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Tomorrow's Keepsake


Tomorrow's Keepsake - High And Mighty (Here We Stand) / Elevator Operator - 7

High And Mighty (Here We Stand) / Elevator Operator - 7"
RCA Canada International - 1967


Michael Panontin
The White Knights were one of the most popular bands in Regina in the mid-sixties, so much so that RPM featured them on the front cover of their March 11, 1967 issue. The four-piece of singer/guitarist Barry Keating, guitarist/organist Richard Gettle, bass player Vern Hoffert and drummer Art Zimmerman first got together in high school back in 1963. By early '67 they had a couple of singles under their belts and were known for their all-white schtick, or as the mag described it "four good looking guys, with white white hair and white white tuxedos and white white instruments".

After touring throughout much of the Canadian west, as well as down south in Florida, Oklahoma and Arizona, their manager Joe Vargo hooked them up with Don Grashey, who had already moved his Gaiety Records operations from Thunder Bay (ON) to Los Angeles. The White Knights (or White Nights as they were also known) issued a couple of 45s on Gaiety in 1966: 'Love That's True', which managed to chart as far away as northwestern Ontario, followed by 'Promise Her Love'. Both records could best be described as serviceable, if hardly stellar, Merseybeat clones and are unsurprisingly rarely talked about these days.

Which is probably why, with the music world in a state of rapid change and with their cutesy musical and sartorial images starting to look a little dated, the four opted for a new look, with some hipper duds and a name change to the more au courant-sounding Tomorrow's Keepsake. Grashey brought them back down to California to record what would turn out to be their final record. The spry pop of 'High And Mighty' may not have been the hard left turn that the boys had been hoping for with that image change, but its curious Cyrkle-meets-the-Seekers mix at least secured them a top-10 berth on the RPM Canadian Hits chart in December of 1967.

Collectors of course are much more interested in the guys' revved-up version of Gene Clark and the Gosdin Brothers' 'Elevator Operator' over on the other side. The song, about a fickle woman who "could make you feel / that you were up to stay" but then just as quickly "she took you down all the way", was a clear standout on Clark's first post-Byrds effort, the self-titled Gene Clark and the Gosdin Brothers. The Canadians' rendition changes things up a bit, jettisoning the languorous tempo of the original for a tougher, organ-driven package that ought to be a must-hear for the many Clark devotees out there.

Tomorrow's Keepsake pretty well disappeared after this record, though a final tune, the oddly titled 'Eat Your Hot Dog Boy', appeared two years later on the Birchmount Records comp Strictly Canadian. (Mintish copies of 'High and Mighty' have been pushing over the $100 USD mark of late.)
         
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