The Lovin' Spoonful - Greatest Hits | Lovin Spoonful

The Lovin' Spoonful - Greatest Hits | Lovin Spoonful | America's Rare "Self-Contained" Mid Sixties Band.

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	The Lovin' Spoonful - Greatest Hits Lovin Spoonful Buddha, 2000 average customer review:based on 51 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

It sometimes feels as though the Lovin' Spoonful have been reduced to a footnote in the history of rock & roll. Yet few of their contemporaries could match the likes of "Daydream," "Summer in the City," and the transcendent "Do You Believe in Magic?"--a song that can still turn January into June. Legend has it that the Spoonful auditioned for The Monkees, and they'd have been good in those roles, having the right candy-sweet sound and a warm humor in constant evidence. But it wouldn't have lasted: lead songwriter John Sebastian was too willful and idiosyncratic, coming on like an American Ray Davies on songs such as "Younger Generation," a prescient meditation on the hippie generation's future parental dilemmas. Greatest Hits is a fine 26-song introduction to a perennially underrated band. --Taylor Parkes

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26 Cuts of Good-Time Music

This is the real thing, with 26 cuts of good-time music, most of them featuring the inimitable voice of John Sebastian. About 10 years ago, Rhino released a Spoonful anthology that also contained 26 cuts, but this newer release on Buddha is slightly preferable (big-time Spoonful fans will want both), if for no other reason than that it contains the songs "Wild About My Lovin'" and "On the Road Again," which the Rhino collection omits. Audiophile sound was never a feature of Spoonful recordings, but the sound is certainly serviceable.

America's Rare "Self-Contained" Mid Sixties Band.

These Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inductees of 2000 were nearly 10 years overdue. I could have spat hawkers on the judges, but they wisened up just in time for me not to have a conniption.

You could almost never pigeonhole this band because they explored Western Music in virtually all its hybrids. And this embodies the very definition of American rock and roll. So, if you break down its constituents, the Lovin' Spoonful were essentially American Rock and Roll tied to their country's musical roots. They never sounded like the same band even with each of their successive singles.

They did Motown R&B effortlessly with "Do You Believe In Magic?". On "Daydream" they excelled at ragtime shuffle. With "Nashville Cats", they made traditional Country and Western swing with a smile and a wink. And, if you wanted a complex production number, they brilliantly evoked a literate portrait of everyday life in "Summer In The City". This last track was the band's sole number one single. Listen intently to that jackhammer!

But this self-contained unit was much more than their great singles. At its center were John Sebastian, the writer and rhythm setter, and Zal Yanovsky, the musical noisemaker. John was a master of the pop-rock idiom. He had a lyrical wit greater than most of his contemporaries, was arguably a precursor to Randy Newman and he was amongst the most versatile laid-back vocalist. For instance, in "Jug Band Music" he sings more raucously on this hilarious story of medicinal brew that only this kind of music can bring a boy back to life. It's a hoot! And at the spectrum's other end is "Younger Generation", a late peak of coffee-house folk that analyzes the trials and tribulations of adulthood and its changes in perception from lost innocence. His almost flat singing echoes its weary yet moving sentiment.

Zal Yanovsky was the cut-up of the band. But his subtle guitar playing that alternated between finger picking and flat picking added much presence to the music. Dig Zal's use of tremolo on "Didn't Want To Have To Do It", accentuating the haunting effect of its lyric. On "Darling Companion" his flat picking compares favorably with, say, Jerry Reed. He lends an eeriness to the dreamy "Coconut Grove". And, hah ha, his volume control on the fade-out and fade-in of "Daydream" is simply a must hear. But, then again, every detail in that song must not be overlooked.

This does omit "4 Eyes", one of the most humorous stabs at autobiography and "Night Owl Blues", one of rock's (and blues) greatest instrumentals ever. This latter track convinces me that Sebastian was as great a white exponent of blues harmonica as Paul Butterfield and Alan Wilson. But I won't gripe about their non-representation here because I still have my 1976 vinyl LP, "The Best...Lovin' Spoonful", still in very playable condition.

Their ouevre of both originals and of old folk and blues covers underscored their allegiance to their roots. These guys may never have been quite as innocent as some of their music implies, but like their music, they were often optimistic without hardly ever dipping into wimpiness. And this is why their music continues to endure and it should hold the interest for any audiophile for many years.

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The Lovin' Spoonful Greatest Hits

This is truly a greatest hits album. Just a wonderful capitulation of the Lovin Spoonfuls. If you ever liked this group you will defintely love this collections of songs. I highly recommend this album.

Great music of the sixties

John Sebastian is a marvelous writer and his songs have endured over the years..Some of his best songs are "Do you believe in magic", You didn't have to be so Nice" and "Summer in the City." The quality of the sound on the CD is excellent and it brings back so many memories of a happier time for me. If you loved those songs, then i would recommend this CD to you. Enjoy!!

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Great Music from One of the 60's Best Bands

Phil's review covers a lot of good ground, so I won't re-hash. Here's my 2 cents:

Never flashy, always fun, drawing on the folk and jug-band scene of early 60's Greenwich Village, they lit up the top 40's airwaves with much needed balance to the British gang and served as a reminder that this country had better music to offer than the pop-vomit of the likes of Jay and the Americans, the Buckinghams, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, and others too painful to recall let alone mention in print. The Spoonful were musician's musicians (Zal Yanovski's country influenced leads were one of the underrated treasures of the era - the break in "Do you Believe in Magic" being a fine example and one of the tastiest solos ever), and the band as a whole was as tight as it gets while maintaining a sense of good-time looseness.

Unfortunately, after Zal returned to his native Canada following a run-in with the law, the band lost a lot of its verve and humor. John Sebastian remained the band's center; but Jerry Yester's contributions were weak at best. The band began sliding into weaker and weaker tunes until the curtain came down and Sebastian went off to do his solo thing.

This compilation has most of the best of the band's output although, I would have included "Night Owl Blues" - a great 12-bar instrumental that shows off Sebastian's harp (as in harmonica, not autoharp) and Zal's blues roots - and I would have 86'd "Lonely" - the worst song on the album. I also would have included "Blues in the Bottle," Bald-Headed Lena" and "Butchie's Tune" (a Steve Boone original )from the "Daydream" album - all gems - in place of clunkers like "Full Measure," "Younger Generation," "Money" - none of which were either "great" or "hits" by any sober standards, unfortunately.

These guys warmed a lot of hearts and brought a lot of smiles. They deserve a place on your shelf and/or your I-Pod.

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