1998 - CD Version of Mike Love, Bruce Johnston & David Marks of the Beach Boys - Salute NASCAR

1975 - Magnetic Hits

1982 - German Electrola Information Service Factsheet - Gidea Park - Lightnin' Strikes

Rough translation

Gidea Park

Lighnin' Strikes — 2'59

My Maria — 2'43

Publication: 7.6.1982

Exactly one year ago, Gidea Park aka Adrian Baker had a huge hit in England with “Beach Boy Gold”, a medley of well-known Beach Boys songs. Now the multi-talented singer has re-recorded the old Lou Christie hit “Lightnin' Strikes” from 1966 and hopes for a comeback in this country as well.

1992-02-XX - Beach Boys Stomp 89 - "An Interview With Adrian Baker - 15th June 1991"

Interview Text

AN INTERVIEW WITH ADRIAN BAKER
JUNE 1991
I met Adrian in the lounge of the Grand Hotel - the Beach Boys were due to play next door at Brighton Centre that night, after a successful first night at Bournemouth. “Very surprising, full house - Carl doesn't normally get excited at shows but this one - he thought it was great. There's a new generation of people coming along, 'Who is this band, the Beach Boys, what's this sound?”

Adrian has been part of this sound now for ten years. Bruce Johnston had been keeping an eye and an ear on his career since 1975 and following Adrian's remarkable “Beach Boys Gold” medley, a one-man tribute to the group's music of the '60s, Bruce invited him to meet the rest of the band. He soon became a full time member and has been with them virtually ever since.

When not recording on on tour with the Beach Boys Adrian has been involved with Mike Love, either in the studio or with the Endless Summer Beach Band, “Doing these strange shows half way round the world”, and only three weeks earlier had been putting the finishing touches to “Crocodile Rock” the Beach Boys' contribution to the Elton John tribute album, “Two Rooms”. Adrian then revealed that there was a chance that he could be co-producing the group, with Bruce, in the near future and there were plans afoot for the guys to do some recording in England around Yuletide.

On stage Adrian is taking on what is essentially Brian's vocal role; apart from his lead vocals on “Don't Worry Baby” there are prominent falsetto lines on other numbers, notably “Surfer Girl” and “Dance, Dance, Dance”. I asked him what guitars are favoured by the band:- “I've just brought my Fender twelve-string on tour... originally the group were photographed with Fenders everywhere but now there are Gibson guitars all over the place. Oh yes, Al plays a Strat, an old white 1860 Strat!” I mentioned to Adrian that a couple of tours ago I heard the band rehearsing “Cottonfields” and “Sloop...” before a Wembley gig - not just doing a sound check but actually running over the harmonies. How could that be after a hundred years of singing the same numbers? “The problem is they get tired of doing the same harmonies so they swap them round. Al Jardine decides, “Oh, I don't want to sing this harmony any more, I'm fed up with it - I want to sing your part Bruce, you sing mine,” and over the years they've kept swapping parts around so at the end of the day everyone forgets which part to do - that's why the rehearsals are required. For a vocalist to just step into the Beach Boys, I mean a session vocalist who just vaguely knows the songs, it would be an absolute nightmare.”

And why the lack of good ol' Freshman-type acapella number? “I wish there was one in the set - we did do “Graduation Day” in rehearsals but it was thrown out. It sounded great, but was thrown out because it sounded so dated.”

You mean as opposed to “Surfin' Safari” for instance which doesn't sound dated? “Oh well, you know what I mean.”

But it always knocks people's socks off - who else in the world is doing stuff like that; and it's part of the Beach Boys' roots, corny but it sounds great. “Well, the decision makers in the band are Mike Love, Carl Wilson and Al Jardine - quite often Al and Carl will throw in a comment that they're not happy about something but Mike is the one who really analyses it at the end of the day. Carl looks after the instrumental side totally while Mike is more in control of the showmanship aspect of the band; vocally it's betwen Bruce Johnston and myself to make sure the harmonies and right.”

We talked about Good Vibrations and in particular the effective “Aaaah” that concludes the bridge section. Adrian pointed out that the chord is only four-part harmony “It sounds like ten, but it's only four and that's something about the Beach Boys, the original songs. Most of their tracks that everyone thought had six or seven parts going on, because it sounds so full, were only four - of course they were doubled.” (Adrian is referring to the practice of double-tracking on lead and backing vocals, a technique the group has employed on most of their recordings since “Surfin' USA”.)

