T.I.M.E. -

Trust In Men Everywhere, commonly billed under the acronymic moniker T.I.M.E., was an American psych-rock band from Los Angeles that released two albums on Liberty in 1968/69.

Members: Larry Byrom (guitar), Bill Richardson (guitar), Nick St. Nicholas (bass), Steve Rumph (drums)

Background

T.I.M.E. were an offshoot of The Hard Times, a San Diego garage band that tried its luck in LA with showcases on Dick Clark’s ABC daytime music variety program Where the Action Is. Their lone album, Blew Mind, appeared on World Pacific Records in 1967. It features 12 songs, mostly in a sunshine-psych-pop vein, including covers of The Beatles (“Here, There and Everywhere”), The Rolling Stones (“Fortune Teller”), and Donovan (“Colours”). Four tracks are credited to 12-string guitarist Rudy Romero, including the sitar-laden, SAC-like “Play It for Me” and the Pet Sounds-inspired harmony ballad “Take a Look Around.”

Romero, along with drummer Paul Wheatbread, soon departed to The New Phoenix, which issued the Cass Elliot-produced single “Give to Me Your Love” on WPR in 1968. Two other Hard Timers, guitarists Larry Byrom and Bill Richardson, formed Trust In Men Everywhere (T.I.M.E.) with drummer Steve Rumph and German-Canadian bassist Nick St. Nicholas, formerly of Ontarian garage rockers The Sparrows.

Time

T.I.M.E. released their first album, Time, in 1968 on Liberty. It features 12 group-written originals, including “Tripping Into Sunshine,” “Let The Colors Keep On,” “Make It Alright,” and “Take Me Along,” the last two paired on a single.

Time was produced by Joe Saraceno (The Ventures, Martin Denny) and engineered by Lanky Linstrot (Julies London, Vikki Carr, Jackie DeShannon). The psychedelic cover, which displays the four members (infrared) as hands on a clock, was designed by Pacific Jazz Records art director Woody Woodward. Select pressings feature a side-cut sleeve.

They followed Time with the non-album a-side, “What Would Life Be Without It.” Rumph quit and Nicholas rejoined his Sparrows colleagues in their new band, Steppenwolf. Byrom and Richardson hired musicians Pat Couchois and Richard Tepp, the latter of garage-rockers Richard & The Young Lions.

Smooth Ball

The second T.I.M.E. album, Smooth Ball, appeared on Liberty in 1969. It features 10 originals: four by Couchois/Tepp (“Leavin’ My Home,” “See Me As I Am,” “I Think You’d Cry,” “Do You Feel It”), three by Richardson/Byrom (“Lazy Day Blues,” “Flowers,” “Morning Come”), and a song apiece by Richardson (“I’ll Write a Song”) and Byrom (“Trust In Men Everywhere“). The album opener, “Preparation G,” is a group-written number.

Smooth Ball was produced by Al Schmitt (Duane Eddy, The Astronauts, Hugo Montenegro). Original copies came in a colorful gatefold designed by Wayne Kimbell (5th Dimension) under Woodward’s direction.

Byrom and Couchois formed Ratchell with Pat’s brother, Chris Couchois. Ratchell cut two albums in 1971/72 on MCA and Decca. In 1979, the brothers reemerged with a third of kin, Mike Couchois, in the AOR/melodic-rock band Couchois.

Discography: