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All the
songs on this playlist, with one exception, were written or co-written by Michael Brewer or Tom
Shipley. All were recorded by other artists
in a three year period, 1966 through 1968. Taken as a whole they showcase the early
songwriting talents of Michael and Tom in the years leading up to them
becoming Brewer & Shipley. Most of these songs were written when they
were employed as staff songwriters for
Good Sam Music, a music publishing
subsidiary of the then newly formed A&M Records.
"Need
You," "Rainbow," & "Bound to Fall" were written by Michael and his first partner Tom Mastin
(Mastin & Brewer), prior to Michael taking the job as staff writer at
Good Sam. "Need You," and "Rainbow" were subsequently released as
a
Brewer & Brewer single. "Bound To Fall" was recorded as an instrumental track by The Byrds in
1968, but didn't surface until 1997 as a bonus track on the The
Notorious Byrd Brothers CD release. "Little Girl Lost & Found" is
the only song not written by either Michael or Tom. It is included
because it features Tom Shipley and Ruthann Friedman in a group called
The Garden Club.
As staff song writers at Good Sam, Michael & Tom first recorded
many of these
songs as demos for other artists. Even
with the much dated 'psychedelic' arrangements on some of these
recordings, Michael's and Tom's talent for songwriting was evident. It didn't take long before A&M
Records realized that Michael & Tom had a unique sound and style of
their own. So A&M asked them to rerecord the songs for their own album.
Three of the songs above were included on the now lost classic
Brewer & Shipley Down In L.A. album which was released by A&M in
1968. The rest, as they say, is history. For more than four decades Michael &
Tom have repeatedly demonstrated the song writing skills that are
evident in these early songs. |
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