Sometimes Happy Times cover

Sometimes Happy Times

Recorded
1964-1969
Released

Dotti Holmberg was there at the beginning of Sunshine Pop – the notes to Sometimes Happy Times have her and sister Sheri’s voices twining with Sunshine Pop maestro Curt Boettcher at a folk open mic night. They worked together for a few years in The GoldeBriars, drifted apart, and then reconvened to record a clutch of singles in the mid-to-late sixties, all unreleased; that material, plus more, is all here. Holmberg’s voice has a light joyousness to it that’s balanced by a tart melancholy, and Boettcher’s arrangements often have a breathy spareness that belies the rich indulgences of other projects like The Millennium. When Holmberg is surrounded by the backing vocals of Sheri and Allison Buff, as on the lovely “The Essence,” the effect is near to hallucinatory. The very best of these short, deceptively light pop songs have something of dream logic about them, unreeling the ticker tape of the unconscious.

Jon Dale

Recommended by

Suggestions
Ask Me No Questions cover

Ask Me No Questions

Bridget St. John
Iii cover

Iii

Naoki Zushi
Writer cover

Writer

Carole King
Green Tambourine cover

Green Tambourine

The Lemon Pipers
Jack With a Feather cover

Jack With a Feather

Spriguns of Tolgus
Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc cover

Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc

Nikki Sudden, Rowland S. Howard
High Llamas cover

High Llamas

Sean O'Hagan
Paragons cover

Paragons

Constant Smiles
Talahomi Way cover

Talahomi Way

The High Llamas
Martha's Vineyard cover

Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard
Heaven and Holy cover

Heaven and Holy

Painted Shrines