Without nearly enough fanfare, the fine folks at Sundazed have reissued one of the greatest albums of the Sixties on vinyl. Take A Picture by Margo Guryan was supposedly unappreciated in its era but because of its the sound, the songwriters of a million indie-pop bands in the Eighties and Nineties started taking copious notes. The breathy vocals of Margo, the spry melodies, and the airy arrangements have made this record a real classic. Sundazed have finally issued it in mono and the sound here makes an already warm record even more welcoming.
From the breezy "Sunday Morning" and to the peppy "Don't Go Away", a listener can hear the sort of thing that made Guryan an in-demand songwriter for acts like Spanky & Our Gang and Mama Cass. However, Margo's delivery of these tunes is quietly assertive, and somehow more modern than those other singers. What we hear here, on something like "Sun", is a less austere Nico, in my opinion. And on "Take a Picture" the twists and turns of the rambling hooks, and the harpsichord in the background, place this number closer to tracks from The Left Banke than The Mamas and the Papas, for example. Guryan sings as if she doesn't quite care what she's singing, and it's that insouciance that lots of other singers have tried (and failed) to replicate since. For a newcomer, it's something that suggests France Gall or Jane Birkin in spots.
This mono mix suits the compositions of this familiar record, such that it almost feels like you're hearing it for the first time. There's more immediacy here than before, maybe, with a number like "What Can I Give You?" being even more charming than it was already. On "Think of Rain" the mellotron (I think it's a mellotron) lends this a vibe that seems parallel to that conjured up by Broadcast and The Clientele decades after the fact. Still, there's nothing precious here as this music, and all of Take A Picture, is simple, precise, and lovely. There's not an element within the grooves of anything here that feels wasted, and really not a note either. That's the enduring strength of this record, that it sounds like this seemingly effortlessly, as if it just dropped down from the clouds. One doesn't want to diminish the artistry of Margo Guryan by saying that but, rather, highlight how well she did something that others for decades belabored and got wrong sometimes.
Take A Picture is out now via Sundazed.
[Photo: Bandcamp]