Spanky & Our Gang - Complete Mercury Recordings
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Free Music Notes for Complete Mercury Recordings
Free Music Review: A personal recollection of Spanky
Hit: 5 Stars
This review, unlike most that I write, is highly personal.
I am the world's biggest SPANKY & OUR GANG fan, unabashedly so. All the group's albums and 45s (picture sleeves, mostly) were treasures in my youth. Fifteen years after they disbanded (following the untimely death of Malcolm Hale), I would invariably reach for an Our Gang album to play, even though surrounded by thousands of options in my record store. This group was that compelling for me.
In the early 90s, I met Spanky McFarlane briefly, after a South Florida New Mamas & Papas concert. She was a pretty little thing, and had the BIGGEST singing voice imaginable. When we spoke of the loss of Malcolm, you could actually feel her pain. Spanky is a real person, and a true star.
As for THE COMPLETE MERCURY RECORDINGS--
DESIGN:
This is a compact, nicely organized collection. All four Our Gang albums have been sonically spruced up and given a clarity the original vinyl never had. Song order and mixes remain intact. The Limited Edition book-styled set is made of sturdy paper and has 24-pages of liner notes and data. Several group photos are included, but since there's no captions to match faces to names, those less-familiar with group members will be left to guess who (besides Spanky) is who.
MUSIC:
My favorite is still the posthumous LIVE album. Without overdubs and orchestrations, you can clearly hear what made S&OG so special: their superb voices, personalities and humor. Highlights include the intricate four-part acappella harmony on "Waltzing Matilda," and a version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Steel Rail Blues" that may be the ultimate interpretation of that fine song. Spanky wails away in perfect Chicago blues style on "Oh Daddy" while the guys cut up behind her. The live recording is an album full of smiles.
WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON B/W ANYTHING YOU CHOOSE, their last recorded LP, is simply put: a masterpiece-- one of THE finest issues of 1969 (see my review of it for details). After hearing this thoughtfully put-together and lovely album, one is left wanting more and wishing that Malcolm's loss in late '68 hadn't hastened the group's dissolution.
LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, with it's Roaring 20's nostalgia cover, contains the very first (and in my opinion BEST) version of Fred Neil's "Echoes Of My Mind." A year or so later, Harry Nilsson (and MIDNIGHT COWBOY) would score big with the same song, retitled "Everybody's Talking." The Gang's take on Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," with their changing moods and rhythms is another album highlight, as is the opener, "The Swinging Gate." The five-part harmonied "Sunday Mornin'" is still, IMO, this group's very best single.
SPANKY & OUR GANG, their first release, contains the most charting singles (three), but also has the first-ever version of "Leaving On A Jet Plane." "Commercial" is still quite funny, and "Distance" is an overlooked gem.
SPANKY'S GREATEST HIT(S), with cover shot of new-mom Spanky, offers remixes of top sellers. The original extended-length "Sunday Mornin'" is here, as well. Spanky comments on the LP in this compilation's liner notes.
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED RARITIES includes "Crying," which is a song from the Gang's first recording session, in 1966.
THE MONO SINGLE MIXES features the Gang's first 45, "And Your Bird Can Sing/Sealed With A Kiss." This one missed the mark in 1966, but only by a little.
SPANKY & OUR GANG * THE COMPLETE MERCURY RECORDINGS presents two years worth of remarkably varied music. Buy this one with confidence, for it is GREAT GREAT stuff! Listen, and you too just may end up "Stuperflabbergasted."
P.S. to Spanky: Somebody in Florida (besides Nigel) loves yah!
TOTAL RUNNING TIMES --
DISC ONE - Spanky & Our Gang - Like To Get To Know You -- 68:08
DISC TWO - Anything You Choose (etc.) - Spanky's Greatest Hit(S) -- 75:19
DISC THREE - Spanky & Our Gang Live - Previously Unreleased Rarities -- 60:32
DISC FOUR - The Mono Single Mixes -- 58:33
Free Music Review: Where to begin?
