Bring You Candy Power is the second and last album by the American Sunshine-Pop Band The Candymen.
The Candymen started as a Rockabilly influenced Pop Band in the Mid-60′s on the American State of Alabama, as The Webs. They were heavily inspired by figures like Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, but also by the Pop Sound that had came with the new Generation, which ended up creating a very appealing sound to the Locals, leading to them being picked up by Local Producers to make a couple recordings and enabling them to live off their act. When Roy Orbison was looking for a Band to back him on his American Concerts, he chose The Webs to do it, leading to the name change to The Candymen. It was the worst moment in Orbison’s career, and although his Albums and Concerts were getting a lot of attention in Europe, his American gigs went unnoticed, and so did The Candymen, never getting a huge amount of attention from anyone (they had a reputation as a very good live Band it seems). ABC Records picked them up and recorded two LP’s with them (The Candymen and Bring You Candy Power), which never achieved any kind of success. Eventually, by the end of the 60′s, they merged into what was to become the Atlanta Rhythm Section. (by 60-70rock.blogspot)
The Candymen with Roy Orbinson
The Candymen were really journeymen: several were formerly with Roy Orbison’s backing band, the Candy Men, and broke away to do their own thing. They got one minor national hit out of it: “Georgia Pines” got to #81(a bigger hit in their native south than anywhere else), but little else. Their debut Lp got to #195. Their only other album, THE CANDYMEN BRING YOU CANDYPOWER(ABC ABC/ABCS-633)didn’t chart at all. Why? Possibly because a good single(“Sentimental Lady”/”Ways”)didn’t take off, and the cover art suggested a psych band, while their name suggested the nascent bubblegum genre. Too bad, because it’s a pretty good Lp(“Sentimental Lady” is not to be confused with Bob Welch’s Fleetwood Mac/solo song, also very good).
This one’s a bit dated by “The Great Society” and a pity-me-I’m-headed-to-the-chair death song, “Goodbye Mama,” but otherwise has its moments, including Rodney Justo wailing on “Crowded Room”(which almost sounds like a tune-up for Three Dog Night), and a cover of Dylan’s “Memphis Blues Again.”
Three of the group would go on to help form the Atlanta Rhythm Section, which signed to Decca(it would take years for them to make it, and they’d go to Polydor to get there). The early ARS isn’t much unlike the Candymen sound, and a bit of southern cool followed these guys wherever they went. Solid musicians and decent songwriters, but at the time, America wasn’t interested. (by Ed Bishop)
Personnel:
John Rainey Adkins (guitar)
Dean Daughtry (keyboards)
Billy Gilmore (bass)
Rodney Justo (vocals)
Bob Nix (drums)
Tracklist:
01. Ways (Buie/Adkins) 2.25
02. Great Society (Buie/Cobb) 2.23
03. Sentimental Lady (Buie/Cobb) 3.10
04. Crowded Moon (Buie/Cobb) 2.04
05. Candyman (Clark) 2.00
06. Blues At Midnight (Hunter) 3.16
07. The Memphis Blues Again (Dylan) 2.26
08. I’ve Lost My Mind (Gilmore/Buie/Adkins) 2.27
09. Goodbye Mama (Buie/Cobb) 2.56
10. Bottled Up (Buie/Adkins) 2.30
11. I’ll Never Forget (Gilmore/Buie/Nix) 2.02
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