It's A Beautiful Day: Marrying Maiden 1970 + Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime 1971

David LaFlamme (May 4, 1941 – August 6, 2023) was an American singer and violinist best known for co-founding the San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. David LaFlamme was born in

New Britain, Connecticut, on May 4, 1941. His mother was from a Mormon family in Salt Lake City, and when he was eight years old, the family moved there to be near her family. LaFlamme had been studying violin since moving to Los Angeles at the age of five, and in Salt Lake City he won a competition to perform as soloist with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. In later years, LaFlamme suffered from Parkinson's disease. He died on August 6, 2023, at the age of 82.
                     

DAVID  LAFLAMME

After following an army stint and settling in the Bay Area in 1962. There he immersed himself in the

local underground music scene, jamming alongside the likes of Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin; after his short-lived Electric Chamber Orchestra splintered, LaFlamme also co-founded an early incarnation of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks before assembling It's a Beautiful Day in mid-1967. The group -- which originally included LaFlamme's keyboardist wife Linda, vocalist Pattie Santos, guitarist Hal Wagenet, bassist Mitchell Holman, and drummer Val Fuentes -- issued its self-titled debut LP on Columbia in 1969, scoring their biggest hit with the haunting FM radio staple "White Bird.
                      

" Linda LaFlamme left It's a Beautiful Day soon after, going on to form Titus' Mother; keyboardist Fred Webb signed on for the follow-up, 1970's Marrying Maiden, while Holman exited prior to 1971's

Choice Quality Stuff, recorded with new guitarist Bill Gregory and bassist Tom Fowler. In 1973, ongoing disputes over royalties forced LaFlamme out of the group he created, and upon installing new violinist Greg Bloch, the remaining members issued It's a Beautiful Day...Today before dissolving in the wake of 1974's 1001 Nights. LaFlamme mounted a solo career in 1977 with White Bird, continuing his protracted legal tussle with ex-manager Matthew Katz for years to follow.

MEMBERS

                  

David LaFlamme (1967 – 1973)
Bud Cockrell (1973 – 1973)
Fred Webb (1970 – 1974)
Gregory Bloch (1973 – 1974)
Hal Wagenet (1968 – 1971)
Linda LaFlamme (1967 – 1969)
Mitchell Holman (1967 – 1971)
Pattie Santos (1967 – 1974)
Tom Fowler (1971 – 1972)
Val Fuentes (1967 – 1974)

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY - MARRYING MAIDEN 1970

                

The second long-player from It's a Beautiful Day is an exceedingly more pastoral effort than the band's self-titled debut. As many of the Bay Area groups -- most notably the Grateful Dead with

Workingman's Dead and American Beauty -- had begun to do, the band realigns its sound from the dark psychedelia and proto-prog of its earlier works and into a lighter and earthier country-flavored rock. Marrying Maiden does, however, continue highlighting both the sextet's stellar instrumental proficiencies as well as vocals -- featuring the entire band -- throughout. "Don and Dewey," the album's opener, is a hot-steppin' spotlight for David LaFlamme's classically trained violin work.
                 

Presumably, the tune is an ode to the late-'50s/early-'60s R&B duo of the same name. The track has

distinct hints of the concurrent contributions that LaFlamme had been making in an incipient incarnation of Dan Hick & His Hot Licks. It likewise sets the tenor for the remainder of the disc's down-home feel. The cover of folkie Fred Neil's "The Dolphins" is notable for Fred Webb's honky tonk piano fills and LaFlamme's vocals, recalling some of the earliest New Riders of the Purple Sage sides.
              

