Talk:Harpers Bizarre

Recent Edits
Thanks for cleaning up the false starts I had on this page. I'm still new at all this! Having the "Harper's Bizarre" point here as well seems like a good idea, given that I got messed up on the spelling when I was still writing it. --Wencer 19:56, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Discography addition
The article states: "...and the band broke up after their last album was released in 1969." I own an LP by Harpers Bizarre on the Forest Bay Company label called "As Time Goes By," issued in 1976. Petersen, Scoppettone, Yount and James all appaer on the album, with only Templemann absent. The tracks are: "Introduction/Cowboy" (G. Smith); "As Time Goes By" (Herman Hupfeld);  "Down At Papa Joe's" (J. Smith);  "Everynight" [sic] (Paul McCartney);  "Society Strut" (Mack/Van Gleason);  "Lullaby of Broadway" (Harry Warren/Al Dubin);  "Speak Low" (Kurt Weill/Ogden Nash);  "Banana King Louie" (John);  My Melancholy Baby" (Keller/Van Gleason);  "Beechwood 4-5789" (Stevenson/Gordy/Gaye);  "That's the Way It Was (from Dvorak's 'New World Symphony')" (Bocci/Frost-Keller/Van Gleason);  "Back In the Saddle Again"  (Whitley/Autry).  Rich 06:12, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip - I heard part of their version of "Lullabye of Broadway" and assumed someone on LimeWire had misattributed it. Sure enough though, I found hints of this album hidden on AllMusic and Amazon. Is any of it listenable? Between the advent of disco and the departure of Templeman, I'm awfully suspicious... Wencer 19:09, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

It's weak. There is no encroachment of disco on it, and the song selection is consistent with the type of material they had done before, but Templemann's departure does make a difference. An even more obvious difference is the lack of good arrangements. Ray Keller (?) did all of the arrangements on this LP, whereas previously HB had used several different arrangers on each album, including people like Randy Newman, Nick de Caro, Perry Botkin, Jr., Bob Thompson, and other really creative musical thinkers. This LP is just....there. But it IS Harpers Bizarre, and thus, I think, should be included in any complete discography of the group. Rich 19:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Okay - it's up now (at As Time Goes By (Harpers Bizarre album). I just started each page, so I can better wikify songwriters, research singles and chart positions and hopefully create a box with album art for each one.  If you've got any information on this album - or any of the other albums, for that matter - feel free to add it, or correct any errors I've made.  Wencer 20:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I made a couple of minor edits in the article itself, and some more involved changes in the individual album discography pages, with corrections, clarifications and hotlinks. Question for you: You mention that some of your information for the article came from the liner notes for "Feelin' Groovy: The Best of Harpers Bizarre," but you don't include it in the discography. Why is that? I'd add it myself, but I have yet to try to create a Wikipedia page from scratch. Rich 00:16, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Drug Reference
Is the change in the Chattanooga Choo Choo lyrics verified as a drug reference? It seems a natural conclusion based on comparison with the original lyrics. Why else would they make that change? But unless a band member has verified that this is intended as a drug reference, I would not make the assumption.Jkolak (talk) 07:07, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Past Members
"Neither Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, nor Harry Nilsson were ever members of the Tikis or Harpers Bizarre." Then why is Randy Newman listed under Past members in the box on the right side of the page? 68.134.232.137 (talk) 18:55, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅. I removed Newman from the list. Thanks for the note. Binksternet (talk) 00:42, 6 August 2020 (UTC)