautiful Day".
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "White Bird" | David & Linda LaFlamme | 6:06 |
| 2. | "Hot Summer Day" | D. & L. LaFlamme | 5:46 |
| 3. | "Wasted Union Blues" | D. LaFlamme | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Girl With No Eyes" | D. & L. LaFlamme | 3:49 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Bombay Calling" | Vince Wallace & D. LaFlamme | 4:25 |
| 6. | "Bulgaria" | D. LaFlamme | 6:10 |
| 7. | "Time Is" | D. LaFlamme | 9:42 |
Personnel
editIt's A Beautiful Day
edit- David LaFlamme – lead vocals, violin
- Linda LaFlamme – organ, piano, electric piano, celeste, harpsichord
- Hal Wagenet – guitar
- Mitchell Holman – bass
- Val Fuentes – drums
- Pattie Santos – vocals, tambourine, bells, block, gourd
Additional musician
edit- Bruce Steinberg – harmonica (track 2)
Production
edit- David LaFlamme – producer
- Brian Ross-Myring – engineer
- Col. John Walker, U.S.M.C. (Ret.) – manager
- Globe Propaganda – cover art
- Bruce Steinberg – photography
Chart performance
editAlbum
edit| Chart | Year | Peak position |
Total weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 1969 | 47[8] | 70 |
| UK Official Charts | 1970 | 58[9] | 1 |
| CAN RPM Charts | 1969 | 72[10] | 1 |
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[11] | Gold | 500,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
edit- ^ a b AllMusic review
- ^ Bangs, Lester (26 July 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone. No. 38. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. p. 37.
- ^ "Artist Search for "its a beautiful day"". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ Thorgerson, Storm; Powell, Aubrey (1999). 100 Best Album Covers. Dorling Kindersley. p. 84. ISBN 0-7513-0706-8.
- ^ "Fitness at Home". homeliving.blogspot.co.uk. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ "It's A Beautiful Day". pnwbands.com. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
- ^ Deep Purple Appreciation Society. "Deep Purple. Ian Gillan interview, Mumbai 2002". deep-purple.net. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ "Billboard 200 - It's a Beautiful Day". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ "UK Official Charts - It's a Beautiful Day". Official Charts. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ "RPM Charts - It's a Beautiful Day". Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ "American album certifications – It's a Beautiful Day – It's a Beautiful Day". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
Further reading
edit- Draper, Jason (2008). A Brief History of Album Covers. London: Flame Tree Publishing. pp. 68–69. ISBN 9781847862112. OCLC 227198538.
External links
edit- "It's A Beautiful Day — It's A Beautiful Day (LP) at Discogs". www.discogs.com. 1969. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- It's a Beautiful Day at MusicBrainz (list of releases)