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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Billy G. Spradlin" <bgspradlin@cablelynx.com> |
| Subject | Re: Spanky and Our Gang |
| Date | Tue, 29 Jul 2003 14:24:40 -0500 |
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>The only one that's in print right now is GREATEST HITS, on Mercury. It's
>pretty good, but it doesn't really give a full overview of their career,
>because it eliminates most of their stranger songs. (Spanky and Our Gang
>are usually compared to the Mamas and the Papas -- Spanky McFarlane
>replaced Cass Elliot when the M&Ps reformed in the '80s -- but they had
>more in common with Harpers Bizarre in the way that their records had a lot
>of deadpan comedy and deliberately unfashionable non-rock influences.) I
>would recommend finding either the LP or CD of SPANKY'S GREATEST HIT(S),
>which does throw in a couple of oddities, including a really weird extended
>version of "Sunday Morning" that ends with this bizarre staged argument
>between the band and the producers as a loop of the vocal fadeout drones on
>behind them.
I agree with Stewart - the only thing I have against "Spanky's Greatest
Hit(s)"
is the sound quality isnt as good. Some tracks suffer from bad tape hiss or
too
much noise reduction. The group needs to have those original albums
reissued or
a 2 CD retrospective set. And from listening to "Sunday Morning" those dont
sound like staged arguments to me. The group was always wanting to do more
experimental recordings while Mercury and producers wanted them to stick with
hitbound material like "Lazy Day".
>Other than that, there's only three studio albums from the '60s, as well as
>a 1975 reunion record called CHANGE (with Richard Thompson guesting!) that
>I've never heard. All should be readily available on vinyl.
I think they also did one album for Epic or Columbia around 1971/2 - Never
heard it but it was supposted to have a strong "Country-Rock" infuence. It
might be the album Stewart mentioned.
Billy G. Spradlin
http://listen.to/jangleradio
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