The Lovin' Spoonful - Everything Playing (1967)

The Lovin' Spoonful are an American rock band originally active in the 1960s.

In 1966 The Lovin' Spoonful recorded soundtracks for two films, the first being Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily?, and the second being Francis Ford Coppola's You're A Big Boy Now. The soundtrack album of the latter was released in 1967, and featured a hit with "Darling Be Home Soon", which charted at #15. 

Following this lead guitarist Zal Yanovsky left the band, and was replaced by Jerry Yester, who had previously been a member of both The New Christy Minstrels and the Modern Folk Quartet. They also had a change of producer, with Joe Wissert taking over from Erik Jacobsen. Their fourth album came out later that year, with an eclectic pop-rock sound notable for orchestral embellishments on some songs. Three songs were released as singles and became minor hits - "Six O'Clock" at #18, "She Is Still A Mystery" at #27 and "Money" at #48. It marked the beginning of a commercial decline for the group, who also suffered from the fallout of a drug bust (Yanovsky had named his supplier, which hurt the band's credentials with their hippie audience).  It turned out to be their last album with frontman and main songwriter John Sebastian, as he left soon afterwards to start a solo career (retrospectively it can be seen that Sebastian was The Lovin' Spoonful, and stepping out of the restrictions of a group format could only have been a good thing).

Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful (1966) <|> Revelation: Revolution '69 (1969)
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The Lovin' Spoonful - Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful (1966)

The Lovin' Spoonful are an American rock band originally active in the 1960s.

1965 and 1966 had been very successful years for The Lovin' Spoonful - with four hit singles and two albums released, they also got the chance to record the soundtrack for a Woody Allen film (What's Up, Tiger Lily?). Before the year was out they would have three more hits. The first of these proved to be their biggest, as the hard-driving "Summer In The City" became their first #1 pop hit. It also charted at #8 in the UK. The follow-up singles "Rain On The Roof" and "Nashville Cats" got to #10 and #8 respectively.

All three singles were featured on their third album, Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful, released late in 1966. It proved to be a much more diverse record than their first two, mixing various strains of folk, blues, country and jug-band music into a collection of upbeat good-time music. For the first time, all the songs were written (or at least co-written) by frontman John Sebastian. The album itself charted at #14.

Daydream (1965) <|> Everything Playing (1967)
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The Lovin' Spoonful - Daydream (1966)

The Lovin' Spoonful are an American rock band originally active in the 1960s.

"Do You Believe In Magic" had given The Lovin' Spoonful a massive hit in 1965, and they were quick to follow up with more. "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" reached #10 in early 1966, followed by two which got to #2 - "Daydream" and "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind" (the latter had originally featured on their debut album). These singles secured their place as a hit-making pop group, not only in the US but also the UK (the last two singles getting to #2 and #3 on the UK charts).

Their second album came out in 1966, featuring both "Daydream" and "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice". It was a fine example of their upbeat blend of pop and jug band music. Whilst their debut album had featured covers of traditional folk songs, Daydream was notable for all the songs save one being written or co-written by frontman John Sebastian.

Do You Believe In Magic (1965) <|> Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful (1966)
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The Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic (1965)

The Lovin' Spoonful are an American rock band originally active in the 1960s.

John Sebastian was born in New York City in 1944, the son of a noted classical harmonica player. He grew up surrounded by music, and in the early 60s became emersed in the Greenwich Village folk scene. He was a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band, and also appeared as a guest musician on many records by fellow folk artists. Before long he had joined with guitarist Zal Yanovsky (who had been in The Mugwumps), and then bassist Joe Butler and Steve Boone. They became The Lovin' Spoonful, taking up electric instruments in 1965, the year that the folk-rock movement took off. Sebastian was the lead singer, and played various instruments including guitar, harmonica, autoharp and keyboards.

In May 1965 they released the Sebastian-penned single "Do You Believe In Magic". With this song they appeared to entirely abandon their folk roots for sunshine pop, and it became a huge hit, getting to #9. Their first album followed in its footsteps, and showed that they were still very much folk fans, as many of the songs were traditional numbers. They combined blues and jug band styles with their electric rock/pop instrumentation, leading to something quite unique (not many other folk-rock bands made use of this jug band style). Alongside the traditional songs were some more good original tunes, and a cover of Fred Neil's "Other Side Of This Life". The album got to #32.

|> Daydream (1966)
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