The Neon Philharmonic
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The Neon Philharmonic (formed 1967) was an American psychedelic pop band led by songwriter and conductor Tupper Saussy and singer Don Gant, produced by Saussy, Gant, and Bob McCluskey, and engineered by Gant's brother Ronald. Although the first album stated "Borges Forever!", the group's concertmaster is in fact named Pierre Menard, and it is not a reference to the Jorge Luis Borges story Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote; Saussy was not conscious of the connection.
They released their two albums (The Moth Confesses and the eponymous The Neon Philharmonic) in 1969, and scored a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year when "Morning Girl" (featuring the Nashville Symphony Orchestra,) hit number 17 on Billboard and number 15 on the Cash Box chart. The band hit the chart again with "Heighdy-Ho Princess" in 1970, and followed with several non-album singles (see the discography below). The bulk of the group's output was released by Warner Bros./Seven Arts Records. In 1972, they moved to TRX Records and produced another single, "Annie Poor" / "Love Will Find a Way", but disbanded in 1975.
The Neon Philharmonic name was sold to producer David Kastle, who put out additional singles released by MCA Records and London Records. At least one Saussy song, "Making Out the Best I Can", was recorded by this group and engineered by Ronald Gant. Along with its flipside recording, "So Glad You're a Woman", written by Ray Williams and Ron Demmans (MCA-40158 (MC 4810), 1975), the instrumentation was limited to synthesizers, guitar and drums. These later singles have no other connection to the original group.
American pop star Shaun Cassidy did a cover version of "Morning Girl, Later" (simply titled "Morning Girl") in 1976, which did not chart in the US, but did well in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The song was also covered by The Lettermen.
The group is not to be confused with the German group The Neon Philharmonic Orchestra, which arranged many classical pieces in medleys in a similar style in the 1980s and 1990s, and covered Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven".
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