Customer Reviews

Treat Her Groovy

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

 

 

Thank God for Satellite radio! I had no idea who did "Things I'd Like To Say" until I caught it on XM and it was The New Colony Six! I was aware of their garage rock sound but not the ballad sounds that would make you think of the Association or Gary Puckett. Better than Puckett, on par with the best Association music and were better at making whole albums as evidence here. If it had more cuts like "Sun Within You" and "Come Give your Love To Me" and dropped the last two cuts, I would have given it 5 stars. Save yourself some bucks and skip the "Colonized" Rhino collection. Far too expensive. Buy this along with the insanely excellent "At the River's Edge" (5 stars!) and you will have most of "Colonized" for half the price. One disc will have the garage and the other will be the lighter sunshiny music. A logical move in 1968 for a garage band considering the immense popularity of Puckett, the Association, the Bee Gees,etc. If you are into this stuff don't hesitate.

Being from chicago, the new colony six where the second most popular local bang in the late 60's only the buckinghams got more national attention.

This CD combines their last 2 albums on Mecury Records "revelations" and "attacking a straw man" . Most people will know the hits from the first album "i will always think about you" and their biggest national hit " things i'd like to say". its good clean pop sound, happy and carefree no anti war messages here, just fun and toe tapping/sing along songs......hope you like as much as i did when i bought the 8-track tapes in '68 and '69!

For you old timers (myself included) that remember & liked The New Colony Six; you have got to hear these ballads again! Hands down; This is one of the best Bands that I remember; and yet forgot about; until I happened to stumble upon their (out of print) Best Of; Colonized CD here at Amazon. What a pleasant surprise for me! Needless to say; I done more searching looking for my favorite New Colony Six songs on other compilations that was still in print and found their 2 most popular Ballads was on Dick Bartley Presents Classic Oldies 1965-1969 being, I will Always Think About You, and, Things I'd like To Say, however purchasing that CD only left me wanting more of their good songs. I knew there was more because I vaguely remember a few of them but didn't remember the titles and it has been so long; the available 30 second song samples wasn't helping me at all. Well..... My search stopped right here with this Treat Her Groovy Disc that Amazon now has. The titles of 2 of those songs are, Barbara; I Love You, and, Blue Eyes, and, Blue Eyes, isn't even on the Colonized CD. There are also 3 others here that I remember and I think they are every bit as beautiful as the Band's 2 most popular Ballads (which are also here) being, I Want You To Know, I Could Never Lie To You, &, Can't You See Me Cry. The remainder of the songs don't appeal to me much and that is why I only gave this Disc 4 stars however the Ballads more than justify purchasing this CD.
This Disc is their 2 Mercury Records Studio Albums, Revelations, &, Attacking A Straw man, from 1968 & 1969 on 1 Disc and for roughly ¼ of the price of the Colonized CD; and this is what I was looking for. This Disc and their, At The Rivers Edge, Disc will get you 15 of the 20 Colonized songs anyway; for roughly ½ the price. The sound quality on this CD is as beautiful as the Ballads. If you like this band; you can't go wrong here. I cannot believe I completely forgot about them but then.....It was a long time ago!
Final Note; I'm only kidding about old timers only. Everyone needs to hear the Ballads I have mentioned above! Simply put......They are Gorgeous!

Theses guys had the Chicago area rockin' in the mid 60's and mellowed out a bit into the 70's. This collection is the mellower music, and it demonstrates the versatility of the group's musical repertoire. A couple of the songs I hadn't heard but all fit in to the colorful collage of the New Colony 6's later style. Many songs are romantic, soulful with lots of feeling, and heartfelt. Some of these call back breezy memories of earlier times, while other songs are brassy and jazzy. Nice listening, in the car and at home!

In 1993, Rhino Records issued the compilation "Colonized! The Best of The New Colony Six". It included ten tracks from the Centaur/Sentar label; seven(hits only) from Mercury; and three from the Sunlight label.
This Cherry Red Records New Colony Six CD release "Treat Her Groovy" contains 22 tracks. These songs were actually released as two separate Mercury LPs in 1968 and 1969-"Revelations" and "Attacking a Straw Man", respectively. The songs are in the original album order.
Included are the New Colony Six's biggest national Top 40 AM hits for that label -"Things I'd Like To Say", "I Will Always Think About You", "I Could Never Lie to You", "Can't You See Me Cry", "I Want You To Know", and "Barbara I Love You". These tracks are smooth romantic ballads with horn and string production.
As was common for many groups of the era, many influences were evident in the songwriting. The albums featured garage rockers like "Free" and "Come and Give Your Love To Me"; the country flavored "Just Feel Worse"; jazzy horn driven tunes such as "Dandy Handy Man" and "Ride The Wicked Wind"; British Invasion soundalikes "Treat Her Groovy", "We Will Love Again", "Girl Unsigned", "Hold Me With Your Eyes", and "You Know Better"; and the romantic balladry of "Love, That's the Best I Can Do" and "Blue Eyes".
This release is a bargain for someone wanting more than just the hits or someone who would like to own both of the Mercury LPs.

I had to buy this entire CD because there was one song on it that I couldn't get on iTunes or even an Amazon download. But the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate what an underrated group the NC6 was. There were some tracks I can take or leave, but the most romantic is Things I'd Like To Say.

The New Colony Six were the most popular local band in the 1960's based on the number of hits they charted on local rock powerhouses WLS and WCFL.While the Buckinghams made more noise on the national charts,the New Colony Six had nearly twice as many hits locally.Their early years were marked by multiple forays into the garage rock that was king in the neighborhoods of Chicago and its suburbs.With the addition of Ronnie Rice,they turned to a more ballad heavy sound and had more national attention.This CD collects their third and fourth albums recorded for Mercury records after their first two Sentar,self released albums.It not only contains all their hits from this era but some really tasty non-hits like Dandy Handy Man.For anyone who remembers the sixties,or wish they did,this a great slice of the softer side of Chicago rock pre-Styx and Pre-Chicago Transit Authority(later Chicago).Very highly recommended.

Let me apologize in advance. I'm writing this review as a public service to anyone who thinks the New Colony Six might be an uncovered pop gem from the late sixties. I really hoped that they were. I ponied up the big bucks for "Treat Her Groovy" and looked forward to the pop chestnuts arriving with their disk.
The songwriting is utterly predictable. The arrangements lack imagination. The singing is weak. The production is syrupy. For me, this one was a bust. And I'm sorry to the other reviewers who really liked this.
Out in Northern California where I grew up, "Things I'd Like to Say" was minor hit. I remember liking the song, and I still do. My hope was, with the comparisons to The Beau Brummels and The Association, that the New Colony Six was even better than those bands. And perhaps NCS's lack of success on the west coast was due to the wild creativity of their album material. Not the case, at least not for me.
NCS is like yoga to me. I wanted to like it. I gave it a fair shot. I tried it and didn't like it. I won't be doing much New Colony Six or downward dog positions anytime in the near (or distant) future.