Track Listing

1. Do You Believe in Magic?
2. You Didn't Have to Be So Nice
3. Daydream
4. You Baby
5. Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind?
6. Wild About My Lovin'
7. Younger Girl
8. On the Road Again
9. Didn't Want To Have To Do It
10. Jug Band Music
11. Summer in the City
12. Rain on the Roof
13. Pow! [Theme from What's Up Tiger Lily?]
14. Nashville Cats
15. Lovin' You
16. Darlin' Companion
17. Coconut Grove
18. Full Measure
19. Darling Be Home Soon
20. Lonely (Amy's Theme)
21. You're a Big Boy Now
22. Six O'Clock
23. She Is Still a Mystery
24. Money
25. Younger Generation
26. Never Going Back

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #916 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
It sometimes feels as though the Lovin' Spoonful have been reduced to a footnote in the history of rock & roll. Yet few of their contemporaries could match the likes of "Daydream," "Summer in the City," and the transcendent "Do You Believe in Magic?"--a song that can still turn January into June. Legend has it that the Spoonful auditioned for The Monkees, and they'd have been good in those roles, having the right candy-sweet sound and a warm humor in constant evidence. But it wouldn't have lasted: lead songwriter John Sebastian was too willful and idiosyncratic, coming on like an American Ray Davies on songs such as "Younger Generation," a prescient meditation on the hippie generation's future parental dilemmas. Greatest Hits is a fine 26-song introduction to a perennially underrated band. --Taylor Parkes

Customer Reviews

Thank You Buddha Records!
Wow! I almost didn't buy this collection after reading other amazon reviews and how similar it was to the Rhino CD, but boy good thing I did. First off, this compilation is not only cheaper than than the Rhino package, but sound wise it blows the doors off the Rhino package. Did Rhino take their compilation from old records? This thing sounds amazing, I don't know any other way to describe it. The package says it was taken from the original master tapes for the 1st time and boy does it show. I can't say enough about the sound because being a long time fan, I have always been dissapointed with the way that their CD's have sounded. Great liner notes from Ben Edmonds of Cream & Mojo magazine with lots of information I never knew. I hope Mojo has a big feature planned soon. As far as the tracks go, yeah it's the best of the Lovin Spoonful what more could you want? Don't be fooled friends, this is the must own Spoonful package! Let's hope Buddha reissues the entire LS catalog this way.

A Spoonful of Magic
The Lovin' Spoonful seldom makes anyone's short list of great sixties bands. Their legacy has been cheapened by Buddah Record's exploitation of their back-catalog in an endless stream of ill-conceived "greatest hits" collections that are of abysmal quality. But that's not all... In the summer of 1966, guitarist Zal Yanovsky and bassist Steve Boone were arrested for marijuana possession in San Francisco. In exchange for immunity, Yanovsky and Boone assisted the police in setting up Bill Love, manager of the popular 60's comedy improv ensemble, the Committee. The Lovin' Spoonful became a "nark" band and were forever banished from the musical underground. It's unfortunate because the Spoonful and John Sebastian's music may never be examined on it's own terms, without regard to the band's pariah reputation in the 60s.

It was John Sebastian that was the focal point of the Spoonful. A talented multi-instrumentalist, Sebastian had a keen melodic ear and the lyrical talent of a tin pan alley master, like Ira Gershwin. Sebastian brought the best traditions of American folkways to Top Forty radio. "Wild About My Loving" is a variation on a song played by the legendary Mississippi Sheiks an African American ragtime and blues band. "Nashville Cats" sings the praises of yellow Sun records from Nashville. "Jug Band Music" is about, well, jug band music. Sebastian certainly broadened the scope Top 40 music playlists. In addition, Sebastian songs like "Summer In the City" and "Daydream" were in the best traditions of American tin pan alley songcraft. After ill conceived several tries, Buddah Records has finally released a complete remastered collection of the Spoonful's greatest hits. Within this context, the Spoonful rise about the "nark" band fiasco, to deliver the goods.

Sebastian and the Spoonful had pretty much run their course by 1968 but left a stellar string of hit singles. Sebastian was offered a fourth slot in Crosby,Stills and Nash, which he declined and went on to be the whimsical tye-dyed poster boy for Woodstock. He wrote the theme to the "Welcome Back Kotter" television show which probably assures him that he will never have to work a day job. He is still a regular on the tour circuit and still a delight on the concert stage (I saw him in Boston a couple of years ago.)

Hall of Famers get an anthology worthy of their talents
One of the truly worthwhile things about the Internet (and Amazon's review forum) is that music lovers can exchange ideas, trivia, opinions and remembrances about their favorite artists. So it has been fun for me, a lifelong Spoons fan, to read others' contributions here. Like Peter Castanos, I am also a devotee of Bill Inglot and Rhino. They will always have my thanks and admiration for the CDs they issue. But I always thought Rhino's Spoons anthology sounded pretty rough. It was clear to me after I heard it that Rhino did not have access to the original tapes, and I think Inglot did the best he could with what he had. So, this new Buddha collection is the one to buy. Like Peter, I A-B'd the two. But unlike Peter, I think the sound on this one is much more than a slight improvement over Rhino's effort. I can hear nuances in Joe's singing and drumming, Zally's guitar licks, Steve's bass lines and piano playing, and John's singing and strumming that I've never heard before. As with Sony's remastered Byrds CDs, listening to Buddha's remastered Spoons CD is akin to hearing the songs for the first time. If your CD collection lacks music by the Lovin' Spoonful, and the band's hits are all you desire, then get this CD. It's essential listening. I'm still going to buy all the original Spoons CDs if and when they're released because the band created too many other good songs ("Fishin' Blues," "Butchie's Tune," "Let the Boy Rock and Roll," "Boredom" to name but a few) to stop with this hits collection, but this one will stay in my CD player till then.