Can you believe Labor Day is this weekend? It’s really the end of Summer 2023, evident by the corn fields starting to turn brown, leaves dropping from trees, and less daylight.
This week’s album, Spanky’s Greatest Hit(s), has a groovy summer sound that will help you soak up all the last luscious moments before winter slaps you in the face.
Spanky & Our Gang was a late 1960s “sunshine pop” band (which seems to mean more pop than folk, but less sweet than bubblegum pop). On the back of this album jacket, Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane describes this collection as, “Twelve hits. A series of highlights in the life of a Rock group. Or is it Pop, Jazz, or Folk? The truth of Spanky & Our Gang lies with the beholder.”
I love the self-deprecating title, fully confident that they had one hit, but you might possibly recognize more. And you probably will!
They have tight vocals, strong harmonies, and lyrics that will haunt you right into a late-night existential crisis. Maybe that’s just me? Probably just me, but let me know if it happens to you, too. It probably won’t, though.
Their biggest hit on this album is “Sunday Will Never Be the Same,” but you might also recognize “Lazy Day” and “Like to Get to Know You.” And let’s not forget their cover of “Everybody’s Talkin’,” the theme from Midnight Cowboy. There’s also a “commercial” on here for a recreational product.
Some of the songs don’t hold up in 2023, but overall the album is a lot of fun and I truly enjoy this one. It’s got the classic 1960s sound, but the songs aren’t overplayed. If you’re looking for some “fresh” 60s sound, you should listen to Spanky & Our Gang.
While mostly carefree and fun, there are some power punches, like “Give a Damn.” Written as part of a PSA for the New York Urban Coalition of the same name. You can see a video from the PSA here, housed at Indiana University.
So what happened to the band?
After releasing just two albums in 1967 and 1968, Malcolm Hale, their lead guitarist who also contributed rich trombone and vocals to the band, died on October 31, 1968. Spanky & Our Gang fulfilled some concert commitments after his death, then disbanded in early 1969. This greatest hits album was released after that.
Spanky later became a member of The New Mamas and the Papas in the 1980s, covering Cass Elliot’s vocals. (Honestly, I’d never heard of The New Mamas and the Papas until I started researching Spanky. There’s a bit of drama there, if you want to look them up over on Wikipedia, all the way at the bottom.)
What’s on the album?
Sunday Will Never Be the Same
- Favorite Line: “Sunny afternoons that make me feel so warm inside, have turned as cold and gray as ashes as I feel the embers die.”
- Hot Take: An aching song of loss with warm vocals and deceptively hummable chords.
Making Every Minute Count
- Favorite Line: “With your nose pressed to the window, life is just a mirror of your mind”
- Hot Take: It’s not as polished as most of their songs and the lyrics seem cramped and rushed, but I love a good use of the word “groovy” in a song.
Lazy Day
- Favorite Line: “Ice cream, daydream, till the sky becomes a blanket of stars”
- Hot Take: I love the different “hellos” and “how ya doin’” that are only heard in this version (that I found, at least). They use vibrant imagery, and you can see yourself with that person you want by your side on your lazy day.
- Bonus Fun: Here it is on the Ed Sullivan show You can learn some cool dance moves, enjoy choice fashion of the time, and watch for the awkward moment when they look at each other during the “hello!” portion of the song that they don’t sing on the show.
Commercial
- Favorite Line: “Pot’s too good to be just for the young”
- Hot Take: It is indeed a commercial for cannabis. There’s really not much else to say here, folks.
(It Ain’t Necessarily) Byrd Avenue
- Favorite Line: “Here’s a prescription for convalescent hippies”
- Hot Take: Oh, boy. This song has a few cringe moments that don’t hold up today. It’s sketch.
Everybody’s Talkin’ (Theme from “Midnight Cowboy”)
- Favorite Line: “Sailing on a summer breeze and skipping over the ocean like a stone.”
- Hot Take: It’s a great song and a great cover, but Midnight Cowboy maybe isn’t the best storyline?
Sunday Mornin’
- Favorite Line: “Lots of time with nothing to do, lots of time to spend with you”
- Hot Take: This reminds me of Sunday mornings before church, when my mom and dad were rehearsing with the choir. They warm up, they sing, then slow chaos breaks out and the producer tries to regain control. Yes, very much like the Sunday mornings of my youth!
Like to Get to Know You
- Favorite Line: “I can’t promise that I’ll love you, but I’d like to get to know you”
- Hot Take: It’s one of those songs that you find yourself singing along with before you really think about the lyrics. It also has one of those classic fade-out endings, where the band just keeps going, softer and softer. I’ve always wondered about those songs. There’s no good end and they know it, so they just drift away. It could be an endless loop, just transitioning back to the beginning.
Give a Damn
- Favorite Line: “Put your girl to sleep sometime with rats instead of nursery rhymes, with hunger and your other children by her side”
- Hot Take: Great brass section, first of all. Secondly, it’s a powerful and moving song, especially after watching the PSA linked above.
Three Ways from Tomorrow
- Favorite Line: “Even though inside I fail in knowing I could never show my heart with praises built in rhyme”
- Hot Take: Clapping, tambourine, trombone, guitar – it’s all great. Ethereal vocals? Yes, please!!
And She’s Mine
- Favorite Line: no “line” for this one, it’s the trombone in the middle that does it for me
- Hot Take: I want to love this song, but I can’t. There’s a great trombone solo, but the lyrics are problematic. The tune is catchy and I don’t think the lyrics are actually meant as how I take them in today’s context, but we can’t just explore the songs of the past without looking at them in today’s light. I know, I know. But I’m not going to ignore them. Oh, okay, here. It’s the “Could it be she’s changed her ways from what they used to be? She gives me everything, because she belongs to me.” I don’t like it, okay? And no, I’m not going to call out every lyric on every album, or I’d never be done. But this review needed a little drama. So there it is.
Yesterday’s Rain
- Favorite Line: “Running through the trees, my hands above my head, trying to escape the rest”
- Hot Take: I really liked this as a closing song. It has a fullness and warmth that ties it all together.
If you like the that Laurel Canyon sound but want something that’s a bit out of the mainstream, you should give Spanky & Our Gang some of your time. Take them along with you on your next lazy day.
Inside Cat Record Reviews 