The Neon Philharmonic

Psychedelia's sway over the closing years of the 1960s prompted even mainstream pop outfits such as the 5th Dimension, Kenny Rogers, and the Association to experiment in that vein. The Neon Philharmonic emerged chiefly as the outlet for Nashville-based songwriter, arranger, and keyboardist Tupper Saussy, with singer Don Gant rounding out the core lineup. In the middle of 1969 the ensemble scored an unassuming Top 20 pop success with the breezy single "Morning Girl," a track that proved far less distinctive than the project's debut LP, The Moth Confesses. That album unfolded as something akin to Jimmy Webb on acid, its sweeping orchestral charts and lofty, theatrical lyrics undermined by dated, awkward flourishes that now evoke a suburban bookkeeper joining his children on an ill-advised LSD session in hopes of staying current.

Saussy's most notable earlier work had been his contributions to The Swinger's Guide to Mary Poppins, an album offering jazz interpretations of tunes from the family film; neither that project nor the subsequent "Morning Girl" single hinted at the expansive song cycle he would assemble for The Moth Confesses. The finished record, however, favored inflated orchestrations, Gant's plainspoken vocals, and excessively sentimental words that aligned more closely with Rod McKuen than with Van Dyke Parks. The Neon Philharmonic issued one further album along with several singles and remained active through 1975. Gant, who had previously worked as a session vocalist, passed away in the mid-1980s. Saussy, true to his eclectic inclinations, later became an anti-tax advocate and went into hiding during the 1980s to evade Federal authorities.