Greater California - All The Colors [2009]

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The summer of 1976; three months set to a sound track of AM Radio. We would sing along with the songs from the backseat and secretly hope that our moms would just keep driving and that somehow our summer would never stop. A sunset nation where each day was full of endless possibilities; we had no plans and no expectations, but every single moment was somehow magical. This was the optimism of being young, as we remember a sound inspired by the experiences of growing up in California during the 1970’s.

Hailing from the burghs of Long Beach, the band Greater California bring us a whole new distinct sound on their third album All the Colors. Produced with Ikey Owens (Mars Volta, Crystal Antlers) and includes an impressive list of guest musicians (most notably percussion genius Steven Hodges of Tom Waits), All the Colors is a summertime landscape likened to the works of Brian Wilson, the Zombies, Harry Nilsson, the Velvet Underground and the Byrds, full of jangly 12-string guitars, rich vocal harmonies, a big bag of percussion, vibraphones and marimbas, a stray trumpet, and the ever inviting sounds of the hammond organ and wurlitzer electric piano.

The new LP is a fixation of growing up from the stories told and listened to along the way— whether through the hills and valleys seen from past road trips or under the soft lights of a coastal downtown—_All the Colors_ can certainly usher in something to smile about. With the first two releases making their debut in the CMJ Top 200, Greater California established their unique blend of sunshine pop and underlying psychedelia with critical acclaim. The band has toured the west coast and regularly plays shows in and around the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, sharing stages with such notable acts as Calexico, Cold War Kids, Quasi, Richard Swift, American Analog Set, The Tyde, The Kingsbury Manx, Crystal Antlers, Fruit Bats and The Watson Twins.
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