The Merry-Go-Round was an American

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

, Los Angeles–based band, best known for the singer-songwriter

Emitt Rhodes Emitt Lynn Rhodes (February 25, 1950 – July 19, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer. At the age of 14, Rhodes began his career in musical ensembles the Palace Guard as the group's drummer bef ...

and featuring

Joel Larson Joel Larson (born April 29, 1947) is an American rock drummer and percussionist who is known as a founding member of The Merry-Go-Round and for being associated with the Turtles and the Grass Roots. Early life He lived near Lincoln Park unt ...

on drums, Gary Kato on lead guitar, and

Bill Rinehart Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

on bass. The group gained inspiration from bands like

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

, and

the Left Banke The Left Banke was an American baroque pop band, formed in New York City in 1965. They are best remembered for their two U.S. hit singles, "Walk Away Renée" and "Pretty Ballerina". The band often used what the Music journalism, music press refer ...

for its vocal harmonies and instrumental acquisitions. They used their contemporaries' styles to create their own sound.

History

The band formed in the summer of 1966. Emitt Rhodes had left his former band, the Palace Guard, and began jam sessions with Gary Kato and friends. Within weeks, they were joined by Bill Rinehart, formerly of

the Leaves The Leaves were an American garage rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, California, in 1964. They are best known for their version of the song "Hey Joe", which was a hit in 1966. Theirs is the earliest release of this song, which became ...

and Joel Larson, formerly of

the Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums and ...

. Recorded demos resulted in the band being signed by

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

. By early 1967, the band released their first single, "

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

"/"Time Will Show the Wiser". "Live" became a sensation in L.A. and reached number 63 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The group's next single, "You're a Very Lovely Woman", highly arranged and orchestrated, only reached number 94. A&M, noticing the disappointing listing, hastily released their debut album before the window of opportunity closed. The Merry-Go-Round promotional photograph with Emitt Rhodes

The Merry-Go-Round promotional photograph with Emitt Rhodes

The band released their only album, ''

The Merry-Go-Round The Merry-Go-Round was an American psychedelic rock, Los Angeles–based band, best known for the singer-songwriter Emitt Rhodes and featuring Joel Larson on drums, Gary Kato on lead guitar, and Bill Rinehart on bass. The group gained inspira ...

'', in November 1967. It stalled, reaching only number 190, and soon after, Rinehart departed. He was replaced by Rick Dey of

the Vejtables The Vejtables were an American rock band from Millbrae, California, United States. They recorded for the Autumn label and found limited success with such songs as " I Still Love You" and a cover version of Tom Paxton's " The Last Thing on My Min ...

. Several further singles, including "She Laughed Loud"/"Had to Run Around", "Come Ride, Come Ride"/"She Laughed Loud", "Listen, Listen"/"Missing You" and Til the Day After"/"Highway", were released in 1967 and 1968 but failed to chart. They started work on a second album but never completed it. After fan interest in the group dissipated, they disbanded in 1969.

Legacy

The Merry-Go-Round performed at the

Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival The KFRC (defunct), KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival was an event held June 10 and 11, 1967, at the 4,000-seat Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre high on the south face of Mount Tamalpais in ...

in 1967 on both days of the music festival. They closed the show on Saturday, June 10 and were the second to the show closer on Sunday, June 11. This music festival became a blueprint for future rock concerts of the same scale. "You're a Very Lovely Woman" was covered in 1971 by Linda Ronstadt on Capitol single 3021 as "(She's A) Very Lovely Woman." Her version reached number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Live" was covered by

the Bangles The Bangles are an American all-female band, all-female pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 1981. They are known for hit singles during the 1980s that made them one of the most successful pop rock groups of the decade. The band’s biggest ...

on their 1984 album '' All Over the Place'' and "Time Will Show the Wiser" was recorded by

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

on their debut album in 1968, a song still played regularly by Fairport at their

Cropredy Cropredy ( ) is a village and civil parish on the River Cherwell, north of Banbury in Oxfordshire. History The village has Anglo-Saxon origins and is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The toponym comes from the Old English words ''cropp ...

Festival. A 14-song 'best of' album was released by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

in 1985. A CD containing their only LP and other existing material was issued in 2005 on

Rev-Ola Records Rev-Ola Records is a British independent record label formed in 1990 that specializes in reissues, as well as select new releases. The label is headed by Joe Foster, a former child actor and musician/producer. He, along with Alan McGee and ...

. An unlisted

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

, "California Girls", follows the regular CD tracks. It was used in a

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

promotional TV movie ''Beat of the Brass''. The trumpet section is played by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass. Their only album was reissued in April 2010 by

Sundazed Music Sundazed Music is an American independent record label founded and based in Coxsackie, New York. It was initially known as a '60s-centric surf, garage, and psych label. Over time with the additions of imprints such as Modern Harmonic, American ...

, which was remastered from original analog tapes in high-quality vinyl.

Discography

* ''

'' (1967) – ''Billboard'' 200 No. 190

Singles

* "Live" (1967) – US ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

No. 63;

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

Canada No. 66 * "Time Will Show the Wiser" (1967) * "You're a Very Lovely Woman" – (1967) US ''Billboard''

No. 94''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' – * "She Laughed Loud" * "Listen, Listen" * Til the Day After"

References

External links

* AllMusic profile of the Merry-Go-Round
Joel-Larson.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merry-Go-Round, The A&M Records artists Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups disestablished in 1969 Musical groups from Los Angeles Psychedelic rock music groups from California