It's a Beautiful Day (album)

It's a Beautiful Day
Studio album by
It's a Beautiful Day
ReleasedJune 1969
Recorded1968–1969
StudioCBS Studios (Los Angeles)
GenrePsychedelic rock
Length40:42
LabelColumbia
CBS
ProducerDavid LaFlamme
It's a Beautiful Day chronology
It's a Beautiful Day
(1969) 		Marrying Maiden
(1970)
Singles from It's a Beautiful Day
  1. "Bulgaria"
    Released: 1968
  2. "White Bird"
    Released: July 1, 1969
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Music Week[2]
Rolling Stone(negative) [3]

It's a Beautiful Day is the debut album by San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. Released by Columbia Records in 1969, the album rose to number 47 on the U.S. LP charts.[4] It remained on the Billboard Top 200 for 70 continuous weeks, and would go on to achieve Gold Record certification in November 1972.[5] This album contains the band's biggest hit song, "White Bird."

Album cover

The album cover, designed by George Hunter and painted by Kent Hollister, was based on the 1912 painting Woman on the Top of a Mountain by Charles Courtney Curran. The design used an old version of the Columbia Records logo because George Hunter believed it fit better with the feel of the rest of the cover.[6][7] This cover is number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest album covers.

Album content

The group's signature song "White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. During December 1967 and into early 1968, the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at a Seattle venue originally known as The Encore Ballroom. The band's manager, Matthew Katz, had recently assumed control over the club and renamed it "San Francisco Sound". In an ironic twist on the band's name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. In a later interview David LaFlamme said:

Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.[8]

This album also features tracks such as "Hot Summer Day," "Girl With No Eyes" and "Time Is." A substantial part of the theme and arrangement of the song "Bombay Calling" was used by Deep Purple as the basis for their song "Child in Time."[9]

Critical reception

Lindsay Planer at AllMusic, gave the album four stars out of five, writing:

It's a Beautiful Day were no less memorable for their unique progressive rock style that contrasted well with the Bay Area psychedelic scene...It's a Beautiful Day remains as a timepiece and evidence of how sophisticated rock & roll had become in the fertile environs of the San Francisco music scene.[1]

The song "White Bird" is used in three episodes of the 1980s television series Knight Rider. It is the theme song for the relationship between main character Michael Knight and his one true love, and appears in the episodes "White Bird" in season 1, "Let It Be Me" in season 2 and "The Scent of Roses" in season 4. The song was also featured in the 2015 movie Focus with Will Smith. The album cover is used in Naoki Urasawa's 2018 one-shot manga "It's a Beautiful Day".

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."White Bird"David & Linda LaFlamme6:06
2."Hot Summer Day"D. & L. LaFlamme5:46
3."Wasted Union Blues"D. LaFlamme4:00
4."Girl With No Eyes"D. & L. LaFlamme3:49
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Bombay Calling"Vince Wallace & D. LaFlamme4:25
6."Bulgaria"D. LaFlamme6:10
7."Time Is"D. LaFlamme9:42

Personnel

It's A Beautiful Day

Additional musician

Production

Chart performance

Album

Chart Year Peak
position 		Total
weeks
US Billboard 200 1969 47[10] 70
UK Official Charts 1970 58[11] 1
CA RPM Charts 1969 72[12] 1

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[13] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b AllMusic review
  2. ^ "Album Reviews: It's a Beautiful Day — It's a Beautiful Day" (PDF). Music Week. Gwent: Pensord Press Ltd. October 13, 1979. p. 42. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2024. Retrieved April 5, 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.com.
  3. ^ Bangs, Lester (July 26, 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone. No. 38. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. p. 37.
  4. ^ "It's a Beautiful Day USA chart history". Tsort. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
  5. ^ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". RIAA. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  6. ^ Thorgerson, Storm; Powell, Aubrey (1999). 100 Best Album Covers. Dorling Kindersley. p. 84. ISBN 0-7513-0706-8.
  7. ^ "Fitness at Home". Homeliving.blogspot.co.uk. August 12, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  8. ^ "It's A Beautiful Day". Pnwbands.com. Retrieved September 7, 2009.
  9. ^ Deep Purple Appreciation Society. "Deep Purple. Ian Gillan interview, Mumbai 2002". Deep-purple.net. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  10. ^ "Billboard 200 - It's a Beautiful Day". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  11. ^ "UK Official Charts - It's a Beautiful Day". Official Charts. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  12. ^ "RPM Charts - It's a Beautiful Day". Library and Archives Canada. July 17, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  13. ^ "American album certifications – It's a Beautiful Day – It's a Beautiful Day". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved October 24, 2023.

Further reading

  • Draper, Jason (2008). A Brief History of Album Covers. London: Flame Tree Publishing. pp. 68–69. ISBN 9781847862112. OCLC 227198538.
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