Lovin' Spoonful Reissues

Has anybody picked them up yet? What do you think?

 

Sundazed? 180g LPs?

 

I picked up Buddha's issue of the debut album. Pretty good sound, IMO.

 

Picked up both new cd's on Sat. They sound fine. Warm sound with no obvious harshness like most of the other reissues for them. Daydream especially sounds nice. It'll take a few more days and some time to listen for subtle bits but I'd say get with no fear. The booklets are good also with some nice photos and interesting comments. Just love that JUG BAND MUSIC!!

 

I have the Daydream LP on order from Music Direct. I also own fairly good copies of the original Mono and Stereo LPs (can you say obsessive?) Anyway, when the new copy gets here I'll try and post a comparison. I expect the Sundazed discs to be a little quieter.

 

"Melissa Manchester" on Buddah was very disappointing!! Sonically!!

 

I have an original issue of Her Greatest Hits CD..."Midnight Blue" sounds horrible. Was there ever a decent sounding version of that song on CD? that song!

 

I emailed our pal Bob Irwin about the Soonful tapes, and he replied that the masters were in a studio on the left coast; he got them back to BMG when they snapped up the Buddha catalog. The hits disc is less harsh in the highs than I remember the others I've bought in the past (always a good sign to me), and I'd say go ahead and enjoy that set...

 

Not that I know of. "Melissa" was available as a Japanese import CD a few years ago, but I've never heard it.

Seek out a copy of Melissa on MFSL vinyl and burn it on to CD-R instead.

 

Yep, RCA's Buddha division is doing excellent remasterings. Check out "Canned Wheat" by the Guess Who.

An A-1 job!

George

 

Not that I'm UNhappy with the Capt Beefheart reissues, but I don't remember there being much of an improvement at all over earlier issues. Don't have those earlier issues now, though, for an up-to-the-minute comparison.

 

I picked up "Do you believe in Magic" Saturday, I must say between the two new issues, "DYBIM" is the stronger of the two. The bonus tracks are great. The demo version of "Younger Girl" and the two alternate vocal versions of "Blues in the Bottle" & "Wild about my Loving" are better than the finished product. IMO...

 

I agree, I think the unreleased version of Younger Girl is better than the original. Also the demo version of Daydream is really cool. I can't wait for Hums

 

I really enjoyed them as well. It's funny, I always thought of the Lovin Spoonful as a kind of east coast Mamas and Papas. Not that the two groups sounded alike, but more because they knew each other in New York, and both kind of came out of the folk movement of the early sixties. Also both bands contained a great songwriter named John. I prefer the Mamas and Papas, but that may be because I know their material better (ie. I own more of their albums). Based upon these two reissues (which I'd never heard) I now rate the Spoonful more highly. Still not quite as good as the M & P, but getting close.

 

For my money the Lovin' Spoonful are the most underated major American band of the 60s.They never get respect and even when they do it's grudgingly because they had 7 Top 10 singles or something.

 

Agreed.

Darlin' Be Home Soon has to be one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Pity its fidelity on the recent Buddha Greatest Hits is not great (compared with some of the other tracks).

 

I'm kinda disappointed more in how the songs were recorded in the first place - they never blow me away from a sonic soundpoint, even with the better tapes that were unearthed.

 

Agreed.

John Sebastian's best songs from that era are wonderful and DBHS is one of my all time faves as is She's Still A Mystery.
The poor bastard never gets any respect.

 

Yeah, funny you should mention that. I reviewed the Greatest Hits on Amazon a couple of years ago and said almost exactly the same thing!

Whilst they said from the original master tapes for the first time etc it only ends up sounding marginally better than the old Rhino Anthology which I spent a small fortune on many years ago.

 

The poor bastard never gets any respect.

I must agree. I remember seeing him do a solo acoustic performance as the opening act for Steve "Excuuuuuuse Me" Martin in the mid-70s at the Berkley Community Theater. The audience practically booed him off the stage because they wanted to see Steve. It really upset me how cruel the audience was, but I must admit that Steve was great!

 

The Spoonful were one of my favorite bands in the mid-sixties. The Daydream album was one of the first I bought with my own hard earned cash. I actually saw them perform live at the Teens International Show at D.C. Armory in '65 or '66 (I think). They were one of the first bands to have a kind of loose feel on stage. It always seemed like they were having a lot of fun up there. I can't help but think drugs took the better part of Sebastian's golden period after they broke up. I think he could have done a lot more with his talent but like the Woodstock film shows, he was not in the best of shape.