The Millenium..Classic or Dud

So, what's the dilly?

ahem, from the liner notes to 'begin': "the millenium was the brainchild of curt boettcher, whose production on the association's 'along comes mary' in 1966 broke new ground in vocal harmony." basically, it's a 60s pop album with lots of tape-edits and tricky electronic experimentation. according to the liner notes, it was the second album to ever be recorded on 16-tracks, and was released in july 1968. i really like it, it sounds like olivia tremor control, only, like, better (and i like otc). very recommended. nice cover art too.

For those not in the know, the Millennium were the brainchild of sixties singer, songwriter and uber-producer Curt Boettcher, who also worked with The Association and Sagittarius. Boettcher was a friend and rival to Brian Wilson, and he also went in for BIG production sounds, complex harmonies etc. The Millennium's only official alb, 'Again', is a cult psych pop classic, though some people do find the sixties hippy-dippy lyrics/singing a bit hard to take. Poptones have brought out an excellent collection of Millennium rarities and demos, as well as a rather patchy Boettcher outtakes set, but best of all is the Sandy Salisbury rec they've compiled (Salisbury was another member of the Millennium).

(listening right now: 'to claudia on thursday' is as glorious as i remember, 'search' it. the opening prelude before it has this harpsichord over a proto-hiphop beat and then it sort of changes up to sound like mark mothersbaugh, but when the actual song starts, wow. great sense of melody. it's so incredibly-structured. although i won't mention my personal attachment to the lyrics.)

:)

Yes, yes, yes. The Millennium's "Begin" is a mostly magnificent thing - I'm not sure studio-bound harmony-rich psych-chamber pop was ever better than here (though I need someone like Nick D to plug the gaps in my late 60s/early 70s Beach Boys knowledge to be certain). Less fond of The Yellow Balloon and Sagittarius comps on Sundazed ("Begin" is the 1990 Sony re-issue; different listing to the Rev-Ola release, anyone?), but they still have blissful moments.

All these albums (Left Banke and Free Design too, for that matter) belong to Pam, btw - she's the expert in our house. But even she must yield to Harvey Williams (steady...) in London-based discussions of the Boy Boettcher.

Saint Etienne used it as their intro music on the Good Humour tour. Best drum sound ever.

Haha, talk about My World Fell Down, lol!

ok, who the hell was "falsename" (doomie?) and how did he know dave the rave was joey stec? so many mysteries on this thread.

the millenium's "begin" record is amazing (and ethan in a curiously unlikely otm moment)

The Rising Storm had a recent post about Sagittarius (incl. two mp3s) which linked to an earlier post about the Millennium (another mp3), in case anyone's curious to hear.

I'd never heard of either group before but I must get both albums now. Based on these songs I actually like Sagittarius a lot more.

"Begin" is great but sadly it seems to hard to track down on CD these days.

Millennium is a lot more rock, Sagittarius more pop. Of those two songs, sure, the latter is better -- "My World Fell Down" is a total classic. I actually kind of enjoy The Blue Marble more than Present Tense.

Personally, my favorite Boettcher is Misty Mirage, which McGee released on Poptones. The tripped out version of "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Baby, It's Real," the Tim Buckley-esque "Astral Cowboy," and all the ad-spots ("Wearing Levi's") just captures everything I love about the guy better than any official record he released, me thinks.

I actually kind of enjoy The Blue Marble more than Present Tense.

rly well I have to get Blue Marble then because Present Tense is so good.

"My World Fell Down" is great but I don't think it towers above the other songs on the album.