Search - The Tokens :: It's A Happening World

One has only to hear the Tokens' remake of their 1961 hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (here entitled "Wimoweh 5 ½ Years Later") that leads off this album to appreciate how far this vocal group and pop music in general had come by 1967. A loping bass line, Beatle-esque horn choruses and a jazzy baritone sax accompany the trademark yodeling melody lines, and that same happy marriage of flawless vocal arrangements with studio experimentation permeates this entire album, which sounds at times like such baroque pop favorites as the Merry-Go-Round, the Left Banke and Pet Sounds. But it wasn't just the heady times that gave It's a Happening World its flavor legendary engineer Brooks Arthur was behind the board for this one, and the arrangements were by Jimmy Wisner of Kokomo fame. We've also added the Tokens' non-LP Warner Brothers singles, which at times range even farther afield than the album "Animal" in particular is reminiscent of some of Frank Zappa's collaborations with the Turtles! Original Token Phil Margo makes sense of it all in Richie Unterberger's liner notes.