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| The Lovin' Spoonful
-
Biography |
Right on the tails of the Beau Brummels and the Byrds, the
Lovin' Spoonful were among the first American groups to challenge
the domination of the British Invasion bands in the mid-'60s.
Between mid-1965 and the end of 1967, the group was astonishingly
successful, issuing one classic hit single after another, including
"Do You Believe in Magic?," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice,"
"Daydream," "Summer in the City," "Rain on the Roof," "Nashville
Cats," and "Six O'Clock."
Like most of the folk-rockers, the
Lovin' Spoonful were more pop and rock than folk, which didn't
detract from their music at all. Much more than the Byrds, and even
more than the Mamas & the Papas, the group exhibited a brand of
unabashedly melodic, cheery, and good-time music, though their best
single, "Summer in the City," was uncharacteristically riff-driven
and hard-driving. More influenced by blues and jug bands than other
folk-rock acts, their albums were spotty and their covers at times
downright weak. As glorious as their singles were, the group lacked
the depth and innovation of the Byrds, their chief competitors for
the crown of best folk-rock band, and their legacy hasn't been
canonized with nearly as much reverence as their West Coast
counterparts.
Leader and principal songwriter John Sebastian was
a young veteran of the Greenwich Village folk scene when he formed
the band in 1965 with Zal Yanovsky, who'd already played primitive
folk-rock of a sort with future members of the Mamas & the Papas
in the Mugwumps. Sebastian already had some recording experience
under his belt, playing harmonica (his father was a virtuoso
classical harmonica player) on sessions by folkies like Tom Rush and
Fred Neil. The Spoonful were rounded out by Steve Boone on bass and
Joe Butler on drums. After some tentative interest from Phil Spector
(who considered producing them), they ended up signing with Kama
Sutra. Sebastian's autoharp (which would also decorate several
subsequent tracks) helped propel "Do You Believe in Magic" into the
Top Ten in late 1965.
the Lovin' Spoonful were torn asunder by a
drug bust in 1967. Boone and Yanovsky were arrested in California
for marijuana possession, and evidently got out of trouble by
turning in their source. This didn't sit well with the burgeoning
counterculture, which called for a boycott of Spoonful product,
although the effect on their sales may have been overestimated; most
of the people who bought Spoonful records were average teenage
Americans, not hippies. Yanovsky left the band in mid-1967, to be
replaced by Jerry Yester, former producer of the Association.
The
band had a few more mild hits, but couldn't survive the loss of John
Sebastian, who effectively closed the chapter by leaving in 1968,
although the group straggled on briefly under the helm of Butler.
Sebastian went on to moderate success as a singer/songwriter in the
1970s. 1999's Live at the Hotel Seville was the first new Lovin'
Spoonful release in three decades. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music
Guide
Richie Unterberger |
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