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In the fall of '65, The Spoonful burst onto the national scene with their Top Ten single, "Do You Believe in Magic." It was the first of a string of ten hits over the next two years. The other hit from their debut was a second John Sebastian-penned song, "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?" The other group originals (all written by Sebastian) were "Younger Girl," "On the Road Again" and the instrumental "Night Owl Blues," named for the Night Owl Cafe where the early Spoonful honed their music. [The Daydream reissue contains the complete 4:40 version as one of the bonus tracks.] The rest of the material consists of either traditional songs (like "Blues in the Bottle" and "Fishin' Blues") or writers Fred Neil ("Other Side of Life) and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil ("You Baby"). The lack of more original material was as much a result of the need to cut an album quickly after "Do You Believe In Magic" went Top Ten as it was a desire of the band to play the music they had been playing live.
The bonus tracks (all previously unreleased) include only one new song--a cover of the Hollywood Argyles' "Alley Oop" with lead guitarist Zal Yanovsky singing lead. "Younger Girl" is offered in a demo version. There are alternate--but similar--versions of "Blues in the Bottle" (with different lyrics) and "Wild About My Lovin'." And finally, an instrumental version of "Other Side of This Life." It would have been nice if they could also have included "Good Time Music"--a track they cut for Elektra before signing with Kama Sutra--but it's nice to see the Spoonful albums back in print. Now if they would also rerelease Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful and Everything Playing...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PS: Do you think amazon.com will let me put in a plug for Rhino Records Handmade limited box set reissue of all five of John Sebastian's solo LPs?
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ROBBIE
The sound is perfect the record flat very pleased with this purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2016bottleneck
The soundtrack of my early teens 2
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2013
