Description
The self-titled debut album by the American pop quartet Newbury Park was released by Cream Records in 1970. Former Jefferson Airplane producer Tommy Oliver arranged and produced everything as well as writing one song.
Sunshine pop, full of breezy melodies and sumptuous girl and boy harmonies. And Newbury Park’s cover of the Lemon Pipers‘ “Green Tambourine” is breezy soft pop heaven with four-part harmonies replacing the original sitar. It’s all deliriously happy, swinging sunshine pop bliss. “Afternoon Sky” is a great calliope circus ride of soft pop, while “I Wanna Come Home” is a slightly drunken-sounding Mamas and Papas clone that tells the story of a soldier writing home to Mom.
Most Christian albums in the 1970’s eschewed secular labels and concert venues, nurturing the developing Christian sub-culture and being evangelistic in the process. This album and group were an exception, although their later work was more distinctively Christian.
This 2-guy 2-girl group’s debut on the mainstream Cream label has a professional pop-rock and ballads sound that takes you back to commercial hit radio circa 1970. The spiritual angle isn’t as developed as on their subsequent Creative Sound LP, though you can find it peeking through on tracks like «My God And I». Includes classy covers of «Green Tambourine», «Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah» and Nilsson’s «I Will Take You There». Some Mamas & Papas sentiment sprinkled about along with a touch of lilting Bacharach pop. Three very pretty acoustic originals with just the girls on vocals open side two: «My Own 1889», «When I Am Young» and «You Only Know Me». [Ken Scott, The Archivist]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/newbury-park/1196495156)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “My God And I”
A2. “I Will Take You There”
A3. “I Wanna Come Home”
A4. “Green Tambourine”
A5. “Hey Little One”
A6. “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”
Side Two
B1. “My Own 1889”
B2. “When I Am Young”
B3. “You Only Know Me”
B4. “Afternoon Sky”
B5. “Love Now”
B6. “Zig-Zag People”
