The Very Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful

Some 'Best Of' compilations are meticulously-curated labours of love; others are lazy cash-grabs. This The Very Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful CD released in 1998 is nearer the latter end of that continuum than the former. There are some (uncredited) liner notes, but they're on the perfunctory side; the track-listing and credits contain a few errors; and the handful of photographs are unimpressive. Nevertheless, the music itself (26 tracks of it in all) remains strong enough for it to be worth the while: I must have owned it for at least 15 years and it still gets played every now & then.

I only knew 'Summer in the City' and maybe one or two of their other songs before I bought a similar compilation on cassette in '89 or '90. I was greatly impressed to discover a round dozen or more classic pop-rock numbers therein and very little in the way of filler. Between '65 and '68. John Sebastian turned out one winning melody after another: 'Daydream', 'Do You Believe in Magic', 'She's Still a Mystery', 'Darling Be Home Soon' (probably my very favourite song of his), 'Six O'Clock', '(Sittin' Here) Lovin' You', 'You're a Big Boy Now', etc., etc.

There are some numbers I like less, for example 'Nashville Cats' and 'Jug Band Music'; and a few others whose lyrics haven't aged well, such as those that seem to emphasize the youth of this or that girlfriend, most pointedly in the song 'Younger Girl', where one can't help worrying how much younger exactly.

Comments

All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo...

In Heat

Having acquired the soubriquet "the walrus of love", Barry White thereafter became something of a figure of fun, something that misled me (and presumably others) into disregarding his music. Only within the last few years have I begun to pay it more attention. After picking up a copy of his '74 album Can't Get Enough last summer, which I loved, I sought out some of the music by his protegés Love Unlimited. From a Discogs seller I ordered well-used copies of Under the Influence of... ('73) and In Heat ('74) for only £6.25. The only unappealing thing about In Heat is its awful title. The songs and the singing are strong; the arrangements rich & warmly enveloping. As one would expect from White, the thematic focus is firmly fixed on amatory matters. The opening number 'Move Me No Mountain' (the only one on the record not written by White) offers a refreshing rebuttal to the kind of lyrical hyperbole in songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High E...

Bananas Are Not Created Equal

I knew Jay Berliner's name from his contributions to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady , so when I saw this curiously-titled LP at the local charity shop I was intrigued, and bought it even though I had no idea what kind of music it might contain. This was after the days when one could still buy records there for a pound apiece, but I don't think I paid more than a fiver for it. The music turned out to be an all-instrumental blend of funk, soul & jazz. Berliner's virtuoso lead guitar is only one of many attractions here. The band of first-rate session musicians behind him are all uniformly excellent too, and, crucially, sound like they're having a blast. Cornell Dupree's supporting guitar work, while less showy than Berliner's, is beautifully-judged, and the rhythm section is terrific. Arranger/conductor Wade Marcus was no slouch either, judging from the way everything comes together. Two of the funk...

This is a Recording

Search This Blog