Hit: 5 Stars
Having waited years for somebody to remaster the Spanky and Our Gang albums, along comes this four CD boxed set to remind me why I was so enthusiastic about what they were doing in the late 60's and also chart their rise, success and eventual demise.It's possible to argue that this is for completists only, but to listen to them remastered and as is pointed out in another review, having shelled out $30+ for a single unmastered Japanese CD puts the price you have to pay into perspective. Undoubtedly the relative familiarity (if you're that old!) with the material on disks one and two makes them the obvious plce to start, but the other two disks have some 'buried treasure" to yield. That said I always though the vocal mix on the "live!" album was strange, and it remains so, because that's how it was recorded!The rarities (Tracks 13 to 19 on Disk 3) have stereo mixes of tracks which were considered for single release. Disk 4 has all the mono single including the ultra rare (in Britain anyway) of the first two single sides, followed in chronological order by the rest. If you missed out on the band first time around this is an excellent investment, and although it appears to be 'a limited' edition there's no indication on my boxed set what that actually means.One gripe and then the exhortation to purchase. Someone, in remastering the second album has missed out nearly all the spoken exchange about the slipper in "like to get to know you"; why? This collection ought to be a 'must have' for anyone remotely interest in the quality music that was being produced in the U.S. at the end of the sixties. As I said in the title of the review, 'where to begin?' to which the answer might be buy this set.Free Music Review: A Real Treasure!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is by far the best purchase I have made in a while! The Gang has one of the tightest vocal and instrumental arrangements of any group of that era, and to be able to own this collection is to have the opportunity to soak in what they had to offer! If you've never heard the Live Album, its worth buying this collection for that alone! I guarantee you'll be rolling in the floor when you hear their on-stage comedy, while at the same time you'll be amazed by how great the live performances were without any "digital assistance"! Spanky & Our Gang has a very unique sound that is listenable, and has the ability to make you smile! I listed to the entire four disc set in one sitting, and was ready to start again; they're that good. The clean and well-mastered discs are, in my opinion, best listened to with head phones. Here's your opportunity to actually hear the "Leopard Skin Phones" stereo show the way they sing about! Buy the set, learn something new from the well written booklet which also includes a listing of the lead vocalists for each song, and be emersed in a few hours of some of the greatest music to ever come from the 60s. This CD set is the perfect edition to your collection, and will without a doubt make your day a little brighter!Free Music Review: Superb fusion of Jazz, Blues, Pop, Rock, and Folk!
Hit: 5 Stars
About 25 years ago a good friend introduced me to a Spanky and Our Gang LP, Without Rhyme Or Reason. For a person with eclectic tastes, such as myself, it was a delight! Socially conscious lyrics and humor, an occasional blues and even a cover of a 1940's composition (Hong Kong Blues; also covered by George Harrison). The CD versions of the original S&OG LPs had been only offered in Japan and the price (about $30. each) seemed prohibitive. When I heard that Hippo-select remastered EVERYTHING S&OG had recorded I broke my rule of only buying used and immediately ordered this. It has been wonderful to discover many new S&OG tracks, both original and covers (so well done). These recordings drip with the essence of all the positive vibes we associate with the 1960's. Enjoy this wonderful compilation. Only one small issue; the packaging is all cardboard, so it needs to be taken care of. This remaster package was limited to 5000 pressings, although not numbered, I believe it will be certainly a difficult item to own as the years pass.Free Music Review: Shop No Further - The Ultimate Spanky has arrived!
Hit: 5 Stars
If you're going after Spanky and Our Gang's hits on one compilation, stop shopping, clicking, reading reviews, and get this set - it doesn't get any better than this - their entire recorded material for then-Chicago-based Mercury Records; all the hits, some remixed surprises, a live album, stereo singles, a nicely done booklet, photos, some track notes, musicians' credits; hey, you've been down the boxed set lane before - and all of that is here on four remastered discs. Back in the day, I bought the group's debut, self-titled Mercury LP - I missed the rest and the best. Move forward almost 40 years and it's all here as good as ever and sounding like it never sounded before. This is a late-1960s collection you need to park on your music shelf - provided of course you can get it away from the CD changer. Just one note of caution: the discs are stored in paper sleeves that are part of the gatefold-type packaging. Handle carefully! It's easy to put minor scratches on the discs in removing and replacing them!