Thanks! This is one of the bands I used to want to hear pre-internet. Time passes and other things take precedence and I’d forgotten all about it but today you reminded me :)
Transcendence through music.....can't beat it! My finding this article "in my bin" is much like, I'm guessing, your original finding of the single on Discogs (I'm going to imagine you rifling through used-record-store bins in the '70s)!!
First, never heard of Grapefruit, and your revealing their story is one of astoundingly bizarre connections! At that late-'60s time, I sense "the biz" was large, yes, but also still small to the point of our gaped jaws at all those soon-to-be-accomplished folks getting together was so "everyday" at the time! And, they were all trundling on new turf themselves!
When I first laid eyes on the domestic label (on the YT video...and, before I started reading), I just figured Grapefruit had to be an American band, likely psych or garage, and probably from SF! As for Equinox, I didn't recognize the label graphics, so I didn't snap to THAT Equinox being Melcher's Equinox, which I later became intimately familiar with in the early- and mid-'70s!
Probably through articles and reviews in early-'70s (I was 18 in '73) Phonograph Record Magazine (PRM), Greg's BOMP!, and possibly CREEM, I had discovered Melcher's new label....by this time, now distributed by RCA with a vastly different Equinox logo. All I knew, at the time, was that every time RCA released an Equinox imprint, I had to get it! Terry was all about signing and recording Beach Boy-adjacent artists.....Bruce Johnston, Legendary Masked Surfers, and just other really cool and must-have records (that, of course, radio never played)! In fact, even finding them would usually send me to "rack jobbers" or holes-in-the-wall outfits that sold singles in bulk to club owners to fill their juke boxes! These places had stacks of 25-count gray boxes holding same-title singles. Most record collectors of the day, never really knew these places as a possible source of finding new and fascinating singles you'd not find at standard record stores, and maybe not even the promos in local (Houston, in my case) regional sales offices of a CBS or Warner Bros. (and, I checked)!
It felt weird going into these places (that sold to club owners, etc, for juke boxes), 'cause all I was doing was shopping for 1 copy of this single and that (never really knowing if I'd ever find anything I'd want....but, if I saw the Equinox logo, instant buy, no question! This became true of other labels and names, like Thom Bell, Gamble & Huff....see it? Buy it! The pay-off for rabid liner-note reading!!), and not several boxes of the same title! I felt naughty!!🤣
I'd love to find a full discography, now, of all the RCA/Equinox releases! I had a bunch, but I'm sure a lot of singles fell thru the cracks!
Anyway, Dan, thanks for sending me down an Equinox rabbit hole, introducing me to a band, by all rights, I should've been all over, if not in their late '60s heyday, then certainly back in my '70s record-hunting days! They're fun, evocative songs, no doubt, and I'm happy to hear they've helped right your psychic ship of late!🎶👍
My pleasure, Brad! That's the great thing about music — there's always more to discover! Doesn't look like there are many Equinox singles listed on Discogs, though now I really want to check out that Ilford Subway 45!
That actually looks like the lot of them! With the last one being in '76, all those look like there may not be any missing! That '74 Bill House album (which I had...once I saw it was an Equinox, I kept the promo I got at the radio station....sure enough, Johnston and Melcher are all over it!).....during the interview I did in 1975 with David Cassidy, House actually called David, and he took the call....you can hear David's end of it in the tape of the interview (it's on my FR&B somewhere...I taped the interview on reel-to-reel, and had it digitized at the turn of the century)!
House must have asked David what he was doing, 'cause all we heard was David saying, "Oh, just doing the shrimp shuffle here in Houston!" He was on a press tour touting his first post-Partridge Family album on RCA!
Great piece! I had no idea about all these connections! The implication of some of these tidbits is that Grapefruit was downstream from some of the Beatles/Apple ambitions at creating a wider imprint - do you think it's possible that Yes was inspired in part by the famous Yoko "Ceiling Painting" that famously entranced John at their first meeting?
I’m pretty sure Yes came up with their name accidentally- a member replied “Yes” to another member’s name suggestion, and they were all like, “That’s it!”
I love this, Dan! Here I was thinking I was one of the few who knew who Grapefruit were! I was also Nick Swettenham's art teacher (Geoff's son and Pete's nephew)! Nick is now a musician himself (https://www.nickswettenhammusic.com/).
I remember when Nick told me about his dad and uncle and I said "I have their record!" he was amazed. Firstly, I knew who they were, and secondly, I owned the album! It was fun to meet Geoff and to talk about it. He was humbled and amazed that a younger American living in London knew & owned his band's forgotten album. Sadly, Geoff passed away a few years ago.
On a side note, I wonder if Alexander ever looked back thinking "Damn, I could've been in AC/DC with my younger brothers!"
My guess would be that, given the gap of 15 years between him and Malcolm, Alexander never thought twice about that as a possibility. I do wonder what his thoughts on the Easybeats were, however; he was eight years older than George, but the Easys were having international hits before Grapefruit even got off the ground. And then of course the Easys' London-based period of decline happened at pretty much the exact same time that Grapefruit was hanging with John and Paul and having some chart success...
Thanks so much for this; I'm not an expert by any means but I'm surprised I missed this Easybeats / Young connection. (But no connection to the Flamin' Groovies George Alexander, obviously.) Great music and great writing!
Thanks! This is one of the bands I used to want to hear pre-internet. Time passes and other things take precedence and I’d forgotten all about it but today you reminded me :)
Hey, that's what I'm here for! Thanks for reading!
Never heard of Grapefruit. So good. Thanks for enlightening me with a new group to get into.
