Yays & Nays ‎– Yays & Nays (1968)

The obscure three-man, three-woman group Yays & Nays released a weirdly out-of-time self-titled LP in the late '60s that mixed early-'60s clean-cut hootenanny folk with some more modern folk-rock, as well as tinges of country-pop and pop/rock. 

"An extraordinary excercise in turned-on 1960s cool from an odd band with 3 guys and 3 gals, performing a tongue-in-cheek Men vs Women thematic dual on most of the 12 tracks. Obviously inspired by the Lee & Nancy and Sonny & Cher duets, with a tough garage folkrock edge added. The Yays & Nays bend their gents vs ladies concept at precisely the right places to create a unique, clever and funny experience. The women come out on top, at least the way I heard it. The gals sing ensemble, while the guys (or the main guy) is typically solo and often moves into a "manly" Elvis/Lee H crooning that's just right for the trip. Excellent, varied songwriting. Hard to describe accurately, and it needs to be heard by any 1960s fan. Cool cover shows the band clad in vintage gear in a swamp, probably some sort of subliminal message. " ~ MIKE MUSIC LOVER (From Acid Archives)

Tracks:

1. Gotta Keep Travelling

2. Nature Is My Mother

3. Some Do, Some Don't

4. Contrary Mary

5. Easy Woman

6. It's What's Happening Baby

7. Call Me a Dog

8. If

9. Take It Easy Baby

10. Let It All Hang Out

11. What Women Do

12. On stage Revelations

Review by Richie Unterberger 

Imagine if one of those middling wholesome boy-girl combos of the commercial folk revival circa 1963 had suddenly been transported five years in the future. Then imagine they found they needed to adapt themselves to late-'60s trends as best as possible if they wanted to make an album, regardless of how awkward they might have sounded. That's about what you get with this mighty obscure LP, in which the three-man, three-woman combo fuse rather catchy early-'60s style troubadour "gotta travel on" folk-pop (with a hint of country) with more contemporary folk-pop-rock arrangements, some of which even verge on garage rock rawness. It sounds kind of ridiculous much of the time, especially when the lead vocals are delivered by a macho dude who seems to be trying to blend Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, but just ends up sounding like the square guy trying to crash a suburban party that can't decide whether to be a hootenanny or a love-in. For all that, though, the songs have their catchy elements, never more so on the most garage-folk-rockish cut, "Gotta Keep Travelling." Other cuts show some surprising stylistic versatility, with hints of sentimental early-'60s pop/rock surfacing in "Contrary Mary" and "Easy Woman" (which could almost pass for a Lee Hazlewood-Nancy Sinatra duet tune if not for the inferior vocals), and pure early-'60s commercial hootenanny folk ("Call Me a Dog"). It wasn't remotely like what was happening in the pop scene at the time of its release, but that's part of what makes it such an interesting if flawed curiosity, and certainly makes it stand out in a sea of far more predictable obscure LP releases from the same era.