Curt Boettcher – Looking For The Sun

I’d mostly become familiar with the name Curt Boettcher a bit backwards He was a conduit for lush, sunshine pop from the 1960s — namely under The Sagittarius and Millennium headings along with Gary Usher — but those checking the production notes on any assorted dozen sunshine-psych tracks are likely to find his name among the studio set. He’s credited with a good swath of hits by The Association, and contributed recognizable work to Gene Clark, The Beach Boys, Tommy Roe, Elton John, Eternity’s Children, Emmitt Rhodes, and Paul Revere & The Raiders catalogs. In this role Boettecher shone as a producer who could use every tool in the rack to bring a pillowy softness to his songs. There’s an invisible thread among productions touched Curt’s hand, they share a sense of melancholy, wonder, and a telltale swooning sensibility that could only have come from the mind of Curt. Looking For The Sun highlights the singles that Boettcher produced that may have gotten lost between the cracks, the artists that weren’t as marquee as those previously mentioned, but songs that standout just the same.

There are twenty-one tracks from Cindy Malone , Sandy Salisbury , Gordon Alexander , Keith Colley, Summer’s Children, Jonathan Moore , Ray Whitley , Eddie Hodges , The Bootiques , Action Unlimited on this comp that highlight the man behind the boards. Though they’re brought together from different backgrounds, they all ease into the clouds that Curt cultivated and dig in the sunshine that he spread. There’s a track from Sagittarius included as well, a band that has long been storied for its inclusion of an ace backing band made up of members of The Music Machine, The Ballroom and Crabby Appleton. Not included in this set, but also of note is Curt’s ace solo LP. He dropped one ’T’ out of his name and released one solo gem that, despite Elektra backing, may have gone even more unnoticed some of these. Along with a handful of singles it remains the only one under his name.

For any fan of sunshine psych, this will likely prove an indispensable collection tied together by the watchful production that Boettcher brought to all his endeavors. The songs are all sourced from the original master tapes and have been presented in a clarity that does them justice. The reissue font has been overflowing this year and there’s still time to squeeze in a few more essentials.