“The sound that Brian created was... see, he learned about the beautiful inversions that the Four Freshmen used to do and it's always four-part that gives that gives that wonderful, warm sound.”

I asked Adrian if he was actually writing any new material with the group, “Yes, I suppose I am really - there's always ideas flying around. I'm also doing an album at the moment with the Endless Summer Beach Band and Mike Love which has been going on for a while now because of the touring - it's hard to fit the recording in. People moan and say “Why haven't the Beach Boys got a new album out?”, but their time off is minimal and then they don't want to go in the studio because they need that time off.” I supposed the studio work was as hard as the time spent on tour but Adrian reckoned it was harder, “Because there are more hours involved. You literally have to put in twelve hours a day whereas when you're touring at least you get to rest in a hotel for part of the day. I get a buzz from playing on stage but the nicest part is the thought, as in the studio, standing round the mic, the five of us - I'm more or less in Brian Wilson's position, and we're all singing oo's and aah's and it's wonderful. I did have a couple of years when I just couldn't stand the sight of a studio because I'd spent so many years, hour and hours in the studio but I've actually now got the incentive back, the enthusiasm is there in a big way - but I'm on the road all the time! I, personally, would love to take a year off and just work on a Beach Boys album.” And do you still just gather round one mic for the backing vocals? “Four 'pad' harmonies, just background oo's and aah's, say the middle harmonies, we would be round one mic, but if the bass line is a counterpart then that would go on a separate track.” But isn't it impractical (having no way to mix the parts after recording)? “Well, the idea is the balance is done with the voices themsleves as opposed to faders - you tell Bruce to stand back or Carl to move back a bit; it still works.”

So are the Beach Boys tired of touring? Would it not be more practical, especially at their age(!), to cut down on the concerts and spend more time in the studio working at their own pace? “The trouble is the studio, finacially, is not relevant. If they do a month on the road they will earn megabucks whereas if they do a month in the studio, and even if the record is a success, they won't earn that kind of megabucks.” But from an artistic point of view is there not the desire to maintain their... “I think the desire has dampened, over the years, to be artistic. I remember Mike saying that he doesn't want to spend time recording “arty” things - he'd rather do a rock 'n' roll thing that has a chance of making the charts, that the whole world can get interested in - which is sad for people like us maybe...”

So where will the Beach Boys be in five years time? “I think Mike Love will definintely go on stage forever, I think there's a chance that Carl or Al may decide to retire in the next five years... the problem is, people don't realise, there's such a mega organisation, the politics are so complex which causes problems and sometimes you can't help it, the problems can affect you.” And how does Adrian see his part within the group from here on? “I'd like to hear more 'signatures' in their records, that is to say the Brian sound of a hook, an obvious Beach Boys song. That's my attitude to future recording.”

Let's hope he is successful in this endeavour; Adrian has a refreshingly enthusiastic view of what the Beach Boys can still achieve in what is undoubtedly the twilight of their career. Earlier he had said, “I've tried to come up with a good reason why an English guy is playing with an American legend - I haven't done it yet.” However he later admitted “It's just for the sheer love of the music,” and there can be no better reason than that.

CHRIS WHITE

1982 - California Music - “British Beach Music” (CM61) - Adrian Baker Article & Discography

Article Text

ADRIAN BAKER
Adrian must be pretty pleased with the way his career is going. After an inital flash of success in the mid-seventies, the eighties so far have seen him go from strength to strength. His career at present is poised to take him into even stronger production deals with The Beach Boys camp than so far has been experienced with his work with Mike Love. The last 10 years have seen him remain very true to harmony sounds slap in the middle of the Beach Music vein and his output has been the most regular recently of the British singers involved in this type of music

His early successes on Magnet Records gave him the opportunity to set up his own 16 track studio in the basement of his East London home. Since then he has added to it and improved its comfort and facilities. Having his own studio and very steady relationships with manager and partner the next step came in early 1980 when he started Polo Records, his own label. So with his own publishing company as well (aptly titled Cellar Music), he now enjoys a very high degree of artistic and business control which suits him very well. This control control extendes almost completely through his music output because as a multi-instrumentalist he plays everything on the records (he now often uses a drum machine for ease) and sings every part except for Ellie Hope's lead vocals on the Liquid Gold releases.

