What a wonderful union it was when Al Hazan got together with The Blossoms to record this delight!
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Al Hazan was often referred to as the “Mystery Music Man of the Sixties”, mainly because of the numerous alias he used, going by the likes of B. Bumble, Ali Hassan, Crazy Luke, The Galaxies, Dudley Duncan and Al Anthony..to name but a few!!
Hazan started writing songs when he was in his teens, first appearing as a pianist on local television before turning his skills to session work. For a little while he was also recording rocked-up arrangements of classical tunes for the Philles label (credited as Ali Hassan), but this wasn’t one of his more successful projects. As a vocalist he performed under various pseudonyms including Al Anthony and Dudley Duncan, recording some of his material as the lead singer of The Galaxies, but these projects never really took off either. Some of his creations were arranged by his musician/songwriter/producer/composer friend, Jack Nitzsche, but most of his success came from production – for which he produced over 50 records for various labels such as Capitol Records, United Artists and Columbia.
Over the years he got to work with a wealth of artists (Fred Astaire, Herb Alpert, Nick Venet, Terry Melcher, Lou Adler and musicians Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Ray Pohlman, Tommy Tedesco to name a few) and, via his own music publishing company called Chemistry Music, went on to produce for the likes of the Beau Brummels!!
I’m not too sure why he left the music business given all of his apparent successes, but in 1965 Al Hasan embarked on several new career paths. Given the variety and success of these ventures, it does impress me just how versatile he was – it seems that whatever he turned his hand to, he did it with the utmost level of competency! Reading about what he moved into, it would appear that he became a real estate broker, an author/poet, but these are just the tip of what was a very large iceberg of projects!! Studying psychology in the early 1990’s, he was even awarded a presidential commendation by President Ronald Reagan for his work with victims of violent crimes!! More recently, one of his tracks made it on Stranger Things, with It’s A Sin appearing in Season 3!
Phew!! What an interesting character!!
Today’s song (I do believe) was the title track from an album he released in 1962 – though please do correct me if I’m wrong as I can’t seem to find too much about this record or song?? Misty Moon featured The Blossoms on vocals, and this all-girl band had also recorded with a wealth of other artists, including the likes of Phil Spector! They also featured as backup singers for such artists as Tom Jones, Dick Dale and Elvis Presley! The combination of their celestial vocals, coupled with that ambling rhythm and gentle melody delivers Misty Moon into the dreamiest of realms! It’s a pleasant escape into some light hearted, 1960’s dream-pop! ! Check it out above.
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