Begin (The Millennium album)

Following the release of Eternity's Children's debut album, Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen began a new project that included members of the Ballroom and Sagittarius called the Millennium. Sandy Salisbury would later explain that "After the Ballroom disbanded, I got discouraged. I left music for a spell. But not writing. I got myself a sound-on-sound recorder and made my own demos. I recorded these late into the night in my rented North Hollywood house." before he was invited to record as part of the group with Boettcher. Unlike Sagittarius, the Millennium was described as "the original vision" of Boettcher. Mike Fennelly of the group stated that a "We were very enthusiastic about the creativity that was indeed at a high level for the initial writing, demo and master recording." The recording was completed between March and August1968. Certain songs on the album, including "5 AM", "I Just Want to Be Your Friend", "The Island", "Some Sunny Day" and "Karmic Dream Sequence no. 1" were actually recorded by Boettcher's previous group the Ballroom. Columbia acquired the rights to these songs from Steve Clark as part of its buy-out of Curt's Our Productions contract. Guitarist and songwriter Joey Stec stated that Columbia "put them on the record. But I don't really believe we had to. That was just because we had no management." On the album's completion, Columbia invested $100,000 into the recording, making it the most expensive record made by 1968. Much of the budget was due to Boettcher's method of preparing the record during the studio hours. ==Music==

David Howard in his book Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings, described the music on Begin as belonging to the "belatedly-dubbed genre" sunshine pop, noting that it was "perhaps the clearest distillation" of the genre. AllMusic described the genre as a form mid-1960s mainstream pop music that was mildly influenced by psychedelia and combined "rich harmony vocals, lush orchestrations, and relentless good cheer." Some of the lyrics and themes on Begin reflect the current world events and personal experiences happening to the members of the group. "To Claudia on Thursday" was written about Boettcher's wife Claudia who was pregnant at the time. Joey Stec described "It's You" as being about the establishment covering up information ranging from the Vietnam War to the Assassination of John F. Kennedy and Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, specifically noting the lyrics "You only let me see what you have planned for me / I guess they'll never be anything more". Doug Rhodes stated that "It's You" was his personal favourite song on the album. Lee Mallory described "I'm With You" as being written on Easter Sunday in 1966 after going to a love in at Elysian Park in Los Angeles. Mallory developed the chords for "There is Nothing More to Say" while Curt wrote the melody and Michael Fennelly wrote the lyrics. The final song "Anthem (Begin)" was developed by Curt and Doug. Sandy Salisbury described the song "Karmic Dream Sequence #1" as "perhaps the essence of the Millennium experience", by developing music that evokes "feelings from the deepest parts of what we were doing at that time in our lives. We were at once spontaneous in artistic expression and fixed in who we were as individuals." The song's lyrics were written by Boettcher and Lee with Boettcher and Keith Olsen developing the music. The song included a Japanese woman invited by Boettcher to play the koto on the song. Mallory spoke on "Karmic Dream Sequence #1", explaining that it came from a return trip visiting his grandmother for the last time before she had died. He wrote the first and second verse and showed it to Curt who wrote the bridge for it. "5 A.M." came from songwriter Sandy Salisbury who desired to "write a melodic piece about the quite early-morning time" Salisbury drew from his love of bossa nova music for this song, specifically Antônio Carlos Jobim. ==Release==

Before the release of Begin, a single of "It's You" backed with "I Just Want To Be Your Friend" was released as the album's first single in June 1968 on Columbia Records. In anticipation of the album's release, Columbia scheduled public listening parties in Hollywood, Chicago and New York. The label invited local disk jockeys, program directions, and members of the underground press to attend the events, at which members of the band and Gary Usher, Columbia's West Coast A&R man, answered press questions. Begin was released in August 1968 on Columbia Records where it received favourable reviews from music critics but described as a "commercial disaster" and failed to chart in the United Kingdom or United States. This led to the group not recording any follow-up records. Following the release, Boettcher created Together Records in order to secure greater artistic freedom. In 1990, Begin was re-issued on compact disc. ==Reception==

Throughout the 1990s, as pop-oriented music groups like Saint Etienne, the High Llamas and the Olivia Tremor Control started out, record collectors and music critics started to re-assess 1960s pop music, which led to the growth in popularity of Begin. From retrospective reviews, AllMusic described the album as a "bona fide lost classic" and that it was on the same level as "more widely popular albums from the era" such as The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Uncut noted that "Boettcher's ability to dismantle and reassemble structures gives the listener infinite possibilities for aural delight," and that "You could write a manual about 'To Claudia on a Thursday' alone, or you could simply lie back and let the cut-up sounds wash over your brain." ==Track listing==

Credits adapted from Begin reissue back cover and vinyl sticker from Sundazed. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from Begin reissue back cover from Sundazed. • Curt Boettcher – producer, performer • Keith Olsen – producer • Ron Edgar – performer • Lee Mallory – performer • Joey Stec – performer • Doug Rhodes – performer • Mike Fennelly – performer • Sandy Salisbury – performer • Gary Usher – executive coordination • Geller and Butler Advertising – album design • Bob Brown – personal management and associate ==See also==