It was the Summer Of Love ... that incredible Summer of 1967. In Canada during June and July, Expo 67 was in full swing in Montreal ... and that was "where it was at". Man And His World. Terre Des Hommes. You just had to be there in Montreal.
The Beatles new Pepper LP was a gas too. At the very same time, Capitol was in the midst of moving their offices from Queen Street East in downtown Toronto, to brand new spacious digs on American Drive to the north-west end of Toronto. A new building with new possibilities.
In the better Hi-Fi shops across the country, hi-fi buffs were listening to Stereo copies of SPLCB and re-assessing their impressions of The Beatles. In fact, the album was partially responsible for a whole new generation's acquisition of vastly improved record playing equipment. Koss, Sony and Sennheiser were staring at an entirely new market for studio headphones. Pepper was the first great headphone experience !
Capitol was issuing a ton of 45s that summer, and the bulk of these were being pressed by Compo in Cornwall Ontario where they are also madly pressing the Beatles long awaited Pepper LP . Some good examples of "Pepper singles" were the three new Capitol 45s which were all unique and excellent covers of SPLHCB tracks - all of these were released during the week of June 23rd, 1967.
5933 Bernard Cribbins - When I'm 64
5934 David And Jonathan - She's Leaving Home
5943 The Young Idea - With A Little Help From My Friends
All of these cover songs were recorded at Abbey Road as well.
The Family Way LP soundtrack album was also released in Canada in June 1967 by London Records Of Canada as London MS 82007 STEREO. It is often regarded as the first Beatles solo album and that LP is described in more detail in the Beatles Canadian Discography Part 3 book. The film would be screened at theatres across Canada in the late summer and early fall of 1967, but Paul McCartney had actually written the score in late 1966, before starting work on the Sergeant Pepper album.
Capitol already had rights to their own music from The Family way film, and these two new tracks were not included on the London soundtrack LP. So a brand new Canadian Capitol "soundtrack" 45 was issued during the first or second week of July 1967. Capitol 5957 Sounds Sensational with The Mike Sammes Singers "Love In The Open Air" c/w Murray Head with The Blue Monks "Someday Soon" An odd coupling yes, but a great 45 for Beatles fans that summer. And perhaps something that was not going to make the charts. In fact, it was pretty much forgotten about and was not even mentioned in the Capitol Sizzle Sheet when it was issued. Murray Head had appeared in the film The Family Way as a character named Geoffrey Fitton, and he also composed the B-side and it has a very Zombies like feel with a really cool jazz sax solo.
The A side was the Paul McCartney track and is different to the track on the Canadian London album. It features vocals by the Mike Sammes Singers who would just a few weeks / months later add the "Oo Goo Ga Joobs" to I Am The Walrus.
Both tracks were taken from the film The Family Way, but what Canadian Beatles fans did not know, was that this Canadian Capitol 45 was a hybrid of two British 45s from EMI a few months earlier in 1967.
Columbia DB 8102 Murray Head with The Blue Monks "Someday Soon / You Bore Me" (January 13, 1967)
HMV POP 1584 Sounds Sensational with The Mike Sammes Singers "Love In The Open Air / Night Cry" (March 9, 1967)
This Capitol 5957 45 is interesting and important for Canadian collectors of Beatles recordings in the 1960s because it includes one track by Murray Head that was not included on the London soundtrack album, and one different version of the title song Love In The Open Air sung by a group of singers who would be used by The Beatles on I Am The Walrus, Good Night (White Album) and Let It Be (Spector version). And a couple of years later in 1970, Murray Head would achieve fame as the character Judas Iscariot in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
Just two week after the release of Capitol 5957 in 1967, The Beatles were back in the charts with "All You Need Is Love" (Capitol 5964, issued July 17th, 1967).
It was indeed the Summer Of Love ... and Love (was) In The Open Air !