It's A Beautiful Day: Patti Santos (vocals); Hal Wagenet (guitar); David LaFlamme (violin); Linda LaFlamme (keyboards); Mitchell Holman (bass); Val Fluentes (drums).
Personnel: Hal Wagenet (vocals, guitar); David LaFlamme (vocals, violin, flute); Mitchell Holman (vocals, harmonica, bass guitar); Val Fuentes (vocals, drums); Pattie Santos (vocals, tambourine, percussion, bells); Bruce Steinberg (harmonica); Linda LaFlamme (piano, celesta, electric piano, harpsichord, organ, keyboards).
Photographer: Bruce Steinberg.
Although they are not one of the better-known San Francisco bands to have emerged from the ballroom circuit of the late '60s and early '70s, It's a Beautiful Day were no less memorable for their unique progressive rock style that contrasted well with the Bay Area psychedelic scene. Led by David LaFlamme (flute/violin/vocals) and his wife, Linda LaFlamme (keyboards), the six-piece unit on this album vacillates between light and ethereal pieces such as the lead-off cut, "White Bird," to the heavier, prog rock-influenced "Bombay Calling." One of the most distinct characteristics of It's a Beautiful Day is their instrumentation. The prominence of David LaFlamme -- former violin soloist with the Utah Symphony and original member of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks -- adds a refinement to It's a Beautiful Day's sound. Likewise, the intricate melodies -- mostly composed by the LaFlammes -- are structured around the band's immense virtuosity, a prime example being the exquisitely haunting harpsichord-driven "Girl With No Eyes." The noir framework, as well as lyrics such as "...she's just a reflection of all of the time I've been high," point rather candidly to the hallucinogenic nature of the song's -- if not the band's -- influences. The same can be said of the languidly eerie "Bulgaria." The almost chant-like quality of the track slowly crescendos into an hypnotic and dreamlike sonic journey -- led by LaFlamme's brilliant violin work. By virtue of being a Bay Area fixture in the late '60s, It's a Beautiful Day could also easily double as a hippie dance band -- which they can also execute with great aplomb -- as the wildly up-tempo "Time Is" amply proves. It's a Beautiful Day remains as a timepiece and evidence of how sophisticated rock & roll had become in the fertile environs of the San Francisco music scene. ~ Lindsay Planer
For years, this album was best known for its beautiful cover, a Maxfield Parrish-style pastiche which regularly shows up in collections of the best album covers of all time. The lilting, quiet folk-rock of this San Francisco band, led by David LaFlamme's swirling violin and Patti Santos' soaring vocals, was out of favor for quite some time, but latter-day fans of Belle and Sebastian, Nick Drake, and the Grateful Dead's rustic Americana period have discovered the gentle, calm feel of this classic of light psychedelia.
Starting with the majestically wafting "White Bird," an early high this band unfortunately never quite matched again, LaFlamme, Santos and company create an appealingly drifting, almost narcotic bliss. Of the other excellent tracks, the sultry "Wasted Union Blues" is a particular highlight. minimize