The last two years have seen considerable chart action for Adrian. It began with through several more similarly styled, although not quite as big, follow-ups. Then a re-issue of his original “Beach Boy Gold” record sparked success for the Gidea Park name and more hits followed. Added to this he has come close with a couple of issues under his own name. Then during summer of 1981 came an incredible artistic and personal boost when out of the blue Bruce Johnston asked him to tour with The Beach Boys, also offering the possibility of recording and production. Adrian was naturally very exctied and immediately took a short test out trip to join the group for a couple of concerts on the East Coast. Things worked out and for several sections of their tours it was agreed that he should join, to a large extent filling the gaps left by Carl's departure. Adrian got on well with the group, especially Mike who remains the harmony/Beach Music driving force. However, throughout this period up to the present day he has stressed to me that he does not ever want to consider any move to the States, but he will certianly continue to get involved with the group. For obvious reasons his main interests lie in recording, writing and producing for the group:

“There's no future touring with The Beach Boys”

and his connections with Mike Love indicate that things are progressing well towards these possibilites. Mike has now made several short trips to the UK mainly to record at Adrian's studio and the results have been very fruitful:

“I'm really producing him. I'm telling him what I want from his voice. Mike really loves the old sound"

Tracks in various stages of completion are “Sun City”, “Fun Is Free”, “Summertime Music”, “American Girls”, “Goodtime Summertime Girls”, “Da Doo Ron Ron”, “Hawaii” and “Summertime Blues”. By the time this is being read, this last track is likely to have had at least a UK issue on Polo as The Endless Summer Beach Band. The other tracks, some of which are Baker/Love collaborations, are quite likely to surface in different places. One may be a Beach Boys' track, others may go for the 'California Beach' film project, or for subsequent Mike Love solo releases. There is also a possibility of re-recording Beach Boys' material for contractual reasons. Time will tell.

In the meantime Adrian is busy recording further releases of his own for Polo while he is back in the States with The Beach Boys. These are likely to be Gidea Park or Adrian Baker issues and include “Run Baby Run”, a re-issue of “California Gold” and possibly “Hang On Sloopy”. It is also likely that Adrian will wind up his association with the Liquid Gold name. The actual group will probably continue if they can get a new contract somewhere else. So with his personal and business life remaining firmly in England whilst his artistic life extends itself so fascinatingly, the future for Beach Music lovers in the UK and beyond is perhaps brighter than it has ever been.

Discography Text

DISCOGRAPHY
as ADRIAN BAKER
Magnet 34^{1 +}Sherry (Gaudio) I Was Only Fooling (Baker-Morgan)
Magnet 41 Candy Baby (Baker-Morgan) Dance To It (Baker-Morgan)
Magnet 61 So You Think You've Got It Made (Baker-Morgan) Don't Do It (Baker-Morgan)
Magnet 82 Why Haven't I Heard From You (Tracy) Vibrations (Baker-Morgan)
Magnet 117 Work Work Work (Baker) Marlena (Gaudio) Look For A Miracle (Baker) Cry Baby Cry (Baker-Seago)
MCA 395 I'll Keep You Satisfied (Baker) — (1978) Feel Like Dancing (Baker)
as THE TONICS
Magnet 67² All Summer Long (Wilson) — (1976) Stand Back (Napier-Bell-Craig-Baker-Morgan)
Magnet 52 White Christmas (Berlin) — (1975) Leave Me Alone (Baker-Morgan)
Magnet 74 Love Is Forever (Baker-Morgan) Take A Chance (Baker-Morgan)
PEBBLES³
Parlophone 5900 Goodnight Ma (Howard-Blaikley) Sadness On A Summer's Afternoon (Howard-Blaikley)
Parlophone 5921 First Time Loving (Howard-Blaikley) Party (Baker)
Deram DM 305 Stand Up And Be Counted (Howard-Blaikley) May In The Morning (Howard-Blaikley)
as BUSTER
Bradleys 310 Motor Machine (Baker-Morgan) Ring Around (Baker-Morgan)
Bradleys 7401 Super Star (Baker-Morgan) Rainbows And Colours (Baker-Morgan)
as RUDY
Warner Brothers K 16448 Last Time (I'll Cry Over You) (Baker-Morgan) We'll Be Together (Baker-Morgan)
Warner Brothers K 16528 Sylvie (Baker-Morgan) Going Home (Baker-Morgan)
as THE M SQUAD
Ariola ARO 150 Miss Caroline Newley (Baker) Miss Caroline Newley - Instrumental (Baker)
as GIDEA PARK ⁴ (see also Polo releases)
Stone SON 2162 Beach Boy Gold (various) — (1978) Lady Be Good (Baker)
Ariola ARO 167 The Boogie Romance (Baker) — (1979) From Me To You (Baker)
as LIQUID GOLD⁵ (see also Polo releases)
Creole CR 159 Anyway You Do It (Baker-Paul Di Vinci) — (1978) My Baby's Baby (Baker-Seago)
Creole CR 170 Mr. Groovy (It Feels So Nice) (Baker-Di Vinci) — (1979) C'mon And Dance (Hope-Knott-Routhe-Twynham)
Groups produced and/or arranged by ADRIAN BAKER:
ZIPS
RAK 225 Bye Bye Love (F & B Bryant) Evil Hearted Woman (Lomas-Whitcher)
RAK 237 Games People Play (Joe Smith) From The Bottom Step (Brown)
BOSTON POPPERS
Penny Farthing PEN 828 Did You Get What You Wanted (Seago-Baker) Whirlwind Girl (Seago)
STEVENSON'S ROCKET
Magnet 59 Here I Am (Smith-Waterman) Don't Love Seem Strange (Smith-Waterman)
PHOENIX
Pye 7N 45511 Black Is Black (Hayes-Wadey-Grainger) Beggin' (Gaudio-Ferina)
Dawn DNS 1110 Pictures Of You (Shephard-Phipps) Thrill Me With Your Love (Yates)

