-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twinn Connexion - Twinn Connexion
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Artist...............: Twinn Connexion
Album................: Twinn Connexion
Label................: Now Sounds/Cherry Red Records
Genre................: Psychedelic Pop
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 1968 (2010 Reissue)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tracklisting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. (00:02:52) Twinn Connexion - Sixth Avenue Stroll
2. (00:02:40) Twinn Connexion - I Think I'll Just Go And Find Me A Flower
3. (00:02:50) Twinn Connexion - I Think I Know Him
4. (00:02:24) Twinn Connexion - Dilemma
5. (00:02:42) Twinn Connexion - Turn Down Day
6. (00:02:59) Twinn Connexion - The Music Turns Me On
7. (00:02:36) Twinn Connexion - Foolin' Around
8. (00:03:00) Twinn Connexion - Wind Me Up And I Dance
9. (00:03:07) Twinn Connexion - Summer Sadness
10. (00:02:28) Twinn Connexion - Young And Free
11. (00:02:53) Twinn Connexion - Oh What A Lovely Day
12. (00:03:24) Twinn Connexion - The Silent Parade (Previously Unreleased)
13. (00:03:03) Twinn Connexion - Think I Will (Previously Unreleased)
14. (00:02:50) Twinn Connexion - Mary (Previously Unreleased)
15. (00:02:49) Twinn Connexion - Run Out To Meet Myself (Previously Unreleased)
16. (00:02:43) Twinn Connexion - Turn Down Day (Mono 45)
17. (00:02:50) Twinn Connexion - I Think I Know Him (Mono 45)
18. (00:02:53) Twinn Connexion - Oh What A Lovely Day (Mono 45)
19. (00:02:50) Twinn Connexion - Sixth Avenue Stroll (Mono 45)
Playing Time.........: 00:53:54
Twinn Connexion's self-titled debut album -- a psychedelic soft pop treat with fantastic arrangements and mildly experimental touches, like electric sitar and harpsichord -- is as good as anything similar from this same era. Their version of "Turn Down Day," penned by Keller and Blume for the Cyrkle, is an excellent example of just how well their voices blended. "Foolin' Around" appeared on The Melody Goes on Soft Rock, Vol. 3, issued by Chu Takahashi's Japanese-based M&M (MMCD 1024), but Twinn Connexion itself is, unfortunately, not currently available on CD. LP copies command extremely high prices from collectors. - Bryan Thomas, All Music Guide
What a very special treat I have for you today. I think alternate side parking mornings really inspire me. Not unlike my recent post on Lazy Smoke, today's post is all about flowery psych pop, so tune out now if bendy jangly guitars, hippy dippy lyrics, and the occasional sitar isn't really your cup of Earl Grey. Shit, even if it isn't, keep reading, because the Twinn Connexion are one of the most fascinating groups, like, ever.
Twinn Connexion's only release came out in 1968 on Decca Records. Twin brothers from Helena, Montana, Jay & Jerry Hopkins wore matching white suits with green ascots on the cover of their trippy soft pop masterpiece. I could envision them making a guest appearance in Peter Sellers' "The Party" or as boardwalk performers in "I Love You Alice B. Toklas". Or maybe friends of the Monkees or the Sandpipers. When I saw this album in the used bin at Sam's Jams in Detroit back in the early 90s for a dollar, I had no idea what a collector's item it was, I just bought it, for the bizarre factor.
The album has its share of misfires, in fact, some record company stooge probably sequenced the damned thing, as I nearly never got past the first two tracks, Sixth Avenue Stroll and I Think I'll Go And Find Me A Flower. The lyrics on Sixth Avenue Stroll perplex me: "There's a man with a funny cigar who's with a funny man, and I'll bet that, that funny cigar, just doesn't understand". No amount of acid can make me wrap my head around that one. But, the rest of the album, is a delight. Totally fucked up but gorgeous arrangements, some Left Banke harpsichords, some Moody Blues B-3, a ton of Laugh-In backbeats.
I got very very curious about re-issuing this a year or two back. I even managed to track down Jerry (thanks to musical knowitall, Dawn Eden), who was living in New York City. Sadly, his brother died several years ago, but he was nice enough to send me a mastered cd copy of the album plus tracks that never got released. So nice. I really had plans to tell the world about them, much like I did with the Poppy Family, but my label hasn't been able to make enough money to sustain itself.....audible sigh here.
I hope you dig, and that's the proper word here really, the tracks I'm posting here for you. If you can track down the whole album, it's worth your time and money. As far as I know, there may be some bootleg cds out there, but it's never had a proper re-issue. Twinn Connexion, you're nuts, I'm crazy, but I love you. - Jack, Little Elpees
Biography
Twinn Connexion was the moniker adopted by a pair of identical twins from Helena, MT -- James E. "Jay" Hopkins and his brother Jerry Hopkins. They had been singing together since grade school, and by the time they were in high school they already had their own TV show in the local Helena area. After performing statewide to much success, they eventually migrated to New York City where they were discovered singing in a Greenwich Village coffeehouse by a Decca Records exec. The twins were signed to the label and assigned to work with producer Jerry Keller (who had a hit of his own in 1959 with "Here Comes Summer"). Keller and longtime producing/writing associate Dave Blume wrote songs for the duo, which were recorded with backing from various members of the New York-based Carolyn Hester Coalition (sans Carolyn Hester). The twins appeared side by side on the cover of their self-titled album's release, wearing matching yellow and white textured Nehru suits, with green ascots and tiepins with the symbol "2x" (as this was 1968, it was perfectly acceptable to appear in public this way). The entire album -- a psychedelic soft pop treat with fantastic arrangements, and mildly experimental touches, like electric sitar and harpsichord -- is as good as anything similar from this same era. The song "Foolin' Around" appeared on The Melody Goes on Soft Rock, Vol. 3, issued by Chu Takahashi's Japanese-based M&M (MMCD 1024), but Twinn Connexion itself is, unfortunately, not currently available on CD. LP copies command extremely high prices from collectors. Jay Hopkins passed away on September 6, 2001, at age 60, in Manhattan, NY, of heart failure. From the early '70s to the time of his death, he worked as a metals trader for various companies including Prudential and Merrill Lynch, where he was a vice president. His brother Jerry Hopkins is still living in New York. - Bryan Thomas,All Music Guide
|
