Chip
Douglas
Douglas Farthing HaDouglas Farthing Hatlelid, better known as Chip Douglas, is a
songwriter, musician (bass guitar and keyboards), and record
producer, whose most famous work was during the 1960s. He was the
producer of some of the Monkees biggest hits, including "Daydream
Believer" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday".
Douglas Farthing HaDouglas Farthing Hatlelid (born August 27,
1942), better known as Chip Douglas, is a songwriter, musician
(bass, guitar and keyboards), and record producer, whose most
famous work was during the 1960s. He was the producer of some of
the Monkees biggest hits, including "Daydream Believer" and
"Pleasant Valley Sunday".
Douglas was raised in Hawaii
and began his musical career with a folk group he formed in high
school, "The Wilcox Three", modeled after The Kingston Trio.
During a trip to California, they were discovered by a
well-known booking agency and signed by RCA/Camden to record an
album at their studios in Hollywood.
The group dissolved
and Douglas, along with Cyrus Faryar and noted rock photographer
Henry Diltz, formed the Modern Folk Quartet (along with musician
Jerry Yester) in Los Angeles. They were signed by Warner Bros.
and recorded two albums: Modern Folk Quartet and Changes. They
also appeared as themselves in a nightclub scene for the Warner
Bros. movie Palm Springs Weekend, starring Connie Stevens and
Troy Donahue (1963). MFQ spent the next several years touring
the U.S. playing college concerts.
The Modern Folk
Quartet was signed by producer Phil Spector in 1966, and
recorded a song, "This Could Be the Night", co-written by
Spector and up-and-coming singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. The
record was not released at that time, but Douglas and Nilsson
became friends. In the latter half of 1966, Douglas was a member
of the short-lived Gene Clark Group, a band featuring the
ex-Byrd The Byrds Gene Clark, ex-Grass Roots Joel Larson, and
Bill Rinehart, formerly of The Leaves. Clark disbanded the group
at the end of that year without having recorded or released any
records.
When The Turtles' bassist Chuck Portz was fired
from the band, Douglas was asked to take his place. His first
record with them was "Happy Together", which they'd decided to
record after hearing a well-worn demo that had been passed on by
numerous other artists. Douglas played bass and did the
arrangement that was recorded, and it became a huge hit for The
Turtles, ousting The Beatles' "Penny Lane" from the #1 single
position on the American pop charts.
Seeing The Turtles
perform at Hollywood's Whisky a Go Go in early 1967, The Monkees'
Michael Nesmith approached Douglas and asked if he'd like to
become the new producer for The Monkees, who were tired of the
"manufactured" recording setup they'd used thus far. Douglas
answered candidly, "I've never produced a record in my life."
Nesmith, who had produced album tracks for the group, but had
little pull with their label Colgems Records. assured him,
"Don't worry; if you're willing to quit The Turtles, I'll show
you everything you need to do."
Douglas accepted
Nesmith's offer, and joined The Monkees in the studio, first to
create a new single with all four Monkees playing.
Unfortunately, it couldn't be released because of a publishing
restriction imposed by Screen Gems (who both produced The
Monkees series and controlled their music publishing). Douglas'
next Monkees project was their Headquarters album. Recorded over
six steady weeks of sessions at the RCA Studios in Hollywood,
Headquarters was the first album to feature The Monkees playing
on every track, to refute the accusation that they couldn't play
their own instruments, and was regarded by all four members as
their 'first album'. Douglas contributed a song, "Forget That
Girl", and joined them on bass guitar in the studio, freeing
Peter Tork to play keyboards and guitar. Other sidemen rounded
out the sound, but the core was The Monkees themselves. The
album was released in the spring of 1967, and began a steady
climb up the charts, eventually reaching #1 on Billboard's album
chart, but was displaced by the latest Beatles album, Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
No singles from
Headquarters were issued in the United States, but Douglas
nonetheless scored hits working with The Monkees that year,
first with "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (written by Gerry Goffin and
Carole King), which featured an innovative guitar intro composed
by Douglas and played by Nesmith. Later, Douglas became aware of
a song, "Daydream Believer", written by his friend John Stewart.
He thought would be perfect for Davy Jones, and Tork gave its
memorable piano intro. The song became the band's all-time
second-biggest single and was included on the 1968 album “The
Birds, The Bees & The Monkees”. Douglas was pleased to have made
hit records with The Monkees, but was disappointed that they
weren't able to erase the common misconception that The Monkees
weren’t actually musicians, and that the press took little
notice of their accomplishments.
Douglas next produced
their album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones, Ltd., on which
he also played bass. Unlike Headquarters, it was done in several
different studios around the U.S. between Monkees tour dates,
and was played by the band and augmented by session musicians.
He also introduced the Monkees to Harry Nilsson, who played them
a selection of his original songs, and became friends with the
band. One of the songs, "Cuddly Toy", was covered by The Monkees,
and featured on both the Pisces album and an episode of their TV
series. Douglas has been quoted as saying, “I like to think I
gave Harry his big break, which resulted in a record deal with
RCA”.
As 1967 ended, The Monkees wanted to take full
control of their music, and said farewell to Douglas, who
returned to producing The Turtles. The first project was The
Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands album, the name of which
was taken from the title track, co-written by Douglas and Harry
Nilsson. It also included two more Turtles’ chart toppers: “Elenore”
and “You Showed Me,” which was the last Turtles’ hit'
Douglas had performed "You Showed Me" with Gene Clark in 1966,
while he was a member of The Gene Clark Group. Originally an
uptempo number, the slow, moody arrangement came about by
accident. Douglas was demonstrating the song for vocalists
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, on an organ whose bellows was
broken, requiring him to play it slowly. Douglas told them "This
isn't the way it's supposed to sound," but Kaylan and Volman
disagreed, thinking the new tempo would be perfect — correctly,
as it happened.
Douglas kept in touch with The Monkees
and returned in 1969 to record his composition "Steam Engine",
with Micky Dolenz on vocals. The song appeared in reruns of
their TV show.
In 1976, Douglas re-teamed with Dolenz,
Jones and Tork to record the single, “Christmas is My Time of
Year”, co-written by Douglas and Howard Kaylan. By then, Nesmith
was no longer affiliated with the group.
In 1986, a
Monkees reunion tour reawakened interest in the band, and Rhino
Records reissued all their original albums, including their work
with Douglas.
Douglas has appeared in several
documentaries about The Monkees, reminiscing about his work with
the band.
The Modern Folk Quartet reunited in 1975 and
began to perform again, often appearing at the famed Ice House
in Pasadena, California. For several years, they teamed up with
ex-Kingston Trio member, Dave Guard, to back him in his solo
act. In the eighties, MFQ recorded several albums for a Japanese
record company. They've also toured Japan, where they remain
popular (1988, 1990, 2003, 2005 and 2011). Douglas continues to
write and produce records in a variety of genres, and divides
his time between California and Hawaii
Any contributions to this item will be
gratefully accepted
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