Was Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin' Spoonful the most underrated guitarist of the 1960's?

I loved Zal's playing and personality. He and John Sebastian made a perfect fit. The Spoonful, along with the Rascals are so underrated. Gene Cornish, while not a great lead player fit the Rascals like a glove with his rhythm and fills.

 

I know a lot of those clips Steve and he was pretty awesome and SO natural!! The guitar playing was almost secondary (which makes his playing even more incredible) to him trying to out-shine Jon and stealing camera shots and shouting off mic and.....well doing every Lennon-esque slice of showmanship he could think of.

Wonderful and to summarise Steve.....yes I'd agree.

T.

 

He was awesome. How can we imagine the Lovin' Spoonful being so good without him?

 

Yes, he most certainly was. And he proved you don't have to blow down walls with power to be great, just be one-of-a-kind brilliant. He's all over those wonderful Spoonful recordings, his magic--as much a part of the whole picture as Sebastian's voice and writing. LOVE that group and LOVE Zal--nothing else like them or him I've ever heard, really.

 

There used to be their performance from the TNT Show on YouTube but it's gone now. Great totally live versions of 'Magic' and 'You Didn't Have to Be So Nice. The show also has a classic Ike and Tina segment.

 

Don't forget their guest appearance in "What's Up Tigerlily?"
I remember Peter Buck (REM) singing Zal's praises many years ago, which induced me to seek out his work. I wasn't disappointed.

Cody

 

The Spoonful are rather underrated these days; I should get a good LS best-of comp, what?

 

Steve, I've been saying the same thing for years and years now to anyone who'll listen. Zally has always been criminally underrated.

What strikes me is how adept he was in a great many styles, and also, the beautiful tone he got out of his axe. Has anyone in rock ever played as beautiful country licks as Zal does in "Butchie's Tune"? And his solos always fit the songs they were in perfectly.

He was one of the greats, and it's a shame he left the music world behind so soon for other pursuits. I was tickled to see him acquitting himself so well on the "Route 66" jam at the end of the Spoonful's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. For a guy who probably didn't play regularly, he was right up there with everyone else on stage.

 

Yeah, also their first LP 'Do You Believe In Majic' is fantastic from start to finish!

 

A ham. A scene stealer.

 

Steve, in a way his playing reminds me of Mickey Baker. Zal just had a way of filling in space with some subtle licks or chords.

 

I've got quite a few Spoonful video clips but alas, all are lip-sync from various teen shows of the 60's. I personally think their Daydream album is their best although I like them all.

 

No, Dot Wiggin is.

 

I remember starting a thread about Zal not long ago. Zal is one of my favorite guitarists, and I have every Spoonful album except for the last one where he isn't on it at all. I was very sad when I read in Goldmine that he passed away. (This was before I spent time on the internet.)

 

Was Zal Yanovsky of the Lovin' Spoonful the most underrated guitarist of the 1960's?


Absolutely.

 

I've never heard of Zally so who am I to argue.
I'm getting with the program now. Amazing how a great song and a few sweet lick can make a Zither seem cool.

 

I can't really answer Steve's question here - it's not really for me to say or debate - but it is Zal who makes watching videoclips of them in action a genuine pleasure with his impish mischievous spirit. There's that daft Ed Sullivan clip of "Magic" with the members popping up and off the screen and at one point in place of Zal appears a dog which gets a laugh and it wouldn't surprise me if that was Zal's idea.

Then of course there's the infamous Sullivan performance of "Darlin' Be Home Soon". You get Sebastian being all serious and sincere and on the second verse there's Zal in front of the camera, rubber frog attached to his guitar head sending Sebastian up with exaggerated miming to John's vocal that is truly hilarious! I have read that by then Zal felt that the Spoonful had steered far beyond what he felt the Spoonful were about and it was his way of expressing his displeasure. Whatever the truth is, it's still a very funny moment.

So, whilst I'm undecided about Zal's underrated status as a guitarist, I do love the man's comic talent!

 

"OK Girl, now let's see what YOU can do!"

 

Don't see too many guys (John Sebastian) rockin' out on a zither anymore!
- Yeah, Zal was pretty good. I have an original (Kama Sutra) Best of Lovin'
Spoonful, and Night Owl is one of the best blues jams I have heard - sounds
like what the Stones were playing when they visited Chess in Chicago around
that time.

 

EVERY great Spooful track has a great Zal lick in it somewhere... usually everywhere.

On top of that... he had some dang good cook books!

 

A perfect example of this: "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" - Zal's very tasty 12-string electric licks add so much to the tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCkPeDFytCE

 

I saw that dvd that Steve mentioned in Borders and since I'm such a huge Spoonful fan, I thought of getting it. But the more I looked at it I was sure the clips were probably lip synched. Right? If they are truly playing live in at least most of them I'll have to pick it up!