I produced these LP's for RCA Records in 1968 &...

I produced these LP's for RCA Records in 1968 & 1969.

The Friends' "Grazin'" album is still my all-time favorite production from the 15 years that I was in the record business.

Each "Grazin'" song was hand-picked and "majority rule" voted upon by the group, our talented arranger, Ray Cork, and me - just like the 5th Dimension selected their material. Even the choice of a lead singer for each tune was first individually auditioned and then voted on - an amazing, ego-free democracy.

No one ever mentions it in their reviews, but listen to "Eli's Comin'" to witness an incredible performance by Jessica Cleaves and the group. They recorded this intricate vocal arrangment in an unbelievable one vocal "take". Ditto for a one take performace of "Grazin' in the Grass".

On the other hand, "Highly Distinct" was always, and still is, highly unlistenable. My favorite cut is "It's Just A Game". At this point in their career, the group had enjoyed back-to-back million selling singles and RCA asked (correction: DEMANDED) that a new album be produced immediately.

Well ... truth be told (as Harry Elston would say), the Friends had been on the road for months, headlined LA's Greek Theater with Tom Jones, and simply didn't have the time to put something special together for a follow-up LP. And most of the cuts had to be recorded live with a full orchestra because RCA didn't want us to spend time cutting individual sets of tracks as we had done for "Grazin'".

Thus, in a perfect world, RCA could have/should have released "I Really Hope You Do" (the "B" side of "Grazin' in the Grass") as the Friends' follow-up single to "Going in Circles" and allowed the group MUCH more time to put a sensational new album together. However, as it turned out, this wish was granted a year later (though I was no longer affiliated with the group), when Ray Cork produced the "Real Friends" LP. THAT album should have been the followup to our "Grazin'" LP - not "Highly Distinct". (And, had RCA released "It Don't Matter To Me" instead of "Time Waits for No One", I believe the Friends' string of monster hits would have been extended.)

Friends of Distinction fans: I recommend the "Grazin'" and "Real Friends" collections as the very best of this talented group's performances.