EDIT: Sitarswami's Indian Summer Scorcher

Sitarswami hasn't landed on th' Isle O' Foam© for a while now - he's been busy gathering Kirlian Auras at his lofty lamasery high atop Irv's 24hr Dri-Klene (Koreatown L.A. - walk-ins welcome) and weaving them into this perfect dreamcatcher of sixties sunshine! 

EDIT: Sitarswami sent me fifteen extra cuts that didn't make the first volume, which I've packaged as Vol. 2. Both vols are included (tagged with new covers) in the download at the end of the comments.

Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon were one of the most successful writing teams of the mid-6o’s. Over the same period, Boyce & Hart gathered greater acclaim (and sales) through their association with the Monkees and via their own recordings, but they didn’t have a Happy Together on their resume.

After putting in a couple years as a staff writer at We Three Music, Alan Gordon signed with New York music publishers Charles Koppleman & Don Rubin (or CHARDON, whose own careers were formed by meeting Don Kirshner and Al Nevins of ALDON) who were interested in Gordon’s song An Invitation To Cry. Needing a lead vocalist, Gordon’s group the Magicians enlisted Garry Bonner. Shortly after, he and Gordon began their collaboration. K&R also assumed production work as their client base grew to include Tim Hardin and the Lovin’ Spoonful. Soon K&R headed west working with the Turtles and Gary Lewis who each had hit records written by Bonner & Gordon. Koppleman & Rubin also became the team charged with resuscitating stagnant careers and Bonner & Gordon placed songs with Bobby Darin, Rick Nelson, and Gene Pitney among others. As the 1960’s flamed-out so did Bonner & Gordon’s career with one last hit for Three Dog Night in 1970.

Of the 34 songs included, 24 were released in 1967 with the remainder falling into 1968-1970. The one exception, Flo & Eddie’s revamped version of Goodbye Surprise appeared in 1972, but had been recorded by the Turtles for inclusion on the unreleased Shell Shock lp.

• Lady Fingers – Magicians (the last of their four singles and the only one with B&G credits)
• Contact – Teddy Neeley (pre-Hair and JC Superstar)
• She Knows – Bobby Darin (non-lp 45, he also recorded three B&G songs for his "Inside Out” lp including a sitar-laced Lady Fingers)
• Mary Elizabeth – Osmond Brothers (listen for the whoozy psychedelic harmonies!)
• Girls in Love – Gary Lewis (possibly my favorite B&G song, one of five B&G songs on his New Directions lp)
• She’d Rather Be With Me – Turtles
• You Know What I Mean – Turtles
• When the Good Sun Shines – Changin’ Times (K&R had worked with Artie Kornfeld prior to this group’s genesis so it’s no surprise they eventually reconnected. What is surprising is Kornfeld & Duboff dropping the Pied Piper Dylan impersonation and instead trying on their Cowsills’ clothes)
• Kitty Doyle – Dino, Desi & Billy (The Monkees never recorded a B&G song so I view the two DD&B tracks as the Davy Jones songs that never were)
• Me About You – Mojo Men (one of B&G’s best and most-covered songs, this version arranged by Van Dyke Parks)
• Genuine Jade – Moods (produced by Artie Resnick & Joey Levine)
• Dance at St. Francis – Barracuda (these guys had two singles, all four songs written by B&G)
• Animal Crackers – Gene Pitney (another non-lp single, reportedly Pitney hated this song which has only been re-issued as part of a large box set. I think it’s great and should routinely appear on his best-of collections)
• They All Got Carried Away – Parrots (B&G under a different name. “Be nice.”)
• Put the Clock Back on the Wall – “E” Types (a Nugget, also recorded by the Parrots as the b-side to the above)
• Jill – Gary Lewis (one of four B&G songs on the Listen! lp)
• Whatever Happened to Happy? – Mojo Men
• Small Talk – Claudine Longet (the best version of this oft-recorded – Harpers Bizarre, Gary Lewis, Lesley Gore – song. Male voice belongs to producer Tommy LiPuma)
• Moonshine – Rick Nelson (another fabulous non-lp track)
• Two in the Afternoon – Dino, Desi & Billy (was it the K&R association that kept B&G from placing songs with Don Kirshner’s Monkees?)
• Sleeping Out the Storm – Furnacemen (strange alias for a group already recording, not too successfully, as the Blades of Grass on the same label)
• Tiffany Rings – Gandalf (Pete Sando post-Barracuda, this lp also includes another B&G track)
• The Cat in the Window – Petula Clark (how did she escape from Tony Hatch for this one-off?)
• Happy Together – Turtles (“Bend over and spread ‘em baby, here comes my [#1 with a] bullet”)
• She’s My Girl – Turtles
• The Heart of Juliette Jones – Trav’lers (one previous release by this group as the Hung Jury on the Monkees-related Colgems label)
• (Til I) Run With You – Lovin’ Spoonful (no Sebastian, no Zally, not much left)
• Celebrate – Three Dog Night (B&G’s last big hit, the 60’s are officially over)
• Touch ‘n Go – Critters (post-Kapp Records, the group discovers a muscle they’ve never used)
• Goodbye Surprise – Volman & Kaylan (a great lp by the way)
• Double Good Feeling – Magicians (b-side to track #1)
• New Day – Gary Lewis
• As Long As You’re Here – Zalman Yanovsky (non-lp single, whose flip side is the instrumental backing track backwards)
• When the Good Sun Shines – Elmo & Almo (are B&G auditioning for Sesame Street?)