[back to the future] Dandelions/Children of Sunshine - "It's A Long Way To Heaven" (Dandelions )1971

I first heard this tune last Saturday at the MMOSS/Quilt tour kick-off show at The Lilypad. One of our favorite local DJs Jesse Gallagher (Nighttime Gallagher) was blasting some tunes from his computer while the bands were setting up, and when this tune came on I had to stop what I was doing and listen. Dandelions (or Children of Sunshine, depending on who you talk to) were two girls, Tres Williams and Kitsy Christner (10 and 11 years old) who went to some sort of alternative "college" school in the early seventies. Under the direction of their guitar teacher, Jim Curran, the girls began writing and recording songs in 1971 with two hired musicians, drummer Mike Kieffer and upright bassist Wendy Katz. What resulted was a truly amazing record; beautiful minimalist tunes and melodies with the kind of genuine honesty, charm, and innocence that could only be captured by two young girls. Its easily become one of my favorite listens this past week. The record is quite rare, raking in close to $500 at most ebay auctions, but luckily for us, you can listen to the entire album via youtube. If you interested in some MP3s, send me an email and ill send you a link. Check out my favorite tune "It's A Long Way To Heaven" below.