The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi there

I'm really interested in the particular music from the latter part of the 60s / early 70s that collectors later on have christened Sunshine Pop, Soft pop etc. You know, stuff like the Yellow Balloon, Saggittarius, Millennium, the Association, Mark Eric, Harper's Bizarre etc. When you really start dipping your toes into this area it seems there's no end to the number of artists, many being obscure,  that in some form of another channel their inspiration from Brian & the boys into sunkissed harmonies and adventurous production.

My question is if anyone here knows of a good book devoted to this type of music? So far I've only managed to find a little bit of info here and there. There's quite a bit in Domenic Priore's Riot on Sunset Strip and his & Brian Chidester's Pop Surf Culture & Dumb Angel Gazette as well as some stuff in Barney Hoskyn's Waiting for the Sun - but I've yet to find a book dealing with this type of music in great detail. I've heard rumours about a Japanese book, which wouldn't surprise me since there seem to be many hardcore Sunshine & Soft Pop collectors in Japan.

So; does anyone here know a book on the subject or at least a book that touches upon it like the ones mentioned above? It really seems like a subject for an interesting read. Heck, there are books about doo wop, garare rock, funk, disco etc. - why not one on Sunshine pop?

hi kwan_dk,

This is the only book vaguely related to the subject that I could find (in French!). Not sure if it's still available...

http://www.adlivre.com/cahiersdurock/pages/livres/bubblegum.htm (http://www.adlivre.com/cahiersdurock/pages/livres/bubblegum.htm)

I'd highly recommend Kingsley Abbott's '500 Lost Gems of the Sixties'. A high proportion of the gems in question most definitely fall into the sunshine pop category.  This book drew my attention to a good spread of previously unfamiliar names and resulted in my spending several happy hours downloading new gems from YouTube onto my iPod.

Man, I have that book! Don't know why I didn't think about mentioning that one in my posts. You're right. It's great and there are a lot of good references to sunshine pop & soft pop. Will have to flip through it again.

John, thank you for the heads-up on the French book. I had never heard about that one before and it certainly looks very interesting. Sadly, I don't understand French so it's no good for me. What a shame that it's not available in English. The author sure seems to have done a lot of interesting interviews with key players...

Thanks for the tip. Just ordered it.