Albums:
as ADRIAN BAKER
Magnet 5009 INTO A DREAM — (1975) Vibrations (Baker-Morgan)
I Feel Fine (Lennon-McCartney)
I'll Surrender (Baker-Morgan)
Live And Love Together (Baker-Morgan)
Find Another Fool (Baker-Morgan)
Sherry (Gaudio)

Candy Baby (Baker-Morgan)
So You Think You've Got It Made (Baker-Morgan)
Get Away From Me Girl (Baker-Morgan)
I Was Only Fooling (Baker-Morgan)
Think About It (Baker-Morgan)
Is It Love (Baker-Morgan)
(Produced and Arranged by Adrian Baker & Roy Morgan)

Magnet (Unreleased) “Untitled” Wheeler Dealer, Magic Roundabout, Dancing In the Sky, Hollywood Hero, Silver Turns To Grey, Love Is Forever, Once Again

Bruton Music BRH 6 VOICES IN HARMONY (No artist name included. This lp (unreleased) contains twelve tracks of word-less vocal harmony ideas in varying styles and moods - some short, some full length. All tracks are written by Baker-Morgan.)
POLO
1 ° LIQUID GOLD Dance Yourself Dizzy (Baker-Seago) (1980) Dance Yourself Dizzy @ (Baker-Seago)
2 ^✕ DAZZ Everything's Electric (Baker) (1980) Lady Casanova (Baker-Da Vinci)
3 ADRIAN BAKER Crazy About You (Baker) (1980) Lovemaker (Baker)
4 ^✕° LIQUID GOLD Substitute (Baker-Seago) (1980) Substitute @ (Baker-Seago)
5 ° AERO California Gold (Baker-Wilson-Asher) (1980) Summer Girls (Baker-Morgan)
6 ° LIQUID GOLD The Night The Wine & The Roses (Baker-Seago) (1980) The Night The Wine & The Roses @ (Baker-Seago)
7 ° ADRIAN BAKER High Time (Baker-Seago) (1980) High Time @ (Baker-Seago)
8 ° LIQUID GOLD Don't Panic (Baker) (1980) Don't Panic @ (Baker)
9 DAZZ Dear Auntie Agatha (Baker-Chapman) (1980) Everything's Electric @ (Baker)
10° STEVIE JONES Kill Me Thrill Me (1981) WITHDRAWN/UNISSUED
11 ADRIAN BAKER ⁶ Don't Worry Baby (Wilson-Christian) (1981) Happy Birthday Brian Wilson (Baker)
12 IRMA THOMAS ⁷ Safe With Me (Anderson) (1981) Don't Stop (Anderson)
13 ^✕ THE GLITTER BAND⁸ Until The Next Time (Seago-Shepard-Rossall) (1981) Spaces (Seago-Leander)
14 ^✕° GIDEA PARK ⁹ Seasons Of Gold (various-Baker) (1981) Lolita (Baker)
15 ^✕° LIQUID GOLD One Of Us Fell In Love (Baker-Seago) (1981) One Of Us Fell In Love @ (Baker-Seago)
16 ^✕ CELEBRATION Celebration Gold (Various) (1981) Celebration Gold @ (Various)
17 ° LIQUID GOLD¹⁰ My Baby's Baby (Baker-Seago) (1982) My Baby's Baby @ (Baker-Seago)
18 ^✕° GIDEA PARK¹¹ Lightnin' Strikes (Herbert-Christie) (1982) Baby Come Back (Baker-Seago)
Albums:
Polo POLP 101 LIQUID GOLD¹² — (1981)
Could Be Tonight (Baker-Seago)
Substitute (Baker-Seago)
Mr. Groovy (Baker-Da Vinci)

