THE SANDPIPERS: "Softly"

Original released on LP A&M SP 4147

(US, August 1968)

THE SANDPIPERS: "Come Saturday Morning"

Original released on LP A&M SP 4262

(US, July 1970)

"Come Saturday Morning" was the Sandpipers' last hit album, featuring the hit title track, plus the minor hit "Free to Carry On" and the theme from "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." The sound on "Come Saturday Morning" is more vaguely psychedelic and rock-influenced than their past records, but the light vocals still dominate the proceedings. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

THE SANDPIPERS '67

Original released on LP A&M 
SP 4125 (stereo) / LP 125 (mono)
(US, May 1967)

The Sandpipers were a male vocal trio that recorded a handful of easy listening pop hits in the mid-'60s. The group was distinguished by its light, breezy harmonies, which floated over delicate, breezy string arrangements, as well as the occasional appearance of a wordless female backing vocalist who drifted in and out of the music. Though they didn't manage to have a long, sustained career, the group did have one Top Ten hit with "Guantanamera" in 1966. Originally, the Sandpipers were known as the Four Seasons. The three members - Jim Brady, Mike Piano, and Richard Shoff - were part of the Californian Mitchell Boys Choir before they formed their own group. Shortly after their formation, they learned that there was a New York group using the name the Four Seasons, so they changed their name to the Grads. As the Grads, they cut a handful of singles, which helped the group secure a residency at a Lake Tahoe nightclub. After the Grads had been performing in Lake Tahoe for a while, a friend of the group introduced them to trumpeter Herb Alpert, who ran his own record label, A&M. Impressed, he signed the group to a record contract. A&M released a handful of singles by the Grads before the trio changed its name to the Sandpipers. 

None of the singles the group released were successful until their producer, Tommy LiPuma, recommended that they record a South American folk song called "Guantanamera." Once "Guantanamera" was released in 1966, it became a major hit, reaching the Top Ten in both the United States and Britain. The Sandpipers managed to follow "Guantanamera" with several minor hits, including versions of "Louie Louie" and "Kumbaya." During this time, the group had taken to recording and performing with a supporting female vocalist named Pamela Ramcier. Ramcier contributed ethereal, wordless vocals to the group. Her vocals never acted as harmonies to the group's singing; they functioned in a supporting role, much like the strings that comprised the band's instrumental backing. Although Ramcier was never credited on the albums and was always shrouded in shadows during concerts - though her hip, mod outfits complete with miniskirts and go-go boots often made her more noticeable than the actual Sandpipers - her voice was one of the most distinctive elements of the group's music. In 1970, they contributed songs to "The Sterile Cuckoo" ("Come Saturday Morning") and Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". Though the Sandpipers continued to record into the '70s, their audience diminished with each successive year. After spending five years without any chart success, the group disbanded in the mid-'70s. (Stephen Erlewine in AllMusic)

THE SANDPIPERS Debut Album

Original released on LP A&M LP 117 (mono) / SP 4117 (stereo)

(US, July 1966)

Judging by the popularity of the Sandpipers' debut long-player, "Guantanamera", the mid-'60s were primed for an easier contrast to the increasingly raucous strains of rock & roll. The idea of overhauling modern material - from a variety of sources and genres - into soft and affective ballads and in English and Spanish was (and remains) a novel concept. Behind the scenes, staff producer Tommy LiPuma and musical arrangers Nick DeCaro and Mort Garson were molding vocalists Jim Brady, Mike Piano, and Richard Shoff - and the often uncredited Pamela Ramcier. They wanted to create a product structurally similar to what Herb Alpert - co-owner of the Sandpipers' A&M Records label - had done with his Tijuana Brass. The plan worked as the LP went all the way to a very respectable number 13 on the Pop Album chart. The title track - from Pete Seeger's adaptation of a poem by Cuban writer Jose Marti - fared even better, landing in the Top Ten Singles survey.

It was followed into the countdown by a rich and dreamy Latin-flavored reading of the "garage" classic "Louie Louie" - in Spanish, no less. That bilingual performance style permeates several melodies that would have been familiar to the intended audience. Among them are "Strangers in the Night" - which is also given a hauntingly beautiful and contemporary introduction - as well as the traditional Mexican folk tune "La Bamba." The Sandpipers even take on the British Invasion with a mellow and otherwise outstanding arrangement of the Beatles' "Things We Said Today." Equally worthy of repeated spins is the light optimism in the update of Vince Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and the closer, "Angelica." The former evokes the sanguine quirkiness of the mid-'60s Harpers Bizarre quintet, while the latter embodies the opposite end of the emotive spectrum as the Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil selection is a noir ballad that offers darker sonic shading than the more popular versions by Scott Walker, Gene Pitney, or the Sandpipers' easy listening rival Percy Faith. (Lindsay Planer in AllMusic)