Customer Reviews

Ultimate Spinach III

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

 

 

After the release of "Behold and See", Ultimate Spinach ceased to exist, as Spinach creator / frontman Ian Bruce-Douglas left the band, opting for sanity rather than fame. Problem was, Ultimate Spinach still owed MGM Records another album. Producer Alan Lorber quickly assembled a pick-up band, consisting of Spinach members Barbara Hudson and Russ Levine, Ted Myers and Tony Schueren from the recently-disbanded Chamaeleon Church, and guitarist Jeff Baxter to work under the name.Myers was a credible pop-rock songwriter, but lacked the musical knowledge and vision of Bruce-Douglas. This album isn't as good as the "real" Spinach, or even Chamaeleon Church, but does include some good numbers, such as "Reasons" and "The World Has Just Begun". The album didn't sell though, and Baxter left for Steely Dan, ending the Spinach for good. One song, the countryish "Sincere" is missing from this CD, for unknown reasons.

a warning for those who enjoyed the first 2 ultimate spinach albums- the band is comprised of almost totally different personnel here. that being said this is, in the main, a mediocre rock album. little to nothing on this is psychedelic too.there's a pretty good version of the 60's hit just like romeo and juliet. reasons is a nice ballad that kind of reminds me of something an early 70s singer songwriter would have come up with. some of the other songs are half-good: some days you just cant win and strange life tragicomedy, for instance have interesting parts, but the whole sounds unrealized. this album really sounds like a rush job or a contractual obligation album. nothing on this album is terrible but most of the songs are mediocre at best.

This version of Ultimate Spinach was certainly more pop-oriented and accessible than the original unit. Much of the material here could have been from the Monkees' movie "Head", they have that mellow lite-psychedelic feel down pat--apparently due to Ted Myers. When the Spinach rocks here, they do so with mixed results; they were clearly best at mellow rock. What ever happened to Myers? His work compares quite favorably to many of the artists of the time.

In my humble opinion, "Ultimate Spinach III" is perhaps the most under-rated rock album ever produced. Virtually every song is excellent. For a "pick-up band" recruited to produce a third album, they did a superb job. My biggest disappointment is that the best song on the album, "Sincere", is apparently missing from the CD. Anyone know what happened to it, and if a CD exists that includes "Sincere"? Thanks!