Track Listing

1. San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
2. Celeste
3. It's Not Time Now
4. What's the Difference (Chapter 2)
5. Reason to Believe
6. Like an Old Time Movie
7. No, No, No, No, No
8. Don't Make Promises
9. Twelve Thirty
10. Rooms
11. What's the Difference (Chapter 1)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51610 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
1999 compilation featuring 11 of the greatest hits by the '60s pop-star who co-wrote 'Kokomo' with the Beach Boys, including his top five smash 'San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)' & the top 30 'Like An Old Time Movie'. Sony.

Customer Reviews

More than a one-hit wonder (or should have been)
There are "one-hit wonders" who deserved that status (and were lucky to reach that level) and then there are others about whom you can only scratch your head and ask why their careers stalled after scoring it big the first time. Scott McKenzie definitely belongs to the latter camp. "San Francisco" is a song that is still remembered fondly and continues to be played on oldies and some contemporary adult stations. Further commercial success eluded this talented singer however and after two albums recorded in the late 60s and early 70s, he pretty much dropped from sight. (He has toured in recent years with the reconstituted Mamas & Papas, but if any recorded work has been released, I am not aware of it.)

More's the pity, because Scott McKenzie was a fine singer who clearly had more to offer than one hit single (good as it was). As the other songs included on this re-release demonstrate, he had a rich warm voice and a fine sense of diction--a little huskier in places than the sweet singing of the title track would suggest, but never less than impressive. Tracks like "What's the Difference" (both "chapters") and "Like an Old Time Movie" display a folk-based sensibility that was comfortable with the reigning folk-rock and folk-pop styles of the time. "No No No No No," one of several John Phillips tunes on the album, sounds like a Mamas & Papas track without the female voices, and his version of "12:30," although similar to the M&P's hit version, actually gains a sense of intimacy as a solo performance that the original lacked. Perhaps the one mistake on this release was the focus on material clearly identified with other artists. The Tim Hardin and Donovan penned songs here already had definitive versions released by the songwriters. McKenzie might have done better to seek out less well known but equally deserving material.

The irony of "San Francisco" was that this gentle bit of folk rock served as a paean to the scene that was quickly replacing that genre. Many of the San Francisco groups, including the Dead and the Airplane, had strong folk roots as well but were trading that in for the psychedelia that was to be prevalent for a the next several years. Of course, the Airplane's Marty Balin was still singing songs that were as sweet and balladic as anything recorded by McKenzie, but even his work was seen as something of an anachronism by '68 or so. Within a few years,however, the singer-songwriter movement would become well established, and it's a shame that Scott McKenzie couldn't find renewed success in that era--if not on a James Taylor level, at least on par with Don McLean or, say, Kenny Rankin, a similar artist in many ways, who at least was able to record fairly consistantly throughout the years.

Taking us all back 40 years
I saw Scott McKenzie as an opening act at the Hollywood Bowl where the Mamas and the Papas were performing. I dropped my jaw listening to this man sing. I bought the album immediately, have loved it and the music for a long time. When I found it released on CD, had to have it....but had to reconstruct the album cover (Thank you PhotoShop) to make it look like the original record...

"Celeste" is beautiful, "Rooms" is stirring...even both versions of "Whats the Difference" are great. Actually, there isnt a song on the album I don't like, and don't remember fondly.

Lovely to hear you again my friend
I was alive, well, and a year out of high school when "San Francisco" hit the air in Houston. The song is one of the true time & place classics in my memory. Others being "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"-Righteous Bros, "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore"-Walker Bros. and "Nights In White Satin"-Moody Blues. Some fans don't know that McKenzie and John Phillips were friends and when Phillips needed an anthem for his '67 Monterey Pop Festival,he tapped on Scott McKenzie's shoulder. The album was recorded in one night and was produced by Mamas & Papas and Johnny Rivers producer Lou Adler. Phillips sang chorus and harmony on several of the album's cuts. McKenzie's singing is unique in pop music. His huskey, plaintiff voice draws you in and truly wins your emotions to the point of view of his material. Although "San Francisco" was his most popular and remembered song, "Twelve-Thirty", "Like An Old Time Movie" and "What's The Difference Pt II" (later recorded by Johnny Rivers for his Realization album) are great examples of McKenzie"s ability to win a listener's heart. Scott's follow-up album "Stained Glass Morning" didn't come close to the mark he had set for himself with his first effort and most of us lost track of him. I have both albums on LP and was deighted when "San Francisco" (originally titled "The Voice of Scott Mckenzie") became available on CD. His "Anthology" is now available and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival from England. The inability to find McKenzie's music until just a few years ago represented a large void in my CD collection-now filled. Scott McKenzie is one of my favorite singers and this album is well worth the asking price!