"Farmer's Daughter"

Words and Music by Brian Wilson and Mike Love

 

After having auditioned their garage band tape of original and cover songs, Phil Kasper and Bob Bennett secured a first recording date for their band, "The Riptides". In an apartment in Burbank, Mike Curb listened to the band's recordings and liked what he heard. Phil and Bob drove down to Curb's office on Sunset Blvd. at the Mercury Records office. Curb had recently produced a hit with "The Hondells" cover of" Little Honda" by Brian Wilson & Mike Love. He asked the two band members to listen to a demo by Danny Hutton, of" Three Dog Night" fame. Hutton had recorded the song in the "Hondells" style.
 

Curb asked Phil and Bob if"The Riptides" could do the song. The answer was an emphatic Yes!
 

The session was scheduled and the band practiced the song multiple times. They were not going into this important break unprepared. The line up was Phil Kasper on guitar, Bob Bennett on piano, Ron Record on guitar, Tommy Howell on drums, and Steve Schoen on bass. Mike Curb produced the tune with Richie Podolor and Bill Cooper doing the engineering. The backing track came off as bright, clear, deep, and generally flawless.  Bob Bennett sang the falsetto lead, he joined the other band members on the backing vocal track. The band did not have a solution for a solo in the middle of the song, so Richie Podolor provided a spectacular Rickenbacker 12 string solo that made the song complete. Although the band members were only sixteen years old, the recording sounded very professional and tight. It did not end up on vinyl, but it was good enough to convince Mike Curb to invest more time and money in the bands future.