Customer Reviews

Like To Get To Know You

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One Christmas Day a couple of years back I was listening to local radio when the LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU single came on - first time I had heard it on radio for years. I phoned the station and spoke to the deejay - found we both loved this kind of 60s music and have remained friends since. That's what the music of SPANKY AND OUR GANG does, It's feelgood, light and friendly. I bought the vinyl copy of the album in the summer of 1968 and hearing these tracks again evoke memories of that year. Standout tracks are SUNDAY MORNING, ECHOES (Everybody's Talking)and 3 WAYS FROM TOMORROW which was good to hear again. One minor complaint - the reissue could have included bonus tracks like the single mono versions of LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU (the track on the album is different) and 3 WAYS FROM TOMORROW - but this is still worth listening to. Now - let me get back to 1968....

Too bad the re-mastering by VIVID SOUND so clearly reveals the limitations of the analog recording process. The HISS is ever-present on this delightful set of looney tunes.

Still, its great to have a digital version, my LP is just about dead and I'm not quite ready to open the sealed cut-out I got before the demise of records. Many inventive production chances taken by Scharf/Dorough team on their first S&OG LP.

The "Wild-eyed at the Ball" suite is the icing on this cake!

Worth the wait for this import to arrive... a little pricey, but a fun memento to the mid-sixties and the clever and talented Gang.

(The "translated to English" lyrics insert is hilarious! I imagine it was accomplished phonetically, as many bare little resemblance to the actual lyrics!)

I always had a great time playing the 8-track version of this album in my car back in the late sixties/early seventies. Every song reminds me of the fun times I had. Great music from Spanky and the Gang with their distinctive sound. The title song and Sunday morning, especially, are wonderful.

Let's keep two facts in mind: perception is not--always--reality, and 2010 is not--ever--1968.

Back in '68 when you were a dove or a hawk, a hippie or a square, long hair or short, AM or FM, it was impossible to admit liking Spanky And Our Gang if you were not one of those kids with the thick rimmed glasses you wore back then. Even Captain America from Easy Rider would tar and feather you if you brought an album such as Like To Get To Know you anywhere near a commune, a joint roll, or a progressive radio station. A ballad like the title track here seemed like the culture gasping for air.

I have not seen many lava lamps around in the past few months, and that divide I spoke about now induces giggles from both sides. But in '10, the music remains and there is some fascinating material here. "Sunday Morning" by the great Margot Garyun is simply amazing pop balladry--frankly it brings tears to my eyes. "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen is given beautiful coral treatment, as is Harry Nillson's "Evferybody's Talkin'" made for this album a year BEFORE Midnight Cowboy made it an international hit.

The title track of Like To Get To Know You is actually part of a long suite, which also includes some wonderful slide guitar by--I think-Tommy Tedesco. It all climaxes in that big end you heard in the AM single edit, but what got cut is more than worth hearing: if anything, you have to praise Spanky And Our Gang for their ambition, welding tracks together when most singles bands never had a clue.

Two afterthoughts: in the LA spirit of 1968, you can see the great Hal Blaine and his session pals included on the back cover--if the art is fully restored. Also the writer of Sunday Morning, Margot Guryan has a wonderful album called Take a Picture which has a rockier take of the track. Don't let my hip to you go unpurchased

Unlike the Greatest Hits compilations, this has the introductory dialogue before "I'd Like to Get to Know You." Priceless

I remember, as a very young child, my Mother would play this record from time to time. Every time I heard the Coda of "Like To Get To Know You", the tears would just run down my face!! To this day, every time I hear this song, I get incredibly choked up!! It's worth buying just for that song alone, the ending is so hauntingly beautiful...it's one for the ages!!

That this great S&OG album is only available as an import is a sad commentary. They were an under-appreciated pop group, kind of a The Mamas & The Papas without all the sturm and Drang and sleeping around. While I thoroughly enjoyed their pop ditties, the song I miss hearing is Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne." A minor hit when released originally as a haunting, surrealistic folk tale of longing by Judy Collins, the tune has had at least two other, totally different recordings. One is by Roberta Flack, a gospelly, seven minute workout produced by Deodato. S&OG's version is as different from either of those as is imaginable, an orchestral harmonic with constantly shifting rhythms. Until someone gets enough sense to release this album in th US for a mroe reasonable price, I'll just have to settle for my scratchy vinyl version.