Sagittarius includes: Gary Usher, Glen Campbell, The Firesign Theatre, Curt Boettcher, Bruce Johnston.
Producers: Gary Usher, Curt Boettcher.
Reissue producer: Bob Irwin
Originally released on Columbia (9644). Includes liner notes by Dawn Eden.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Personnel: Curt Boettcher (vocals); Gary Usher, Bruce Johnston (vocals); Glen Campbell (guitar).
Audio Mixer: Bob Irwin.
Liner Note Authors: Dawn Eden; Joe Foster.
Recording information: 10/??/1966-08/07/1968.
Photographers: Guy Webster; Dawn Eden; Steve Besch; Clark Besch.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Wrecking Crew ; Doug Rhodes; Firesign Theatre; Michael Fennelly; Joey Stec; Lee Mallory; Sandy Salisbury; Steve Clark ; Ron Edgar.
Arrangers: Curt Boettcher; Gary Usher; Keith Olsen .
In an alternative universe, Curt Boettcher would be lauded along with Brian Wilson as one of the reigning geniuses of '60s California pop and psychedelia. After success as a writer/producer for others, Boettcher founded the Ballroom and then the Millennium, recording material that was far ahead of its time. Some of the material and much of the sensibility of those groups were brought to Sagittarius, Boettcher's collaboration with producer/composer Gary Usher (the Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, etc.).
In a revolutionary move for the time, Sagittarius was conceived purely as a studio group, and California pals like Glen Campbell and Beach Boy Bruce Johnston were brought in to work on PRESENT TENSE. The result is a marriage of pure pop, psychedelia and experimentalism that makes the PET SOUNDS-era Beach Boys sound like a bunch of high-school kids (or high schoolkids). Subsequent reissues of material by the Ballroom and Millennium are equally worthy of attention.
Professional Reviews
Record Collector (magazine) (p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] gorgeous, swirly mix of inventive string-and-vocal arrangements over a Californian bass-led rhythm bed."
