Don Gant

There’s nothing like the kaleidoscopic sound of West Coast Pop Music from the late 1960s. Groups like The Neon Philharmonic could have only happened in a world nurtured by an artist-friendly record label like Warner Bros. and its sister label Reprise with label mates like Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, Harpers Bizarre, the Association and Mason Williams. The group consisted of producer and music publishing executive, Don Gant, and advertising man, actor, writer, session musician and classical composer, Tupper Saussy. They scored only one top twenty hit with 1969’s “Morning Girl,” and released only two albums and a clutch of 45s. This song is from their 1969 debut album called “The Moth Confesses – A Phonographic Opera.” I first became aware of The Neon Philharmonic from those wonderful $2.00 “Loss Leader” double albums that Warner Bros. Records used to sell off of their inner sleeves to promote their catalog. As a kid, I discovered all kinds of cool music from those records and I cherish the almost complete set I still possess to this day.