In September 1974, or maybe 1973, a female acapella group received
some radio play with a tune that contained a lyric like "the golden
face of the sun."  The song sticks out in my mind because chart hits
by female acapella groups are rare.  Does anyone recall this song's
title and the label?  Thank you.

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 02 Feb 2004 05:36 PST

statman --

What musical genre would best describe the song you remember?  Was it
pop, rock, folk or gospel, for example?

markj-ga

Hello statman-ga: 

I recognized the song right away. It's "After The Gold Rush," written
by Neil Young, from his 1970 album of the same name:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002KD9/qid=1075731603/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3095214-4717610?v=glance&s=music

The song was written as acapella or very near-acapella.

You can read the full lyric to the song at Leo's Lyrics site:
http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=Ecl63BdyfL0%3D

Here's part of the lyric:

"Well, I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying 
In the yellow haze of the sun 
There were children crying and colors flying 
All around the chosen ones 
All in a dream, all in a dream"  

In 1974, an English group called Prelude (composed of two men and one
woman) scored an international hit with the song. Prelude was 2.3
male; however, Irene Hume's voice is dominant on "After The Gold
Rush," so small wonder you recall it as an all-female recording.

According to MSN Entertainment:
http://entertainment.msn.com/album/?album=223300
Prelude's cover of Young's "After The Gold Rush" was issued by the
label One Way in 1973. (You'll see a cover of Prelude's album "After
The Gold Rush" there, but I believe that is a re-release. I think this
is an error; that is I believe One Way issued a re-release of this
album in 1997.)

You can hear a snippet of Prelude's recording of "Gold Rush" at Amazon.com:
 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004UEKG/qid=1075735836/sr=1-12/ref=sr_1_12/002-3095214-4717610?v=glance&s=music
(Just scroll down to "Listen To Samples" and click on "After The Gold
Rush" in the preferred format. I definitely recognized the recording,
which I vaguely recall from my youth.)

At that same above link, you can buy a "Best Of" Prelude CD, "Floating
On A Breeze," released by the Castle label.

According to the band's biography, the original name of their debut LP
was "How Long Is Forever," which featured "After The Gold Rush""
http://www.prelude25.freeserve.co.uk/biography.htm
The band -- at least in the U.K. -- was on the label "Dawn," an
apparent division of Decca.

 " . . .  the debut Prelude album, which appeared on Dawn the
following month. ?How Long Is Forever?. . . . However the stand out
track of the album was an inspired adaptation of ?After The Goldrush?,
on which Irene?s lead vocal emphasized the latent hymnal qualities of
Neil Young?s back-to-the-land lament. ?After The Goldrush? was duly
issued as a single in November 1973.  Following live Prelude
performances on both Capital Radio and Radio One, it quickly became a
worldwide success, reaching the top 20 in the UK, No 12 in the USA and
No1 in both Canada and Australia."

The iceberg.com music site also lists Prelude's original label as
Decca. See this cached link:
http://216.109.117.135/search/cache?p=group+AND+Prelude+AND+1973&ei=UTF-8&cop=mss&url=Qa720P3qUk0J:www.theiceberg.com/artist/25200/prelude.html
and notes that their recording of the Neil Young classic became a hit
once again (in Britain) in the early '80s.

According to the site, Remember When":
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/hills/8215/remember82june.html
Prelude scored another minor hit with that same song in 1982: "Prelude
were having the second hit of their career with the same song that had
been their first hit over eight years previously. Their cover of Neil
Young's 'After The Goldrush' had reached number 21 in March 1974."
(This appears to be a U.K. chart.)

The song has been recorded by several other artists, including Natalie
Merchant. An acclaimed version of "After The Gold Rush" was recorded
by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt (under the group
name Trio) for their 1999 CD, "Trio II," and became a minor radio and
video hit.

You can hear a snippet of Trio's recording at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000F1D2/qid=1075731047/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3095214-4717610?v=glance&s=music
Just scroll down the song samples and click on "After The Gold Rush."

Search Strings:

"acapella AND 'hit single' "
"recording of After The Gold Rush"
"version of After The Gold Rush"

I hope my research is of help to you. Please post a "Request For
Clarification" if you need help navigating any of the above links, or
if you need me to clarify any of the information I've given you, prior
to rating my answer.

Regards,
nancylynn-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by nancylynn-ga on 02 Feb 2004 11:16 PST

Hi Joe:

I'm very certain that when you hear that snippet at Amazon you'll recognize it.
Only two acts ever charted with that song, Prelude (in the '70s) and
Trio (in 1999), and the Prelude version received broader airplay.

Prelude's version is lovely. It's a shame oldies radio doesn't play it more often.

Yes, Nancylynn, that is indeed it.  I will be ordering a copy of the
tune soon.  Thanks for helping bringing about a 30 year reunion with a
great piece.

Joe
statman1959@yahoo.com