Merry-Go-Round, The

Among folk-rock devotees and power-pop cultists, Emitt Rhodes is a legendary figure with a powerful mystique. The prodigiously talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist first came to prominence as the teenaged leader of The Merry-Go-Round, a unique L.A. baroque folk-rock quartet whose lone 1967 album is now regarded as being in the same class as the debut discs of such '60s contemporaries as the Byrds, Love, the Left Banke and the Buffalo Springfield. The Merry-Go-Round–which also included guitarist Gary Kato, ex-Leaves bassist Bill Rinehart and former Grass Roots drummer Joel Larson–scored an early hit with the infectiously jangly "Live." The song (which would be covered in the '80s by the Bangles) became a major regional hit in the Los Angeles area. The equally distinctive B-side, "Time Will Show the Wiser," was covered the following year by Fairport Convention. The band's second single, the bittersweet, orchestrated "You're a Very Lovely Woman," was an equally impressive achievement.