Feelings (The Grass Roots album)

Feelings
Studio album by The Grass Roots
Released	February 1968 (1968-02)
Recorded	December 1967
Studio	United Western Recorders, Hollywood California
Genre	Folk rock pop psychedelic pop
Length	33:44
Label	Dunhill
Producer	Steve Barri
The Grass Roots chronology
Let's Live for Today (1967) Feelings (1968) Golden Grass (1968)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Feelings is the third studio album by the American rock band The Grass Roots, released in February 1968 by Dunhill Records. It contained many songs composed by the group's members and studio performances of the musician's instrumentation. The album was intended to take the group into a heavier psychedelic direction with their music.^[2] The A and B side singles released from the album were "Melody For You" b/w "Hey Friend", "Feelings" b/w "Here's Where You Belong", "Who Will You Be Tomorrow" (B-side of "Midnight Confessions"), "Hot Bright Lights" (B-side of "Bella Linda"), "All Good Things Come to an End" (B-side of 1969 issue of "Melody for You") and "You and Love Are the Same" (B-side of "Lovin' Things"). Midway during this run "Midnight Confessions" was released as an A side and became the group's highest charting single.^[3]

Songs

The songs featured unique touches by arranger Jimmie Haskell. The songs were a 50/50 split between outside composers and the group. It had intricate orchestration and a great example of what the band members were capable of as musicians and songwriters had the record company continued to allow them creative freedom. The title song was created back in 1966 in the pre Grass Roots garage group named the 13th Floor. Fukomoto was the main composer and Entner & Coonce helped with the arrangements. The song featured a powerful sustained fuzz guitar and Eastern influences giving it a heavy 1968 psychedelic flavor.

This theme was continued with other group composed songs. "Who Will You Be Tomorrow" contained references to George Harrison and other pop culture themes, "Hot Bright Lights" reflected the group's stage life. It featured an extended fuzzy lead guitar performance by Bratton moving seamlessly into the songs "Hey Friend" and "You And Love Are The Same" written by Entner & Grill. The contributions by outside composers were a bit lighter but still psychedelic, helping to balance the total experience of the album.

However, Dunhill Records executives became dismayed by the inability of the single releases to chart at their time of release. They decided that since "Midnight Confessions" performed so well in the charts, they would issue the first greatest hits album Golden Grass which included the high charting song. They then decided to take the group output into a new direction with a strong use of horns and wind instruments. A new soulful direction surfaced on their next regular album titled Lovin' Things. This strategy proved wise as the group continued to move forward with multiple hit records until 1973.^[3]

Artwork, packaging

Feelings was originally released in February 1968 on the ABC Dunhill label in both mono and stereo. It was one of the label's last albums mixed in mono and one of the last commercially available mono albums and today copies are very scarce. The front cover was designed by Philip Schwartz.

Track listing

All songs produced by Steve Barri.^[3]

Personnel

The Grass Roots

• Rob Grill – vocals, bass, composer
• Warren Entner – guitar, vocals, composer
• Creed Bratton – lead guitar, vocals, composer
• Rick Coonce – drums, percussion, vocals, composer

Additional personnel

• Steve Barri – producer, composer
• Chuck Britz – engineer
• P.F. Sloan – composer
• Jimmie Haskell – arrangements, keyboard instruments
• Larry Knechtel – keyboard instruments

References