The Answer

Like a taking pictures celebrity, the Answer blazed briefly but brilliantly over Berkeley, CA in 1965. A quintet made up of Todd Anderson (vocals), Michael Friedman (bass acoustic guitar), Chip Wright (business lead acoustic guitar), Mike Simpson (tempo acoustic guitar) and Bob Shumaker (drums), the group coalesced at Berkeley SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL in late summer time of that 12 months. Their musical affects included Mose Allison, Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, and jazzman Charlie Mingus. A cannabis-clouded ending up in the Turtles resulted in a phone audition and agreement with this band’s L.A.-centered label, White Whale. From a raft of demos, two Anderson tunes (“I’M GOING TO BE In” and “Why You Smile”) got the nod and had been released in November 1965 (White colored Whale 225). “In,” a self-admitted rip-off from the Moving Rocks’ “Fulfillment,” shifts from its tasty small riff to a crazy run of acidity carousel music in the bridge. “Smile” is usually all-out blues wailing harp with dive-bomber bass operates that are smoke-filled and organ-heavy. Regardless of the Answer’s collective guarantee, the group quickly folded its tent. Anderson and Friedman soldiered on as the Drongos (1966-67), but after a cover from the Rocks’ “Under My Thumb” vanished with out a track, they too known as it quits. “Why You Smile” made an appearance around the 1993 numerous artists’ Compact disc compilation Sixties Rebellion, Quantity 3: The Auditorium (WayBack MMCD 66008), while “I’M GOING TO BE In” was spotlighted around the vinyl-only Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Vol. 1: L.A. ’65 (Archive International Productions [Bomp] AIP 10003). Unreleased acetates from the Answer’s fall months 1965 demo classes for White colored Whale can be found (documented at San Francisco’s Coastline Recorders). Surviving monitors consist of “Bleecker and MacDougal.” It really is unknown if the Anderson/Wright originals “My Appreciate Is certainly Dwindlin’ in the Blowing wind,” “HOW EXACTLY DOES that Sound?” or “You Can’t Stay” had been wiped. The bootleg record Young ladies in the Garage area (Romulan UFO X02) showcases the Reply support Denise Kaufman on the first “Boy What’ll YOU CHOOSE TO DO After that?” (miscredited as “Consider Me As I Am” by Denise & Co. Kaufman, Wright’s partner, sang upon this monitor from a pre-White Whale Coastline Recorders program (circa late summertime 1965). For more info (and interviews with group associates), see Price and Palao’s Cream Puff Battle (number 2, Feb 1993; Santa Clara, CA).