The Best Of – THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL*****

Do You Believe In Magic/Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind/Butchie’s Tune/Jug Band Music/Night Owl Blues/You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice/Daydream/Blues In The Bottle/Didn’t Want To Have To Do It/Wild About My Lovin’/Younger Girl/Summer In The City

Timely greatest hits package as The Lovin' Spoonful would split shortly afterwards. Few groups have produced such a wealth of material in such a short time span. (US:3)

"You could almost never pigeonhole this band because they explored Western Music in virtually all its hybrids. And this embodies the very definition of American rock and roll. So, if you break down its constituents, The Lovin' Spoonful were essentially American rock and roll tied to their country's musical roots. They never sounded like the same band even with each of their successive singles."

"The rich textures, hopeful tones, and wonderful melodies of The Lovin' Spoonful reach across generations and this music can still make the rainiest day seem full of sun and hope. The genuine feeling and emotion that comes through in some of the vocal performances is simply amazing, and you'll marvel at the fact that popular music was ever this good and at how far it has since fallen. The Spoonful understood music in a way that completely eludes most popular music 'artists' today."

"It does have pretty much every song you ever sang along to. If you've never listened to them, this is a good place to start; incredible songs from a time when we thought the world was ours."

"John Sebastian was the focal point of The Spoonful. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he had a keen melodic ear and the lyrical talent of a Tin Pan Alley master. Songs like Summer In The City and Daydream were in the best traditions of American song craft. Sebastian and The Spoonful had pretty much run their course by 1968 but left a stellar string of hit singles."

"Never flashy, always fun, drawing on the folk and jug-band scene of early 60s Greenwich Village, they lit up the top 40 airwaves with much needed balance to the British gang and others too painful to recall, let alone mention in print. The Spoonful were musician's musicians and the band as a whole was as tight as it gets while maintaining a sense of good-time looseness."