Biography
In 1967 the Sagittarius single "My World Fell Down" climbed only to number 70 on the national charts, yet it endures as one of the period’s most striking experiments in psychedelic pop. The track evokes a missing Beach Boys classic from the “Good Vibrations”/SMiLE sessions through its luminous California vocal harmonies, its polished symphonic orchestration, and a startling avant-garde interlude built from carnival and bullfight sound effects. Its eccentricity may have blocked the Top 40 breakthrough it warranted, but Sagittarius could never have sustained a conventional career anyway; the name masked a studio-only venture created by producer Gary Usher, who had already co-written several memorable Beach Boys songs with Brian Wilson and helmed landmark Byrds albums.
Usher cut the Sagittarius sides during off-hours, drawing on the talents of Beach Boy Bruce Johnston and Glen Campbell, the latter taking lead vocal on “My World Fell Down.” The most consequential of these partners was Curt Boettcher, the songwriter, producer, and singer whose own cult reputation rests on the radiant California pop laced with psychedelic shading that he fashioned in that era, above all with the Millennium. Boettcher composed and sang the bulk of the material that filled Sagittarius’ 1968 Columbia album Present Tense.
Although the LP contained a severely truncated edit of “My World Fell Down,” the album itself departed from the progressive Beach Boys model. Instead it delivered buoyant California good-time pop lightly brushed with psychedelia—relentlessly upbeat, occasionally cloying, yet always immaculately arranged, especially in its stacked vocal harmonies. Less overtly commercial than the Association, another act Boettcher worked with, the record shared more ground with the Turtles and the Mamas & the Papas than with Pet Sounds or the Byrds. Despite moving roughly 40,000 to 50,000 copies, Present Tense has retained a devoted following and has been reissued repeatedly, frequently with extra tracks added.
Usher cut the Sagittarius sides during off-hours, drawing on the talents of Beach Boy Bruce Johnston and Glen Campbell, the latter taking lead vocal on “My World Fell Down.” The most consequential of these partners was Curt Boettcher, the songwriter, producer, and singer whose own cult reputation rests on the radiant California pop laced with psychedelic shading that he fashioned in that era, above all with the Millennium. Boettcher composed and sang the bulk of the material that filled Sagittarius’ 1968 Columbia album Present Tense.
Although the LP contained a severely truncated edit of “My World Fell Down,” the album itself departed from the progressive Beach Boys model. Instead it delivered buoyant California good-time pop lightly brushed with psychedelia—relentlessly upbeat, occasionally cloying, yet always immaculately arranged, especially in its stacked vocal harmonies. Less overtly commercial than the Association, another act Boettcher worked with, the record shared more ground with the Turtles and the Mamas & the Papas than with Pet Sounds or the Byrds. Despite moving roughly 40,000 to 50,000 copies, Present Tense has retained a devoted following and has been reissued repeatedly, frequently with extra tracks added.
Albums