Climax was an American

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formed in 1970 in

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, most noted for their 1971-1972

hit song A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

Precious and Few "Precious and Few" is a song recorded by American group Climax which became a major North American hit in early 1972. The song was written by the band's guitarist, Walter D. Nims. Background Lead vocals on the demo were provided by Johnny McCur ...

", which peaked at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart and No. 1 on ''Cashbox'' magazine's Top 100 singles chart. This disc sold over one million copies and was

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by the RIAA on February 21, 1972.

Career

Climax initially consisted of lead singer Sonny Geraci; composer and guitarist Walter D. Nims; composer, singer, and keyboardist Nick D'Amico (Nicola Marcello D'Amico); and drummer Jon Jon Guttman (who wrote several songs on the band's lone album and also played other percussion). This quartet were soon augmented by unofficial fifth member (and second keyboardist) Johnny Stevenson, who officially joined the band upon D'Amico's departure in 1971. Executive producer Marc Gordon and record producer Larry Cox also played instrumental roles in recording the band and shaping their sound. The band was together from 1970 to 1976, during which they recorded one

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, many singles and unreleased sides. They are generally considered a one-hit wonder because other than "Precious and Few", no other releases gained much widespread success.

Origins

Climax came out of the ashes of the 1960s hit band The Outsiders. Former Outsiders members Geraci, Nims, and D'Amico, along with new member Guttman recorded and released a few singles under the Outsiders name (including "Lovin' You"/"Think I'm Fallin'" and "Changes"/"Lost in My World"), but when Tom King of the original band threatened legal action, the name of the band was changed to Climax for subsequent singles.

Scoring a hit

"Precious and Few", the band's biggest hit, was actually first recorded in 1970 with producer Ron Kramer and arranged by Nick D'Amico. It was later re-worked by producer Larry Cox, who was assigned by label owner Marc Gordon to re-tool the band's material. Cox, who later worked with Jefferson Starship and produced many of their soft rock ballads (including "

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

"), was introduced to Climax by fellow Texan and soon-to-be new Climax keyboardist Johnny Stevenson. Cox urged the band to re-record "Precious and Few" and encouraged lead singer Sonny Geraci to capitalize on his ability to perform high-powered ballads. Initially, nothing came of the newly recorded single. It was stored in the Bell Records archives for a couple of years, but was dusted off after a Bell executive heard it being played on a Santa Barbara radio station (Climax's home base). Bell Records subsidiary, Carousel, released the record in Hawaii as a test six months prior to being a hit on the mainland. After more market tests in Buffalo and Boston in early 1972, the record gained momentum quickly. By the week ending February 26, 1972, "Precious and Few" had peaked at the No. 3 spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (spending two weeks at that position), and also hit No. 1 on ''Cashbox'' magazine's Top 100 chart. Incidentally, "Precious and Few" was also vocal arranger

Tom Bahler Thomas Lee Bahler (also spelled Bähler; born June 1, 1943) is an American singer, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer, and author. He is the younger brother of singer, arranger, conductor and composer John Bahler. Bahler is most known for ...

's first opportunity to demonstrate his talents. Hired by producer Larry Cox, Bahler, along with his brother John, later created a significant impact in the music industry as arrangers and session singers in the late 1960s and 1970s performing on hundreds of singles, most notably the recordings by ''

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from S ...

''.

Subsequent career

The follow-up single to "Precious and Few" was "Life and Breath", a song written by George S. Clinton (who contributed to the ''

Austin Powers ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and '' Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). The films were produced ...

'' movie song tracks). "Life and Breath" reached No. 1 status in Hawaii, No. 11 at KHJ in Los Angeles, and topped out on the national charts at No. 52 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 15 on ''Billboard'''s

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart. They were also the first band to record "

Rock and Roll Heaven "Rock and Roll Heaven" is a song written by Alan O'Day and Johnny Stevenson, popularized by The Righteous Brothers. It is a paean to several deceased singers such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, and has been rewritten a number of ...

", a song written for Sonny Geraci by Alan O'Day and Climax keyboard player Johnny Stevenson, the latter of whom had officially replaced Nick D'Amico after he left the band in 1971. "Rock and Roll Heaven" was later recorded by

The Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...

(with some lyric changes), and became the duo's comeback hit in the summer of 1974. Once "Life and Breath" ran out of steam, Climax never recovered. Climax's record label, Carousel, was owned by Marc Gordon, who was also managing

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera, and Broadway. Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966. Betwe ...

at the time. The existence of another Carousel label caused Gordon to change the label's name to Rocky Road. In retrospect, Gordon's plate was full managing a supergroup, and signing and managing other artists, including Al Wilson ("The Snake" and "

Show and Tell Show and tell (sometimes called show and share or sharing time) is the practice of showing something to an audience and describing it to them, usually a toy or other children's-oriented item. In the United Kingdom, North America, New Zealand and ...

"). All of these factors hampered the success of "Life and Breath" and future Climax singles releases (including "Rock and Roll Heaven"). In 1972, subsequent to the release of these singles, the group's album ''Climax Featuring Sonny Geraci'' finally appeared. In addition to the core band members (and at-the-time unofficial member Stevenson), musicians who contributed to the album included

bassists A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...

