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| THE GIBSONS-City Life/Night And Day Canada Epic C5-110 1967 |
U.K. quartet The Gibsons "City Life" was first introduced to me back in the mid 90's on the bootleg "Psychedelia" series on Tiny Alice Records ("Psychedelia Volume One: Oil Emulsion Slide" to be exact). It was first issued on the U.K. in August 1967 as Major Minor MM 524. I recently discovered that it received a Canadian release (but not a United States one). The Canadian pressing was issued in 1967, but the exact date/month is unknown.
"City Life" is actually the B-side but since it's far superior I'm going to mention it first. It's a cheery little pop ditty with loads of "la la la's" and West Coast harmonies that's interwoven with city sound affects (honking car horns, explosions, ringing church bells etc) and lyrics about London (presumably) and lines that borrow a bit from the nursery rhyme "Pussy Cat Pussy Cat". The musical backing is solid, and it's the vocals that carry the number.
The REAL stinker is the A-side, it's a mundane reading of Cole Porter's "Night And Day". It starts with this funky groove with organ and gritty guitar that's pretty catchy but then these sub par Ivy League vocals come in and the whole thing goes saccharine sunshine yawn pop in seconds. Pity.
Both tracks were collected on a CD of all their material shared with the harmony Pop group The Cymbaline called "60's UK Harmony Pop Battle Royale". "City Life" is also available via streaming.
Hear "City Life":
Hear "Night And Day":
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