A band called The Gold Tones made singles and an album in the '60s and should not be confused with a pack of doo wop and rhythm and blues groups called The Golden Tones from the previous decade. Nobody would make such an error based on a visual sighting: The Gold Tones began as three pimply, nerdy white boys. Without describing the dismal reception they might have gotten at the kind of black club where one of the The Golden Tones outfits might have performed in the '50s, The Gold Tones would have also seem freakishly out of place attending the wild orgy in Russ Meyer's camp classic, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. The comparison is made for better reasons than simply to drop the late Meyer's name and reflect on the feminine pulchritude surrounding him: Drummer and vocalist Randy Seol, leader of The Gold Tones, went on to become a member of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the band that performs in the film scene under discussion. Herewith, a legitimate reason to watch Beyond the Valley of the Dolls repeatedly, in order to observe Seol's performance for research on The Gold
Tones.
Seol's group was active in the first half of the '60s, climaxing in an album release on the La Brea album in 1965. By that time the group was a septet in photographs, including a female singer. Earlier photographs illustrate a quartet, preceded by the aforementioned original trio featuring Seol, Bill Ewing and Glen Campbell Ross that supposedly played at Los Angeles' hipper bowling alleys. Listeners who are fond of the sport may want to track down the group's first single, a pairing of "Strike" and "Gutterball". The La Brea album was recorded live and like many of the fossilized remains found in the La Brea Tar Pits has evolved into a valuable collector's item, if only because it proves a place called the Teenbeat Club actually existed in Las Vegas. In 1966 and a bit of the following year, Seol drummed in a band called Thee Sixpence with guitarist and vocalist Ed King; in March of 1967 these two players joined the first line-up of the Strawberry Alarm Clock. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi
