Take a Picture (album)

Take a Picture is a 1968 album by singer-songwriter Margo Guryan. It is to date her sole album release.

Take a Picture
Studio album by
Margo Guryan
ReleasedOctober 1968[1]
RecordedNew York[2]
GenreSunshine pop, baroque pop
Length30:52
LabelBell
ProducerJohn Hill, John Simon, David Rosner[2]
Margo Guryan chronology
Take a Picture
(1968)		 25 Demos
(2001)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]

History

Previously primarily a songwriter, Margo Guryan signed to Bell Records as an artist, recording an album, Take a Picture (1968), full of light, jazz-tinged pop melodies, produced and arranged initially by John Simon, then when he became unavailable, by John Hill, both overseen by David Rosner. The musicians on the record included Hill on guitar, Kirk Hamilton (flute, bass), Phil Bodner (oboe), Paul Griffin (keyboards) and Buddy Saltzman (drums).[4]

John Simon produced and arranged "Don't Go Away" prior to leaving to produce Janis Joplin. Simon had worked on an arrangement of "Think of Rain" for The Cyrkle that was not used, which incorporated aspects of Bach's "Air on the G String". This inspired the writing of "Someone I Know", which incorporates "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".[2]

The album was preceded by a single entitled "Spanky and Our Gang", a tribute to the band who had had a hit with "Sunday Morning", backed with her own version of "Sunday Morning".[5] The single was included on the Japanese reissue of Take a Picture.[6]

Take a Picture was praised by Billboard, who remarked on Guryan's "fine sound" which it characterised as "commercial" and said "should insure strong sales".[1] However Guryan refused to tour, having been married to a jazz musician and having seen "too much – performing required an agent, and a manager and a lawyer and a booking person and... you got owned by these people – they told you where to go, how to look, how to dress, what to say, and I didn't want that! [...] I guess I had about enough 'daddy' when I was five, and I just didn't like being told what to do." As a consequence of this, the label ceased promoting the album and it thus failed to make an impact.[7][8] Resigned to this, Guryan withdrew from performing, although she continued as writer for April-Blackwood for several years afterwards, and worked with Rosner producing records for other artists.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Margo Guryan

  1. "Sunday Morning" – 2:20
  2. "Sun" – 2:36
  3. "Love Songs" – 2:37
  4. "Thoughts" – 2:25
  5. "Don't Go Away" – 2:04
  6. "Take a Picture" – 3:08
  7. "What Can I Give You?" – 2:31
  8. "Think of Rain" – 2:25
  9. "Can You Tell" – 2:34
  10. "Someone I Know" – 2:46
  11. "Love" – 5:26

Personnel
Technical
  • Fred Catero, Glen Kolotkin, Lou Waxman, Roy Segal – engineer

References
  1. Billboard Album Reviews – Special Merit Picks, Billboard 19 October 1968, p.72
  2. Q & A with Margo Guryan ~ mtt (music times two)
  3. Swihart, Stanton. "Take a Picture – Margo Guryan". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. http://www.tangents.co.uk/tangents/main/2003/august/guryan.html
  5. Top 60 Pop Spotlight, Billboard, 6 April 1968, p.63
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Iain Lee's Best Bits". 13 October 2010. Absolute Radio. Archived from the original on 12 November 2011. Missing or empty |series= (help)
  8. Wolk, Douglas (9–16 August 2001), "Taken Pictures – The Margo Guryan Revival", The Boston Phoenix, archived from the original on 30 March 2013, retrieved 24 July 2012
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