July 3, 2013

Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis [1969]


It is hard to believe due to the quality on display here, but Wendy & Bonnie were 17 and 13 respectively when they released this album. Gary McFarland, who was primarily known for arranging jazz, produced this entire album and enlisted various musicians from L.A. to help out. Genesis features invaluable contributions from Mike Lang and Mike Melvoin on the keyboards, Larry Carlton on guitar, Randy Cierly on bass and kalimba, and Jim Keltner on the drums. In short, it can be described as a psychedelic pop album with some slight influences from Brazilian music that was also being released at the time. One thing that stands out in the initial listens, besides the fact that the sisters' voices are drop-dead gorgeous, is definitely the guitar playing. Carlton and Bonnie really do a great job throughout the album - a great example of this being the second half of “You Keep Hanging Up on My Mind”. The guitar playing on this album, whether it is done by Carlton or Bonnie, is mostly very clean, with the occasional appearance of an electric solo.