The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968)

Posted By: pr0gger

Date: Feb. 16, 2010

Dusty Groove America:

An incredible concept album from the end of the 60s – the only set we've ever seen by The Family Tree, but a record of baroque brilliance that sits beautifully with some of the best of its generation! The session was recorded at the same time as Nilsson's classic Aerial Ballet – with the same arranger, producer, studio, and session musicians – and it's got a similarly spacious feel that goes way beyond conventional pop. George Tipton's backings are simply breathtaking – a majestic filling out of the group's initial ideas for the record, blending core Sunshine Pop tunes with strings, horns, piano lines, and more – all produced to perfection.

Rev-Ola:

Digitally remastered reissue of this album from the Canadian band led by Bob Segarini. Originally released in 1968, this was Segarini's first album, predating his work with Roxy, The Wackers and his excellent solo career. Beautifully re-mastered from the original mono master tapes (the stereo mix was done by an assistant engineer alone and is a travesty according to the band members!). Amazing packaging including previously unpublished photos and in-depth liner notes with the participation of Segarini.

forcedexposure.com:

A classic of West Coast psych-pop, and a much sought-after gem. After the breakup of San Francisco garage groups The Brogues (Ain't No Miracle Worker), most members went on to Quicksilver Messenger Service; bassist Bill Whittington formed The Family Tree with Bob Segarini of The Ratz and the enigmatic Lee Michaels. The latter soon dropped out, and a couple of innovative singles for the mysterious L.A.-based Mira label brought them to the attention of not only RCA, but Sunbury music's Dick Campbell and his friend and big hope, Harry Nilsson. With input from Harry (at this time being hailed as a genius by The Beatles and writing songs for everyone from The Monkees and The Turtles on down) the band embarked on the semi-conceptual album Miss Butters, an amazing semi-lost gem of West Coast psych-pop genius and certainly on a par with Harry Nilsson's own records of the period. First time EVER on CD for this enigmatic and collectable group. Beautifully remastered from the original mono mastertapes (the stereo mix was done by an assistant engineer alone and is a travesty, according to the band members!). Amazing packaging, including previously-unpublished photos and in-depth liner notes with the participation of the legendary Bob Segarini. A must for all fans of West Coast psych-pop and garage, and Harry Nilsson. Let's face it, if you were excited about The Merry Go Round, here's another slice of happiness for ya.

Mark Deming, All Music Guide:

While Bob Segarini is a hero to pop obsessives thanks to his bright, rollicking work with the Wackers and his superb solo album Gotta Have Pop, his recordings with his early group the Family Tree are a different and more sophisticated kettle of fish. The Family Tree's sole LP, 1968's Miss Butters, was a concept album at a time when that was still a very novel thing, and the LP boasted intelligent, beautifully crafted songs bolstered by polished, thoughtful production from Rick Jarrard and imaginative arrangements by George Tipton. Miss Butters was recorded while Jarrard and Tipton were working on another ambitious exercise in chamber pop, Harry Nilsson's Aerial Ballet, and a few of the same session musicians play on both albums, while Nilsson collaborated with Segarini on one of the album's tunes, "Butters Lament." While it would be going a bit overboard to suggest Miss Butters is a better album than Aerial Ballet, in many respects time has been kinder to the Family Tree's effort; Nilsson's work, fine as it is, is sometimes hampered by an air of nostalgia for an era that he never saw, but Segarini's songs evoke their time and place with a more potent and less self-conscious tone, and the tale of the sad life and times of an elderly school teacher remain poignant and effective without schmaltz. Suggesting a middle ground between the Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society and the best sides of the Left Banke, Miss Butters is a lovely, overlooked triumph of '60s chamber pop, and it documents a facet of Bob Segarini's talent that isn't evident on much of his later work.
Rev-Ola's 2007 reissue of Miss Butters, remastered in the original mono at Segarini's wishes, features four additional songs from non-LP singles, one of which, "Do You Have the Time," appeared with a different title and arrangement on Miss Butters, while "She Had to Fly" and "He Spins Around" capture a more organic sound than the precise arrangements on the album.

Tracks:
01. Birthday / Dirgeday
02. Melancholy Vaudeville Man
03. Any Other Baby
04. Sideshow
05. Mrs. McPheeny (Has Flu In Her Chest And Has Needed A Rest For So Long)
06. Butters Lament
07. Simple Life
08. Slippin' Thru My Fingers
09. Nine To Three
10. Lesson Book Life
11. Nickelodeon Music
12. Miss Butters
13. The Underture
+ Bonus tracks:
14. Keepin' A Secret
15. Do You Have The Time
16. She Had To Fly
17. He Spins Around

Line-up:
Bob Segarini (vocals, guitars)
Michel Dure (vocals, keyboards)
Vann Scater (drums)
Jimmy de Cocq (guitars, keyboards)
Bill Trochim (bass)

EAC Log

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 16. February 2010, 19:49

Family Tree / Miss Butters

Used drive : ASUS DRW-2014S1 Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
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Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
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Gap handling : Appended to previous track

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Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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1 | 0:00.00 | 1:29.32 | 0 | 6706
2 | 1:29.32 | 2:02.37 | 6707 | 15893
3 | 3:31.69 | 3:28.42 | 15894 | 31535
4 | 7:00.36 | 3:21.40 | 31536 | 46650
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11 | 28:06.34 | 2:06.30 | 126484 | 135963
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13 | 34:32.71 | 1:34.31 | 155471 | 162551
14 | 36:07.27 | 2:21.03 | 162552 | 173129
15 | 38:28.30 | 2:12.48 | 173130 | 183077
16 | 40:41.03 | 1:51.37 | 183078 | 191439
17 | 42:32.40 | 2:36.26 | 191440 | 203165

Track 1

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [12DD534C]
Copy OK

Track 2

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [78CD2B09]
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Track 3

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\03. Any Other Baby.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [50A9ECEC]
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\04. Sideshow.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [9763D850]
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\05. Mrs. McPheeny.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [8D778AD9]
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\06. Butters Lament.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [0833A979]
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\07. Simple Life.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [B2898ACA]
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\08. Slippin' Thru My Fingers.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [99450F04]
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\09. Nine To Three.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [AAFF681A]
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\10. Lesson Book Life.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [32617356]
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\11. Nickelodeon Music.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [5661E905]
Copy OK

Track 12

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\12. Miss Butters.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [E0266CFC]
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Track 13

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\13. The Underture.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [3DBA6DA0]
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Track 14

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\14. Keepin' A Secret.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [75DDDC53]
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Track 15

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\15. Do You Have The Time.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [753B410F]
Copy OK

Track 16

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\16. She Had To Fly.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [D7B39022]
Copy OK

Track 17

Filename C:\byPr0gger\The Family Tree - Miss Butters (1968 - 2007, Rev-Ola)[FLAC]\17. He Spins Around.wav

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Peak level 99.9 %
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Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [E713D16A]
Copy OK

All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

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