- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- As was the case with the Kingsmen and their seminal hit song “Louie Louie”, the Youngbloods were in the right place to have the sure hit with “Get Together”,
The Youngbloods – The Youngbloods (1967): The Youngbloods was formed by singer-songwriter Jesse Colin Young who has had a long solo career before and after the Youngbloods. Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar) had already released two solo albums when the Youngbloods were formed, first as a duo with Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), and later adding Lowell “Banana” Levinger (guitar and electric piano) and Joe Bauer (drums). As was the case with the Kingsmen and their seminal hit song “Louie Louie” (1963) that came out after several other versions of the song, the Youngbloods were in the right place to be the recording artist to finally have the sure hit with “Get Together”, also known as “Let’s Get Together” and “Everybody Get Together”; written by Chet Powers, also known as Dino Valenti. Valenti was putatively the founder of Quicksilver Messenger Service, although legal troubles prevented his actually joining the band until their fourth album, Just for Love (1970).
“Get Together” is the quintessential peace-love-and-brotherhood anthem, having a memorable chorus: “Come on people now / Smile on your brother / Everybody get together / Try to love one another right now”. The Kingston Trio was the first group to record “Let’s Get Together” for their live album Back in Town (1964); the song remained part of their concert setlist for years after that. In 1965, “Let’s Get Together” was the follow-up single to the Top Ten hit “You Were on My Mind” by We Five; that is the first version of the song to make the Top 40. Other versions of “Get Together” / “Let’s Get Together” were made by H. P. Lovecraft, the Cryan’ Shames, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, and the Sunshine Company, among many others. When the Youngbloods originally released “Get Together” as a single in 1967, the song was a minor hit, reaching #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #37 on the Adult Contemporary chart. However, “Get Together” by the Youngbloods was later used in a radio public service announcement by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The PSA created renewed interest in the song, and “Get Together” was re-released, this time achieving #5 in the Billboard singles chart. While the Youngbloods never had another hit song, they released four studio albums, and Jesse Colin Young successfully returned to his solo career. Their debut album The Youngbloods was produced by Felix Pappalardi of Mountain and includes a nice selection of songs, like Paul Arnoldi’s “One Note Man”; Fred Neil’s “The Other Side of This Life”, best known from the version of “The Other Side of This Life” by Eric Burdon and the Animals; Jimmy Reed’s “Ain’t that Lovin’ You, Baby”; “C. C. Rider” (with the songwriter incorrectly credited as Mississippi John Hurt; the song is nearly 100 years old and was written by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Lena Arant). Also on the album is Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues”; the song is energetically modernized in the recording by Taj Mahal that then inspired the Allman Brothers Band’s version of “Statesboro Blues” that is a part of their legendary concert album Live at Fillmore East (1971). Most of the other songs were written by bandmembers Jesse Colin Young (listed as “Jessie” on record label on The Youngbloods) and Jerry Corbitt that include “All Over the World (La La)”, “Tears Are Falling” (not to be confused with the song by KISS also called “Tears Are Falling”), and “Four in the Morning” (not to be confused with Faron Young’s hit song “It’s Four in the Morning”). This disk is a reissue of The Youngbloods on Edsel Records in 1987.