The Cowsills - The Cowsills. 1967 Expanded Edition [Now Sounds] (@320)

 

The Cowsills - The Cowsills 1967 [Now Sounds. Expanded Edition]

Review by Bruce Eder.

Featuring "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things," this debut album by the Cowsills really isn't half-bad mainstream late-'60s pop, with a heavy Mamas & the Papas fixation. It's not nearly as good as the Mamas & the Papas, of course, and doesn't stand up to in-depth listening -- nor are they saying anything quite as profoundly refreshing and personal as what the Mamas & the Papas conveyed on their best records. But it is pleasant, and it's also easy to hear how doing Beatles tunes for four hours a night at clubs had a profound effect on whatever musical impulses the group had, and there were worse places than that to use as a jumping off point. Echoes of the prettier and less daring parts of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's abound in the best of the harmonizing here, and also in some of the brass and percussion, and the guitar flourishes on numbers like "Pennies" (which could easily have been a hit). Everything is also decidedly middle-brow and middle class in its sensibilities, very family friendly even in the relatively safe trippiness that colors the mood of numbers like "River Blue" -- this was sort of sunshine pop for teens from stable middle-class homes. Musically, it all recalls the two Boyce & Hart LPs and, even more so, the Monkees' first two records -- it's not as smooth or accomplished as either of the latter, though the presence of a fair number of band originals and the lean sound of the core group give it a slightly less contrived feel than the Monkees' records. [The 2009 reissue on Now Sounds adds 45 mixes of "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things" and "River Blue," plus six songs recorded and released as singles by Phillips in 1966-67 before the band moved to the MGM label.]

Tracklist:

1. The Rain, The Park And Other Things

2. Pennies

3. La Rue Du Soleil

4. Thinkin' About The Other Side

5. Dreams Of Linda

6. River Blue

7. Getting Into That Sunny, Sunny Feelin' Again

8. That's My Time Of The Day

9. Troubled Roses

10. (Stop, Look) Is Anyone There?

11. How Can I Make You See

12. (Come Round Here) I’m The One You Need

Bonus Tracks:

13. The Rain, The Park And Other Things (MONO 45)

14. River Blue (MONO 45)

15. Most Of All (MONO 45)

16. Siamese Cat (MONO 45)

17. Party Girl (MONO 45)

18. What's It Gonna Be Like (MONO 45)

19. A Most Peculiar Man (MONO 45)

20. Could It Be, Let Me Know (MONO 45)

 

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