EMITT RHODES & BEING A “ONE MAN BEATLES”
Birthday remembrance of a powerhouse recording artist & singer-songwriter
It was backstage at the Los Angeles Forum that I met one of my favorite artists and didn’t know it. At the time I was the touring bassist-vocalist with The Monkees on their 2011 reunion tour of the UK and US. The LA concert was a sell-out, and the after-show party drew a collage of guests: Stan Freberg (the legendary comedian/singer-songwriter who’d been on The Monkees TV show), songwriter Bobby Hart, photographer-actress Nurit Wilde (the inspiration for The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice”), various Nesmith family members, and this professorial-looking gray-haired man who wandered around asking people for a ride. I didn’t recognize him from the handsome young chap I knew from album covers, but it was Emitt Rhodes.
I was 14 when I bought the EMITT RHODES debut LP, using payday cash from my first “real job” working for my uncle as groundskeeper in a cemetery. My uncle razzed me for buying “junk” but I didn’t care. Rhodes had a gift, and I was delighted and instructed by it.
Leading up to the early 70s, Rhodes was heralded as a wunderkind, having the instincts of Paul McCartney with the precocity of Todd Rundgren. Starting his career in 1966 at age 16, Rhodes drummed for the garage band The Palace Guard, then moved into the short-lived psychedelic pop band The Merry-Go-Round. He became a solo act, signed to Dunhill Records, and sunk his advance money into building a home recording studio. He defied technical limits of the gear (with mixing aid from studio legends Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen) and his records still sound remarkably sharp. His 1970 debut record charted, making some think he was The Beatles under a different name. A Rhodes showcase concert in Los Angeles was accompanied by earthquake tremors. His life was like a scene in A HARD DAY’S NIGHT.
Rhodes made two more brilliant LPs while role modeling the medium of DIY recording. He skillfully performed all his instruments and vocals, earning him the title “The One Man Beatles”—the name of a 2009 documentary on Rhodes by film-maker Tony Blass.
After such auspicious beginnings, Rhodes dropped off the grid at age 23. The dark side of the music business overwhelmed him. He became a “burnt out case” and he abruptly quit releasing original music. To stay employed, he withdrew to a backroom gig as a staff engineer for Elektra Records. His name became tagged as one of the great mysteries of pop music.
Finally, around 2010, the clouds broke for Rhodes. Backed by all-star musical muscle, he reemerged with new music and new respect, which he enjoyed for the next decade before he passed away in 2020 at age 70.
Even during those “lost years,” Rhodes’s music and influence set the bar for “sunshine pop” song craft, and his songs cropped up in cover versions and film soundtracks. Like Paul McCartney, Ian McDonald, Todd Rundgren, Roy Wood, and other “one man bands” I admire, Rhodes inspired me to learn how to play diverse instruments and dabble in the studio. Years ago I demo’d his song “Somewhere Someone Special,” but “Warm Self Sacrifice” is the one I’d cover today:
Rest in peace Emitt, and thank you for using tech and talent to lift up our hearts.
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