Marrying Maiden

• Artist: It's a Beautiful Day
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1970
• Total Time: 38:31
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Rock

Review

The second long-player from It's a Beautiful Day is an exceedingly more pastoral effort than the band's self-titled debut. As many of the Bay Area groups -- most notably the Grateful Dead with Workingman's Dead and American Beauty -- had begun to do, the band realigns its sound from the dark psychedelia and proto-prog of its earlier works and into a lighter and earthier country-flavored rock. Marrying Maiden does, however, continue highlighting both the sextet's stellar instrumental proficiencies as well as vocals -- featuring the entire band -- throughout. "Don and Dewey," the album's opener, is a hot-steppin' spotlight for David LaFlamme's classically trained violin work. Presumably, the tune is an ode to the late-'50s/early-'60s R&B duo of the same name. The track has distinct hints of the concurrent contributions that LaFlamme had been making in an incipient incarnation of Dan Hick & His Hot Licks. It likewise sets the tenor for the remainder of the disc's down-home feel. The cover of folkie Fred Neil's "The Dolphins" is notable for Fred Webb's honky tonk piano fills and LaFlamme's vocals, recalling some of the earliest New Riders of the Purple Sage sides. One of the more solidly unifying factors linking the NRPS and It's a Beautiful Day is the guest appearance by Jerry Garcia, who is featured on two numbers. As he had done on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children," Garcia lends a few distinct pedal steel guitar riffs to the perky "It Comes Right Down to You." The track also features former Charlatan Richard Olsen on, of all things, clarinet. Another sign of the times is the pickin' and grinnin' on the appropriately titled "Hoedown" -- on which Garcia adds some fiery banjo fretwork. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Don and Dewey	Don Bowman	It's a Beautiful Day	(5:16)
The Dolphins	Fred Neil	It's a Beautiful Day	(4:30)
Essence of Now		It's a Beautiful Day	(3:20)
Hoedown	David LaFlamme	It's a Beautiful Day	(2:29)
Soapstone Mountain	David LaFlamme	It's a Beautiful Day	(4:20)
Waiting for the Song	Hal, Hal Wagenet	It's a Beautiful Day	(1:03)
Let a Woman Flow		It's a Beautiful Day	(4:04)
It Comes Right Down to You	Robert Lewis	It's a Beautiful Day	(3:14)
Good Lovin'	Rudy Clark, Arthur Resnick	It's a Beautiful Day	(3:59)
Galileo	Hal, Hal Wagenet	It's a Beautiful Day	(3:02)
Do You Remember the Sun?		It's a Beautiful Day	(3:14)

Credits

Mitchell Holman (Vocals), Fred Webb (Keyboards), Sid Page (Violin), Fred Webb (Vocals), Bruce Steinberg (Photography), Matthew Katz (Producer), Mitchell Holman (Harmonica), David LaFlamme (Vocals), Pattie Santos (Vocals), Bruce Steinberg (Art Direction), Richard Olsen (Clarinet), Jerry Garcia (Banjo), David LaFlamme (Flute), David LaFlamme (Violin), Val Fuentes (Drums), Val Fuentes (Vocals), Hal Wagenet (Guitar), Pattie Santos (Percussion), Jerry Garcia (Guitar), Mitchell Holman (Bass), Bruce Steinberg (Cover Design), Hal Wagenet (Vocals)