Musicians:

Emitt Rhodes-Lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums, horns, Bill Rhinehart-bass on “American Dream”, Hal Blaine-Drums, Jim Gordon-Drums, Percussion, Gary Kato-Guitars, Perry Botkin, Jr.-Arrangements, Producers: Emitt Rhodes, Larry Marks/Reissue Producer & supervisor: Bill Levenson

For every Rock ‘n’ Roll success story involving a band like The Beatles, Yes or Aerosmith, you’ve got one where the artist struggles to find an audience and discovers that those that are supposed to protect him ripped him off. John Fogerty’s experience with Fantasy Records and his old band Creedence Clearwater Revival springs to mind as does the tragic story of Badfinger who found that their manager Stan Polley blindly stole their money leaving them in a worthless contract. The result in the latter band’s case was that the two most talented members of the band Pete Ham (who wrote “Day After Day”, “Baby Blue” and “No Matter What” all of which were in regular rotation on AM & FM radio in the 70’s) and Tom Evans (who co-wrote “Without You” with Ham) ended up killing themselves because they were so despondent over their financial situation due to their manager. ***

Then you have Emitt Rhodes. You’d be forgiven for not knowing who Emitt Rhodes is. Rhodes became a cult legend among music lovers for his four solo albums and single album with the band he founded, wrote the music for, sang lead vocals and played guitar with all before he was 18 years old. The Merry-Go-Round had a national hit with the song “Live” (it’s collected on the “Nuggets” boxed set from Rhino). A terrific melody, with a great hook and vocals, “Live” made the Los Angeles based band famous. ***

Rhodes got his start at 14 with The Palace Guard notable for a few singles that became minor hits. Rhodes played drums in the band and would occasionally get a lead vocal performing “Michelle” because of his pleasing tenor. Wanting to record his own songs, Rhodes left The Palace Guard founding The Merry-Go-Round and scoring a hit single. The band recorded their only album and broke up after going through some of a personnel change that reflected the band’s name. Rhodes found himself locked into a songwriting agreement at 17 that basically gave up all of his rights to his own material and paid him a very low royalty rate allowing his manager to collect most of the money. ***

Rhodes’ first solo album wasn’t really a solo album per se. “American Dream” sad on the shelf at A&M Records for nearly two years before its release. Featuring demos and Merry-Go-Round recordings, “American Dream” only saw release when Rhodes self titled debut for ABC-Dunhill Records appeared and began to garner airplay. “Emitt Rhodes” was truly a solo album—Rhodes played all the instruments and did all the vocals himself. The album began to pick up steam and sell well which prompted A&M to finally release “American Dream” shortly afterward in early 1971. The result was that the buying public was a bit confused as to which album to buy. Both albums are brilliant power pop gems with melodies as rich as Paul McCartney in his prime. “With My Face on the Floor” almost became the break out single for Rhodes that could have made him a solo star. Unfortunately, as he started work on his second album for ABC-Dunhill he found that his own record company was suing him for breach of contract because he couldn’t deliver an album every six months (he continued to record his albums by himself also engineering and producing them as well). As he fell further and further behind, he quickly became disenchanted with the record business. In 1971 “Mirror” appeared another melodically rich concoction that proved that the first two albums were no fluke; Rhodes had the talent to deliver with the best of them and he added a slightly harder rock edge to the music as well. The album went nowhere though. ***

“Farewell to Paradise” was titled rather ironically because he wasn’t IN paradise and whether or not he planned it the album was his last communication to the world as a solo artist. It’s a powerful album melodically as rich as what preceded it but also filled with an undercurrent of the anguish that Rhodes felt while making the album. He felt that he had been robbed left and right by those he trusted and the result was a burned out, cynical, weary old man who wasn’t yet 30. Rhodes released the protest song “Tame the Lion” preceding “Farewell”. ***

Discography: "The Palace Guard" (2003)-A Collection of Rhodes' first band's singles "Listen, Listen: The Definitive Collection" (2005)-Includes the band's only album and singles as well as rare tracks and Rhodes' first "solo" album "American Dream". The mastering and EQ choices for this edition of "American Dream" differ somewhat from the version on the "Emitt Rhodes Recordings"***

"Emitt Rhodes" (1970) "American Dream" (1971)-A collection of demos and songs that Rhodes recorded on his own and with his band The Merry-Go-Round that was finished to fulfill his contract with A&M Records. The album sat on the shelf until after "Emitt Rhodes" began to gather airplay and sell well in 1971. "Mirror" (1971) "Farewell To Paradise" (1973)-All available on the "Emitt Rhodes: The Emitt Rhodes Recordings" (2009)***

Compilations: "Listen, Listen: The Best of Emitt Rhodes" (1995) "Daisy Fresh from Hawthorne, California-The Best of the ABC-Dunhill Years" (1998)***

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Final Words:

Kudos to Bill Levenson (who has since retired) for doing such a terrific job of putting together the definitive version of Emitt's recordings in an excellent sounding collection. Unlike most modern CD releases, this collection has nice dynamic range and are all pulled from the original master recordings without any post-production compression applied to them. That's a rarity today and kudos also to Hip-O Select for putting together this exceptional set. Lately, they've taken the lead when it comes to customized releases and have stolen the crown from the largely inactive Rhino Handmade (which also did exceptional work when Bill Inglot was still there supervising the sound quality of their releases). Levenson who has had a long and storied career from mastering engineer to reissue producer has done a brilliant job here letting Rhodes' legacy shine brighter in a music world full of reflected light. ***

Although being a cult artist is often seen has having its own rewards it's something of a curse as well; it states that you were good but not good enough to achieve mass popularity and that isn't true in our fickle marketplace. Success is often seen as the final arbitrator of good taste and yet I can think of dozens of artists who achieved musical success by having #1 hits that produced, well, crap and it was crap that the public was more than willing to stuff in their ears much as the fast food that we consume in place of "real food". Music isn't a horse race and if it was then we would have a lot of one-hit wonders that would be better remembered than artists who were truly influential who came in last place all the time. It's also not a popularity contest. Just because something is popular doesn't mean that its good or even good for you. ***

Most cult artists become cult artists because of some quirk of their personality or just as often because of they are a bit "off" and, as a result, don't connect with the average person. That's not true of Emitt Rhodes and his small body of work as a songwriter, singer, musician and producer. His four solo albums and his single album with his band The Merry-Go-Round proved he was a vital, intelligent and melodic songwriter that had much more to offer than one hit single with an obscure band from the 1960's. Poor management, fast talking hustlers who turned his talent into gold for themselves and an unsympathetic record company that really dropped the ball on marketing all helped to force Rhodes into the box of "cult artist" who's albums have been out-of-print or available as expensive imports over the last thirty plus years. That's tragic because his talent was much greater than that small box he was assigned by the music business. Rhodes' own desire to remain a singer/songwriter and make his records his way also contributed to keeping him confined to a small audience. Perhaps Rhodes own emotional issues contributed to that as well (it's hard to say although I can say that Rhodes evidently over the years has become estranged from his ex-wifes and children which may be a symptom of much larger issues. I don't know Rhodes personally but understand that he carried considerable and understandable bitterness over what occurred to him and his career), I can't say since I'm not Rhodes psychatrist or his confessor but I can state that his music deserves a much broader audience and appreciation than it has achieved over the years. ***

It should be noted that Rhodes DID continue in the music business as an A&R man, producer and songwriter providing songs to a variety of artists and producing other artists albums over the years. Rhodes continued to amass a backlog of demos and songs which hopefully Rhodes will release in the wake of these other reissues. ***|