"Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros
I'll never forget the first time I heard that guitar hook on Cleveland's WMMS FM in 1968. I ran to the Super Center and bought the album the next day.
The band Rhinoceros was an invented group like The Monkees, but with a more edgy sound. It was the brainchild of Paul A. Rothchild, then Elektra Records' talent scout and house producer, and fellow producer Frazier Mohawk. Together they invited twelve musicians to audition in September 1967, at Mohawk's house in Laurel Canyon. Included in this group were Doug Hastings (guitar) and Alan Gerber (keyboards and vocals). A second audition was held at a Los Angeles motel in November 1967, where approximately twenty musicians were reviewed After this meeting, John Finley (vocals) and Danny Weis (guitar) were chosen to work with Hastings and Gerber.
It's the intro guitar that grabs you right away, and if it sounds vaguely familiar it's because Danny Weiss was from the recently dissolved Iron Butterfly. Weis then suggested former Iron Butterfly bandmate Jerry Penrod as the bass player for Rhinoceros; his suggestion was accepted. Former Checkmate keyboard player Michael Fonfara was then invited to join the lineup. Fonfara had joined The Electric Flag in mid-November 1967, for sessions and a brief tour of the northeast U.S. and California. During mid-December, he ran into Finley and Hodgson at the Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles, and was encouraged by Finley to sign on to the Rhinoceros project. Based on Finley's recommendation, Fonfara was brought into Rhinoceros, following the completion of his obligations to the Electric Flag. The final member chosen, in early 1968, was Billy Mundi, former drummer for the Mothers of Invention.
The genius of this short 1:57 minute instrumental is how that unforgettable guitar jumps right out before other instruments are layered over it one at a time until it crescendos in a wall of sound and ends with the same guitar lick that begins the song.
I can still smell the vinyl when I first unwrapped it.