Joe Osborn, Steve La Fever, Reinie Press, and Joe Bellamy;

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & ...

; additional

drummers A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer's ...

John Raines and

Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of a ...

;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

ist Alan Estes; and Gordon MacKinnon, who performed double reed and

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

solos.In spite of the success of "Precious and Few", the album barely made it into the top 200 portion of the ''Billboard'' 200 sales chart, peaking at No. 177. "Walking in the Georgia Rain" was issued with the artist name displayed as "Sonny Geraci and Climax". A short time later, an article appeared in ''Billboard'' stating that the group had recorded four new tracks with producer Steve Cropper, and "It's Gonna Get Better" was the first track issued from the session. "It's Gonna Get Better" was issued as being performed by Sonny Geraci and Climax. The rare stock copy has another of the Cropper-produced tracks, "Let This Song Through" (written by Stevenson), on the flip side. The other new tracks recorded with Cropper were left in the can, as "It's Gonna Get Better" proved to be the final Climax release. Keyboard player Johnny Stevenson also scored a solo release issued as Rocky Road 30065, pairing "The Great Campaign" (an instrumental written by Stevenson) with an instrumental version of "If It Feels Good, Do It". During Climax's run with Rocky Road, they charted four top 5 records in Hawaii: "Precious and Few", "Life and Breath", "Walking in the Georgia Rain" and "Caroline This Time".

Legacy/Aftermath

Some industry insiders felt Climax should have been far more successful than they actually were. The lack of a solid, powerful marketing and managing organization hurt the band when their follow-up "Life and Breath" was not given enough attention and funding to break through. After "Life and Breath" fizzled, the label was not ready to release the band's only album, ''Climax featuring Sonny Geraci'' during "Precious and Few"'s climb up the charts, which eroded the band's popularity and market edge. Yet, in spite of that, "Precious and Few" was a popular selection for proms and weddings, according to a 2011 interview with Geraci. Nims, the band's principal songwriter and guitarist, died on March 31, 2000, at age 56, after suffering a stroke. Guttman died from a traffic accident on January 7, 2003 at the age of 55/56. Geraci died on February 5, 2017, at the age of 70.

Discography

Albums

Climax's lone album, ''Climax Featuring Sonny Geraci'', was released in 1972 on Rocky Road Records. The album had twelve cuts, and some were used as

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

for subsequent singles. ;Side 1 #"Life and Breath" - (3:17) #"I've Got Everything" - (3:16) #"Postlude" - (:38) (

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l version of "I've Got Everything") #"Picnic in the Rain" - (3:29) #"Face the Music" - (3:00) #"

" - (2:43) ;Side 2 #"It's Coming Today" - (3:02) #"Rainbow Rides Are Free" - (3:06) #"If It Feels Good - Do It" - (3:33) #"Merlin" - (4:18) #"Prelude" - (:48) (instrumental - orchestral version of "Life and Breath") #"Child of December" - (3:15) In 1979, a compilation album titled ''Picnic in the Rain'' was released on Koala Records. Only two of the songs had appeared on their 1972 album. ;Side 1 #"Changes" - (2:48) #"Somebody's Watching You" - (4:02) #"The War" - (3:28) #"Small World" - (2:47) #"Child of December" - (3:19) ;Side 2 #"Hard Rock Group" - (3:15) #"Park Preserve" - (5:26) #"Easy Evil" - (4:08) #"Searchin'" - (4:06) #"Picnic in the Rain" - (3:17) Notes: #"Changes" and "Hard Rock Group": A-sides of single releases. "Hard Rock Group" appears in stereo only on this LP ("Changes" is mono). #"Park Preserve": Originally B-side to "Precious and Few", this was the full unedited version and is in stereo. #"Child of December" and "Picnic in the Rain": Originally released on 1972 album. #"Somebody's Watching You", "The War", "Small World", "Easy Evil" and "Searchin'": Previously unreleased In 1980, Koala released yet another Climax album titled ''If It Feels Good'', but the album was credited in error to

Climax Blues Band Climax Blues Band (originally known as The Climax Chicago Blues Band) is a British blues rock band. The band was formed in Stafford, England, in 1967 by vocalist and harmonica player Colin Cooper (1939–2008), guitarist and vocalist Pete Hayco ...

. Most of the LP was taken from the 1972 LP, but there were three tracks unique to this release. ;Side 1 #"I've Got Everything" #"Ain't Going Nowhere" #"Don't Start Something You Can't Finish" #"Waitin' for the End to Come" #"It's Coming Today" ;Side 2 #"Rainbow Rides Are Free" #"If It Feels Good Do It" #"Merlin" #"Life and Breath" Notes: #"Ain't Going Nowhere" (1:30) is a partial early version of "Park Preserve" which begins with the line "Ain't goin' nowhere, I wanna be with you", goes into the middle section and then ends abruptly. The song is not the same as the version on the flip of "Precious and Few". The guitar solo is different, horns are included and the vocal is different. #"Don't Start Something You Can't Finish" (2:29), written by Nims, appears only on this LP. #"Waitin' for the End to Come" (2:35), also written by Nims, appears in stereo.