One of the more solidly unifying factors linking the NRPS and It's a Beautiful Day is the guest

appearance by Jerry Garcia, who is featured on two numbers. As he had done on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children," Garcia lends a few distinct pedal steel guitar riffs to the perky "It Comes Right Down to You." The track also features former Charlatan Richard Olsen on, of all things, clarinet. Another sign of the times is the pickin' and grinnin' on the appropriately titled "Hoedown" -- on which Garcia adds some fiery banjo fretwork. (Lindsay Planer)

It's A Beautiful Day – Marrying Maiden
Label: TRC Record – TRC 002
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Limited Edition, Remastered 1989
Country: Germany
Released: 1970   
Genre: Rock
Style: Classic Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                    

01. Don And Dewey    5:10
02. The Dolphins    4:25
03. Essence Of Now    3:15
04. Hoedown    2:25
05. Soapstone Mountain  (Organ – Avenue Theatre)   4:15
06. Waiting For The Song    1:15
07. Let A Woman Flow    4:25
08. It Comes Right Down To You    3:10
09. Good Lovin'    4:55
10. Galileo    3:00
11. Do You Remember The Sun?    3:05

LINE - UP

                 

Vocals, Violin, Guitar, Flute – David Laflamme
Clarinet – Richard Olsen
Pedal Steel Guitar, Banjo – Jerry Garcia
Vocals, Bass, Jew's Harp – Mitchell Holman
Vocals, Drums – Val Fuentes
Vocals, Guitar – Hal Wagenet
Vocals, Keyboards, French Horn – Fred Webb
Vocals, Percussion – Pattie Santos

MP3 @ 320 Size: 92 MB
Flac   Size: 197 MB

CHOICE QUALITY STUFF/ANYTIME 1971

                  

Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime is not only the third long-player from It's a Beautiful Day, it also includes

a personnel unique from either of its predecessors. This revolving-door musical cast ultimately resulted in decades of litigation. Perhaps most importantly, it also accounts for the disparate musical styles accompanying all three of the band's albums. Further, it was during the creation of this disc that lineup number two was replaced by lineup number three -- netting a separate band for the "Choice Quality Stuff" side and the "Anytime" side.
                 

It's a Beautiful Day, in essence, was becoming somewhat of a loose aggregate of Bay Area "all stars" by

1972. When the dust eventually settled, listeners were treated to notable contributions from Santana members Jose Chepitó Areas (percussion), Coke Escovedo (percussion), and Gregg Rolie (keyboards), as well as Bill Atwood (trumpet) -- who had already begun making a name for himself with contributions to Malo -- Cold Blood, and the Grateful Dead. The album also includes licks from Bruce Steinberg (mouth harp), who was better known for his LP cover artwork than musical abilities.
                

A pleasant surprise is that this incarnation is as interesting in the grooves -- on tracks such as "Words" or "Bitter Wine" -- as they might seem on paper. However, any enthusiasts of the progressive rock

leanings on their first release or even the decidedly pastoral work of Marrying Maiden would have been, quite frankly, at a loss for a majority of Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime. There is a distinct blues-based rock & roll attitude on "Creed of Love" and "Bye Bye Baby," which are more similar to Brit bluesmen John Mayall and Jeff Beck than any previous It's a Beautiful Day outing. This album is far from a washout. It is likewise remote in its musical representation of the band's previous sound. (Lindsay Planer)

It's A Beautiful Day – Choice Quality Stuff / Anytime
Label: TRC Records – TRC 007
Format:    CD, Album, Reissue 1990
Country: Germany
Released: 1971   
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Classic Rock

TRACKS

    

CHOICE QUALITY STUFF       

    
01. Creed Of Love    3:40
02. Bye Bye Baby    3:24
03. The Grand Camel Suite    2:49
04. No Word For Glad    3:06
05. Lady Love    2:48
06. Words    2:58

ANYTIME
       
07. Place Of Dreams    3:03
08. Oranges & Apples    2:27
09. Anytime    3:38
10. Bitter Wine    3:04
11. Misery Loves Company    2:51

MP3 @ 320 Size: 82 MB
Flac  Size: 232 MB 

IT's A Beautiful Day (1969) on Urban Aspirines HERE