The First Class - The First Class (1974)

The First Class is John Carter's studio project after The Flower Pot Men. The studio band was made up of John Carter, Tony Burrows, and Chas Mills. John Carter wrote all the songs with his wife Gillian Shakespeare. The First Class are best remembered for their smash hit "Beach Baby", which mimics the production styles and sound of The Beach Boys.

John Carter, Tony Burrows, and Chas Mills had no interest in touring, so they hired a group of 5 musicians to perform the song live. The 5 musicians, as well as John, Tony, and Chas are pictured on the front cover of the album, though the 5 musicians that performed the song live took no part in recording the album.


Tracklist:
1. Beach Baby
2. Won't Somebody Help Me
3. What Became Of Me
4. Surfer Queen
5. The First Day Of Your Life
6. Long Time Gone
7. Dreams Are Ten A Penny
8. Bobby Dazzler
9. The Disco Kid
10. I Was Always A Joker

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The Flower Pot Men - Let's Go To San Francisco (1967/1988)

The Flower Pot Men were a California-obsessed British sunshine-psych group from the Late 60's. The band was a studio group created by ex-members John Carter and Ken Lewis, of The Ivy League and Carter-Lewis & The Southerners. The Ivy League were known for recording vocal harmonies for The Who's early records, as well as recording the first version "My World Fell Down", which later became a famous non-hit for Sagittarius. After The Flower Pot Men, John Carter wrote the smash hit "Beach Baby" for First Class.

The Flower Pot Men was a studio project for John Carter, and Keith Lewis, who got a minor hit at the tail end of the Summer Of Love with "Let's Go To San Francisco", and had released 4 more singles, one under the moniker Friends. Though none of those singles were hits, and the group dissolved in 1970. Over all, the band recorded a couple LP's worth of tunes, this album compiles the highlights of their recordings.  I would highly recommend this album to fans of the late 1960's Beach Boys, and The Byrds.

Tracklist:
1. Let's Go To San Francisco Pt. 1
2. Let's Go To San Francisco Pt. 2
3. A Walk In The Sky
4. Am I Losing You
5. You Can Never Be Wrong
6. Man Without A Woman
7. In A Moment Of Madness
8. Young Birds Fly
9. Journey's End
10. Mythological Sunday
11. Blow Away
12. Piccolo Man
13. Let's Go Back To San Francisco
14. Silicon City

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