CoronaVinyl Day 359 (W): You Were On My Mind by We Five

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "W," and I went with We Five's 1965 debut studio album, You Were On My Mind.

We Five was a folk group formed in southern California in 1964 by Michael Stewart, whose brother John was a member of the popular folk group the Kingston Trio (and who wrote The Monkees' #1 hit "Daydream Believer").  It was four guys and a woman, Beverly Bivens, with a nice tenor voice.  As a folk group, they were generally acoustic and didn't have a drummer, but they did dabble in electric guitar and occasionally had a drummer.

You Were On My Mind is mostly folk covers of pop songs, Broadway songs, and jazz songs, but the title track, which was a cover of an Ian & Sylvia song from a year earlier.  We Five's version picked up the tempo, changed the lyrics a little, and made a crescendoing folk pop song that proved to be their biggest hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album itself went to #32 on the Billboard album chart, which was also their highest-charting album.

After the band's next album, Bivens left and was replaced by band member Jerry Burgan's wife.  They turned down "Daydream Believer," which then became a huge hit for The Monkees.  Their next two albums didn't chart, and they broke up in 1970, but reformed (in name anyway) in 1977 for one more album, which also didn't chart.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "If I Were Alone"
This is an uptempo folk rock song (and one of the songs with drums), and the beginning reminds me of the underrated LA-based psychedelic rock band Love.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "You Were On My Mind"
It's obviously their most famous song, but it's also their best.  Bivens's voice is great, and the song just builds and builds.