''Earth Music'' is the second studio album by the American rock band

the Youngbloods The Youngbloods was an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite receiv ...

, released in 1967. The album did not succeed, failing to chart. Similar to their first album, the songs were a mix of originals and covers, ballads and rockers. Jesse Colin Young wrote three of the songs alone, the ballad "All My Dreams Blue", the hard rocking "Long and Tall", and the humorous "The Wine Song". Jerry Corbitt contributed the ballad "Don't Play Games" which features a string section, and co-wrote "Dreamer's Dream" with Banana. "Fool Me", written by Banana, is a bass-heavy song more similar to "

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

" of the middle 1960s than the folkier material normally associated with the Youngbloods.

Cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...

on the album include "Euphoria", a song originally done by the

Holy Modal Rounders The Holy Modal Rounders was an American folk music group, originally the duo of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, who formed in 1963 on the Lower East Side of New York City. Although they achieved only limited commercial and critical success in th ...

and written by George "Robin" Remailly (who later became a member of the Rounders). Other covers included two fifties classics,

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

's "

Too Much Monkey Business "Too Much Monkey Business" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry, released by Chess Records in September 1956 as his fifth single. It was also released as the third track on his first solo LP, '' After School Session'', in May 1957; and a ...

" and

Chuck Willis Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1926 – April 10, 1958) was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, " C. C. Rider" (1957) and " What Am I Living For" (1958), both reached No.1 on the '' ...

's "I Can Tell".

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

's " Reason to Believe " was one of the earliest cover versions of the popular ballad. "Sugar Babe," erroneously credited to Young/ Lomax, is a folk song about gambling and drinking that had been printed in American Ballads and Folk Songs, by John A. Lomax and his son

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

, published in 1934. In a note below "Sugar Babe," the Lomaxes state: "words and melody reprinted from the second volume of English Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians, collected by

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...

, edited by

Maud Karpeles Maud Karpeles OBE, (12 November 1885 – 1 October 1976) was a British collector of folksongs and dance teacher. Early life and education Maud Pauline Karpeles was born at Lancaster Gate in Bayswater, London, in 1885. She was the third of fiv ...

." That book was published in 1932.

Legacy

In a retrospective review for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Lindsay Planer calls the album "a blend of captivating songwriting with an infectiously fun delivery" and feels that there are "a handful of equally definitive sides scattered throughout Earth Music."

Track listing

Side one

# "Euphoria" (George Remailly) – 2:15 (vocals by Jerry with Jesse) # "All My Dreams Blue" (Jesse Colin Young) – 3:17 (vocals by Jesse with Jerry and Banana) # " Monkey Business" (

) – 2:49 (vocals by Banana) # "Dreamer's Dream" ( Jerry Corbitt, Lowell Levinger) – 3:35 (vocals by Jerry and Jesse with Banana) # "Sugar Babe" (Young, Lomax) – 2:08 (vocals by Jesse with Jerry) # "Long and Tall" (Young) 4:05 (vocals by Jesse)

Side two

"I Can Tell" (

) – 4:29 (vocals by Jesse) # "Don't Play Games" (Corbitt) – 2:12 (vocals by Jerry with Jesse) # "The Wine Song" (Young) – 2:24 (vocals by Jesse with Jerry and Banana) # "Fool Me" (Levinger) – 2:57 (vocals by Banana with Jesse) # "

Reason to Believe "Reason to Believe" is a song written, composed, and first recorded by American Folk music, folk singer Tim Hardin in 1965. It has since been recorded by many artists, most notably by the Carpenters on their album ''Close to You (The Carpenters al ...

" (

) – 2:25 (vocals by Jesse with Jerry)

Personnel

;The Youngbloods *Lowell "Banana" Levinger – lead guitar, piano; finger cymbals (track 1), backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 9, 11), lead vocals (tracks 3, 10), pedal steel guitar (tracks 5, 11) * Jerry Corbitt – rhythm guitar, harmonica; lead vocals (tracks 1, 4, 8), backing vocals (tracks 2, 5, 8, 10), lead guitar (track 10) *

Jesse Colin Young Perry Miller (November 22, 1941 – March 16, 2025), known professionally as Jesse Colin Young, was an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972, ...

– bass; lead vocals (tracks 2, 5-7, 9, 11), backing vocals (tracks 1, 4, 8, 10) *Joe Bauer – drums ;Technical *Tracks 2, 3, 5, and 6 on Side 1, and track 5 on Side 2 were produced by The Youngbloods *Tracks 1-4 on Side 2 were produced by

Felix Pappalardi Felix Albert Pappalardi Jr. (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass violin, bassist. He is best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the band Mountain (band), Mountain, whose ...

*Tracks 1 and 4 on Side 1 were produced by Felix Pappalardi and the Youngbloods *Bob Cullen – production supervisor *Mike Moran – engineer *Mickey Crofford – engineer

References

External links

VH1 Biography: The YoungbloodsJesse Colin Young official homepage
{{Authority control 1967 albums The Youngbloods albums Albums produced by Felix Pappalardi Albums produced by Jesse Colin Young RCA Records albums