Dance Yourself Dizzy (Baker-Seago)
My Baby's Baby (Baker-Seago)
Anyway You Do It (Baker-Da Vinci)
Polo POLP 102 GIDEA PARK — (1981)
California Gold (Wilson-Asher-Baker)
Don't Worry Baby (Wilson-Christian)
Beach Boy Gold (Various)
Summer Girls (Baker-Morgan)
Happy Birthday Brian Wilson (Baker)

Seasons Of Gold (Baker-various)
My Maria (Baker)
Baby Come Back (Baker-Seago)
(Produced arranged and recorded by Adrian Baker)
Recorded at Polo Studios, London.
All vocals by Adrian Baker.
All Instruments by Adrian Baker except drums which were played by Dave Walker and Pete Phipps
Co-Ordination by Mel Medalie.

ADRIAN BAKER DISCOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1: A UK Top Ten hit.
2: Reached No. 51 in the UK, thus missing out on the Top Of The Pops TV show.
3: PEBBLES was a local harmony group of the late sixties. Adrian's first recording. After the group folded, there was PLAYGROUND, which was also a harmony band but they did not record. However Playground became GIDEA PARK for some TV appearances.
4: The GIDEA PARK single releases around the world were quite interesting: Both AUSTRALIAN releases were issued in 12″ and 7″, The “Beach Boy Gold” release was issued in “surf blue vinyl” for approximately the first 600 12″ copies. In HOLLAND and GERMANY the first release was issued with a picture sleeve (both different) and the second release came with a picture sleeve in Germany. “Beach Boy Gold” was re-issued in the UK in 1981 in both 7″ and 12″ sizes.
5: Both Creole releases were issued in both 7″ and 12″ format.
6: 'B' side is a remixed version of a track done for a Roger Scot-Capital Radio Beach Boys' special.
7: A one-off release deal.
8: A release deal set up by EDDIE SEAGO.
9: The 12″ release had “Opus 17” as an extra song. There was also a limited DJ 7″ issue with the regular length as side A and the extended version as the flip.
10: 12″ issue was extended on the 'A' side and had a different flip - “Could Be Tonight” (Baker-Seago)
11: 12″ extended version with an added instrumental break and extra harmonies.
12: LIQUID GOLD also had an American only released lp containing: C'mon and Dance, My Baby's Baby, Secret Love, Mr. Groovy, Anyway You Do.
@ Denotes side is the instrumental track of the flip
° Denotes issued in both 7″ and 12″ format
✕ Denotes issued complete with picture/art sleeve.

POLO RECORD LABEL (additions):
19:^✕ SHERRY JONES Hang On Sloop (Russell-Farrell) Kill Me, Thrill Me (Baker-Seago)
20: WILDLIFE African Baby (Dietrich-Grabowski-Dietrich) Barcelona (Twynham)
21:^✕ U.K. SUPPORTERS Viva Espana (Caerts-Rozenstraten-Seago) We Are Magic (Baker)
23:^✕ GIDEA PARK Beach Boy Gold Part II (Various) Summer Girls (Baker-Morgan)
24:^✕ LA BATTERIE Let There Be Drums (Nelson-Podolor) Shogun (Spencer-Glennie-Smith)
25:^✕ ELLIE HOPE Lucky (Davis-Alexander) Shake (Davis-Hope)
Discographical Notes:
All had 12″ issues as well as the standard 7″ issues.
POLO 21 is ADRIAN BAKER with sundry brothers and friends.
POLO 22 was also released as a 7″ picture disc. Full artist credit is GIDEA PARK FEATURING ADRIAN BAKER.
POLO 23 is the first LIQUID GOLD issue with NO ADRIAN BAKER involvement. Also issued as a 7″ picture disc
POLO 25, 12″ issue had “Lucky” instrumental track extra.