LP of ''Sounds Like the Navy'' radio show appearance

In 1972, the group appeared "live in the studio" for the promotional ''Sounds Like the Navy'' radio show, issued on two LPs only to radio stations. Performing without any orchestral backing, the group faithfully reproduced many of their released songs and also performed several songs, including originals written by Nims, that were never issued in any other format. The show was split into four 15-minute mini episodes and the songs that were performed in full were: "I've Got Everything", "I Can't Quit Her", "Life and Breath", "The Lady is a Nasty Dancer", "Picnic in the Rain", "Going Through the Motions", "Droopy Shoulders", "Wait For You", "Child of December", "Hand Me Down My Rock n' Roll Shoes", "Face the Music", "Precious and Few". Songs performed and only had parts aired were: "If It Feels Good, Do It", "Diving Duck Blues", " The Cage", and "Rainbow Rides Are Free".

Singles

* "Lovin' You" / "Think I'm Fallin'" (issued as by Sonny Geraci, on Capitol; both sides written by Walter Nims) * "Changes" / "Lost in My World" (issued as by The Outsiders, on Bell with a Carousel imprint; both sides written by Nims) * "Hard Rock Group" / Child of December (early version, different from album) A-side written by Nims * "

" (No. 3 ''Billboard'' Hot 100) / "Park Preserve" (B-side by Nims and non-LP; longer version of B-side issued on compilation CD) * "Life and Breath" (No. 52 ''Billboard'' Hot 100) / "If It Feels Good Do It" (B-side later

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

by The Stories) * "Caroline This Time" / "Rainbow Rides Are Free" (A-side non-LP and written by Nims) * "

" / "Face the Music" (A-side non-LP, written by Johnny Stevenson and Alan O'Day; lyrics revised for later version by The Righteous Brothers) * "Walking in the Georgia Rain" / "Picnic in the Rain" (A-side non-LP and written by John Rhys; issued as by Sonny Geraci and Climax) * "It's Gonna Get Better" / "Let This Song Through" (A-side non-LP and written by Geraci; B-side non-LP and written by Stevenson; issued as by Sonny Geraci and Climax)

Unreleased songs

(Some of these were recorded for their second album which was never released) * "Waiting for the End to Come" (recorded as proposed A-side for Metromedia in 1969 but not released; appeared on compilation CD) * "Hand Me Down My Rock n' Roll Shoes" * "Droopy Shoulders" * "Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore" * "Young Boy" (written by Lee Dresser) * "Rosemary Blue" (Written by Sedaka/Greenfield) * "Searchin'" (cover of

The Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with " Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producin ...

track) * "Wait for You" (cover of the

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...

track) * "The War" (

Lee Michaels Lee Eugene Michaels (born Michael Olsen, November 24, 1945) is an American rock musician who sings and accompanies himself on organ, piano, or guitar. He is best known for his powerful soulful voice and his energetic virtuosity on the Hammo ...

tune) * "Easy Evil" * "Somebody's Watching You" (Written by Sly Stone) * "Small World" * "Don't Start Something You Can't Finish" * "Let This Song Through"

CD issues

There have been three official

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

released. All are on budget labels, and none have been remastered. The first, titled ''Precious and Few'' (on KRB Records and later Classic Sound), was released in 1997 and listed ten tracks, but actually included eleven: #"Precious and Few" #"Life and Breath" #"Merlin" #"Picnic in the Rain" ("Postlude" is here prior to "Picnic...", but not listed) #"Rock and Roll Heaven" #"Park Preserve" (long version) #"Rainbow Rides Are Free" #"Waiting for the End to Come" #"It's Coming Today" #"If It Feels Good, Do It" The second, titled ''The Best of Climax featuring Sonny Geraci'' (on Wise Buy Records), was released in 1998, and contained fifteen songs (actually sixteen with another "hidden" song). Many were in the "unreleased" category above: #"Precious and Few" #"Life and Breath" #"Rainbow Rides Are Free" #"If It Feels Good, Do It" #"Searchin'" #"Picnic in the Rain" (without "Postlude") #"Walking in the Georgia Rain" #"Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore" #"Rosemary Blue" #"Droopy Shoulders" #"Caroline This Time" (longer version than on the single) #"Young Boy" #"It's Coming Today" #"Merlin" #"Child of December" (with an unlisted "Prelude" before it) The third compilation was released in 2002, and is available on iTunes: #"Precious and Few" #"Life and Breath" #"Merlin" #"Park Preserve" #"Picnic in the Rain" #"Rainbow Rides Are Free" #"Waiting for the End to Come" #"It's Coming Today" #"If It Feels Good Do It" #"I've Got Everything" #"Child of December" #"Searchin'" (shorter single version) #"The War" Other bootlegs have been released including a 26 track compilation called ''The Best of Climax''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Climax (band) Bell Records artists American soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1970 Musical groups disestablished in 1976 Rock music groups from California