Curt Boettcher - Passionfruit (2024)

This compilation of early- to mid-'70s recordings for an unreleased album titled Passion Fruit finds celebrated West Coast producer/songwriter Curt Boettcher experimenting in somewhat out-of-his-element genres like funk, Jamaican rhythms, and, egads, even early disco. Predictably, the results are largely disappointing, even though he is assisted by talents like Brian Wilson, Jan & Dean, Gary Usher, Bruce Johnston, and Terry Melcher. It's almost as if Boettcher set aside his ornate late-'60s West Coast sound, which he'd perfected with his studio group the Millennium, for what seems to have been a poor attempt at a more commercial effort. The songs -- some are ones he'd remembered from his own childhood -- are too slick and glisten with a smooth, sophisticated AM-radio groove. Most of the tracks wouldn't have sounded too out of place on albums by Barry Manilow or Pablo Cruise, for instance. There are curious missteps along the way. The album begins with a Caribbean-style romp, "Happy in Paradise," before a similarly titled "Happy in Hollywood" comes along, sounding like uninspired Poco. The over-the-top "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" and a percolating "Iko Iko," in particular, simply had no chance whatsoever on improving on any the classic versions already recorded. Boettcher's version of the Barry/Greenwich/Spector-penned "I Can Hear Music" -- recorded by the Beach Boys in 1968 -- sounds like some kind of Love Boat disco nightmare. He also desecrates the Beatles' "The Word," which sounds like it was recorded by a bad Vegas lounge act. By 1973, Boettcher had released a solo album, There's an Innocent Face, on Elektra Records, and recorded several singles under the names "California Music" and "California". He also sang backing vocals on a few Beach Boys albums in the late '70s. His interest in disco -- he later worked part-time as a dance music DJ -- would culminate in his glossy co-production of the 11-minute, dancefloor-clearing "Here Comes the Night" for the Beach Boys' 1979 L.A. (Light Album), easily one of the worst songs they would ever record during their long career. In 2000, this album was finally released as "California Passion Fruit" by the Japanese Dreamsville label. The album features alternate mixes of several tracks, including a "Special Disco Mix" of "I Can Hear Music." In 2001, Poptonesissued a 16-track version of the album, but retitled it California Music.