Knowing your tastes, I think you'll find them totally up your alley!
Transcendence through music.....can't beat it! My finding this article "in my bin" is much like, I'm guessing, your original finding of the single on Discogs (I'm going to imagine you rifling through used-record-store bins in the '70s)!!
First, never heard of Grapefruit, and your revealing their story is one of astoundingly bizarre connections! At that late-'60s time, I sense "the biz" was large, yes, but also still small to the point of our gaped jaws at all those soon-to-be-accomplished folks getting together was so "everyday" at the time! And, they were all trundling on new turf themselves!
When I first laid eyes on the domestic label (on the YT video...and, before I started reading), I just figured Grapefruit had to be an American band, likely psych or garage, and probably from SF! As for Equinox, I didn't recognize the label graphics, so I didn't snap to THAT Equinox being Melcher's Equinox, which I later became intimately familiar with in the early- and mid-'70s!
Probably through articles and reviews in early-'70s (I was 18 in '73) Phonograph Record Magazine (PRM), Greg's BOMP!, and possibly CREEM, I had discovered Melcher's new label....by this time, now distributed by RCA with a vastly different Equinox logo. All I knew, at the time, was that every time RCA released an Equinox imprint, I had to get it! Terry was all about signing and recording Beach Boy-adjacent artists.....Bruce Johnston, Legendary Masked Surfers, and just other really cool and must-have records (that, of course, radio never played)! In fact, even finding them would usually send me to "rack jobbers" or holes-in-the-wall outfits that sold singles in bulk to club owners to fill their juke boxes! These places had stacks of 25-count gray boxes holding same-title singles. Most record collectors of the day, never really knew these places as a possible source of finding new and fascinating singles you'd not find at standard record stores, and maybe not even the promos in local (Houston, in my case) regional sales offices of a CBS or Warner Bros. (and, I checked)!
It felt weird going into these places (that sold to club owners, etc, for juke boxes), 'cause all I was doing was shopping for 1 copy of this single and that (never really knowing if I'd ever find anything I'd want....but, if I saw the Equinox logo, instant buy, no question! This became true of other labels and names, like Thom Bell, Gamble & Huff....see it? Buy it! The pay-off for rabid liner-note reading!!), and not several boxes of the same title! I felt naughty!!🤣
I'd love to find a full discography, now, of all the RCA/Equinox releases! I had a bunch, but I'm sure a lot of singles fell thru the cracks!
Anyway, Dan, thanks for sending me down an Equinox rabbit hole, introducing me to a band, by all rights, I should've been all over, if not in their late '60s heyday, then certainly back in my '70s record-hunting days! They're fun, evocative songs, no doubt, and I'm happy to hear they've helped right your psychic ship of late!🎶👍
My pleasure, Brad! That's the great thing about music — there's always more to discover! Doesn't look like there are many Equinox singles listed on Discogs, though now I really want to check out that Ilford Subway 45!
https://www.discogs.com/label/188148-Equinox-4?sort=year&sort_order=asc
That actually looks like the lot of them! With the last one being in '76, all those look like there may not be any missing! That '74 Bill House album (which I had...once I saw it was an Equinox, I kept the promo I got at the radio station....sure enough, Johnston and Melcher are all over it!).....during the interview I did in 1975 with David Cassidy, House actually called David, and he took the call....you can hear David's end of it in the tape of the interview (it's on my FR&B somewhere...I taped the interview on reel-to-reel, and had it digitized at the turn of the century)!
House must have asked David what he was doing, 'cause all we heard was David saying, "Oh, just doing the shrimp shuffle here in Houston!" He was on a press tour touting his first post-Partridge Family album on RCA!
Thanks for that page link!
Great piece! I had no idea about all these connections! The implication of some of these tidbits is that Grapefruit was downstream from some of the Beatles/Apple ambitions at creating a wider imprint - do you think it's possible that Yes was inspired in part by the famous Yoko "Ceiling Painting" that famously entranced John at their first meeting?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/yokoonoofficial/2891959833
I’m pretty sure Yes came up with their name accidentally- a member replied “Yes” to another member’s name suggestion, and they were all like, “That’s it!”
I mean "Yes", the Grapefruit song!
Now that I hadn't thought of! In the immortal words of Ed Gein, could be!
Nice- a band from my favorite era of music I never heard of before!
I love this, Dan! Here I was thinking I was one of the few who knew who Grapefruit were! I was also Nick Swettenham's art teacher (Geoff's son and Pete's nephew)! Nick is now a musician himself (https://www.nickswettenhammusic.com/).
Wow, that’s amazing!
I remember when Nick told me about his dad and uncle and I said "I have their record!" he was amazed. Firstly, I knew who they were, and secondly, I owned the album! It was fun to meet Geoff and to talk about it. He was humbled and amazed that a younger American living in London knew & owned his band's forgotten album. Sadly, Geoff passed away a few years ago.
On a side note, I wonder if Alexander ever looked back thinking "Damn, I could've been in AC/DC with my younger brothers!"
My guess would be that, given the gap of 15 years between him and Malcolm, Alexander never thought twice about that as a possibility. I do wonder what his thoughts on the Easybeats were, however; he was eight years older than George, but the Easys were having international hits before Grapefruit even got off the ground. And then of course the Easys' London-based period of decline happened at pretty much the exact same time that Grapefruit was hanging with John and Paul and having some chart success...
Thanks so much for this; I'm not an expert by any means but I'm surprised I missed this Easybeats / Young connection. (But no connection to the Flamin' Groovies George Alexander, obviously.) Great music and great writing!
Thanks, Seth! Glad I could turn over that rock for ya!