Jonna Gault and her Symphonopop Scene -"Watch Me" 1968 (RCA)
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Jonna Gault and Her Symphonopop Scene - "Watch Me"
I was roaming around my new local record store, Record Safari, in Atwater Village, and found an intriguing album cover. Jonna Gault didn't ring a bell, but I was curious about the "Symphonopop Scene" part of the album's title. At the very least, I thought it might sound like Lesley Gore, but the album's release date of 1968 means it would be at the height of the psychedelic era. Also, the album was still shrinkwrapped and unopened. Unplayed and unloved for 53-years. For eight dollars, I will take this record home and allow the air from the 60s to leave the shrinkwrap.
When I got home and researched Jonna Gault, I found her to be a ghost figure online. For sure, I imagine her to be somewhat attached to the Los Angeles Wrecking Crew, but alas, that may only be true in my imagination. The album Watch Me was recorded in Los Angeles and at the RCA studios on Sunset and Vine. According to the credits on this RCA release, she composed (except for a cover of "Eleanor Rigby" and "Good Vibrations), arranged, and produced Watch Me. Symphonopop is pretty much a good description of the sound, even though the word doesn't exist in the dictionary. The arrangements are very girl-pop (Gore, Sandie Shaw, etc.) but sound like a series of songs suited for the theater. A slight dramatic approach and the songs themselves seem to have a more extended narrative, or they could be placed in a piece as such a Broadway-driven musical.
There are traces of a Burt Bacharach approach but not as good as his work. Still, the album is mediocre, but there is something that grabs me. I love orchestrated pop music from the sixties, and this album fits that category and yet, very odd work. Ambitious in vision and sound, but missing the mark of greatness. It had to be something for a woman of that time, having a record deal, a budget, and total recording control. She is not far off from a Laura Nyro, and she touches on the middle-of-the-road pop of the late 60s, but the work is more artistic than commercial.
Failure has always been a plus for me. When one reaches for the stars and ends up face down on the gravel, well, I have their back. There will be nights in bed where I can't sleep, and I wonder why Jonna Gault didn't make it on the billboard charts. If Jonna Gault and Her Symphonopop Scene were a horrific project, I wouldn't think of it. What hurts the most is that I can sense that there was great promise in this work. She had that one-shot deal with RCA Records, and then nothing. The void speaks loudly but also in a cloud of mystery. Eight dollars is not a lot to spend on a used (unopened) album, but to me, it was the best eight dollars that I contributed to art that failed but somewhat grabbed my interest.
