Lee Mallory

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Lee Mallory might be best known as a member of <a href="spotify:artist:2C49JSiNeHN0xwLQCohpyY">the Millennium</a>, the late-'60s sunshine pop group that garnered a sizable cult following with their sole album. Mallory wrote or co-wrote some of the material for the elaborately produced band, which crossed the sound of the 1966-1967 <a href="spotify:artist:3oDbviiivRWhXwIE8hxkVV">Beach Boys</a> with more pop-oriented Southern California harmony pop. On <a href="spotify:artist:2C49JSiNeHN0xwLQCohpyY">the Millennium</a>'s Begin album, Mallory was the sole writer of the tracks "I'm with You," "Sing to Me," and "Some Sunny Day," co-authoring some of the other tunes as well.

Mallory also did a couple of singles under his own name for Valiant Records in 1966-1967. The most successful of these, "That's the Way It's Gonna Be," reached number 86 and was a big hit in Seattle. It was also the most notable of his recording efforts, with a buoyant yet complex production heavy on producer <a href="spotify:artist:3ZMUNnwvFihTTyI1tx5hao">Curt Boettcher</a>'s trademark high vocal-harmony arrangements. Surprisingly, this was a cover of a song written by <a href="spotify:artist:3JhQGw54MOytJP3GZ8KNPo">Phil Ochs</a> and folk musician <a href="spotify:artist:5WLoAqg0ZvFZhRImCFIuBE">Bob Gibson</a> (and appears in a folk version on <a href="spotify:artist:3JhQGw54MOytJP3GZ8KNPo">Ochs</a>' The Broadside Tapes 1 album), though its folk roots were pretty unrecognizable by the time Mallory and <a href="spotify:artist:3ZMUNnwvFihTTyI1tx5hao">Boettcher</a> had made it over into a densely produced pop/rock single. Mallory had in fact been a folk musician in the early and mid-'60s, though he went in a very pop direction after hooking up with <a href="spotify:artist:3ZMUNnwvFihTTyI1tx5hao">Boettcher</a>. Mallory also contributed to various other <a href="spotify:artist:3ZMUNnwvFihTTyI1tx5hao">Boettcher</a>-associated groups, including the Ballroom, <a href="spotify:artist:1Pn5NZrUCpoP7zpB9tfJEX">Summer's Children</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2G0qagNyJSe7wZLJCKdfFA">Sagittarius</a>.

Mallory did quite a bit of recording in the 1960s that was never issued at the time. Twenty of his 1966-1970 demos appear on the CD That's the Way It's Gonna Be, comprised primarily of his own compositions. These form a worthwhile adjunct to his better-known work with <a href="spotify:artist:2C49JSiNeHN0xwLQCohpyY">the Millennium</a>, sometimes with a harder-rocking current than flows through <a href="spotify:artist:2C49JSiNeHN0xwLQCohpyY">the Millennium</a>'s material. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi