Can-Con 45 Of The Day - January 7

[radiofan]

Today's Can-Con 45 is from 1969 ... An early hit for The 5 Man Electrical Band ... "Sunrise To Sunset" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be5hlHpv6iI

[Richard Skelly]

Early Beach Boys producer Nick Venet was a bigwig in Capitol Records artists-and-repertoire division when The Staccatos started work on a new album in 1969. Venet opined that their name was a tad dated. He remarked that one of the many songs written by guitarist and co-vocalist Les Emmerson was a vast improvement. The tune's name was Five Man Electrical Band and it became the lead-off track on what became an eponymously titled album.

Sunrise To Sunset, written and sung by drummer Mike Bell, was a stand alone single that, oddly, didn't appear on the album.

[Neumann Sennheiser]

Sunrise To Sunset, written and sung by drummer Mike Bell..

I’m always reminded of the old rock musician’s joke:
“What does a drummer say just before the band fires him”?
“Hey, guys. I wrote some songs”.

The drummer here wrote a good one though.

[Richard Skelly]

Turns out Mike Bell was the second drummer (as well as co-lead vocalist) in both the latter Staccatos and Five Man Electrical Band. His brother, Rick, was the first drummer. Their actual surname is Belanger.

A correction: Although Nick Venet disdained the Staccatos moniker, it was bassist Brian Rading who seized upon Les Emmerson's song Five Man Electrical Band as the perfect replacement. Rading passed away two years ago.