- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful is their third album and one of their best; the bandmembers intentionally tried to create a different sound on each song.
The Greatest Music
Ever Recorded!
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful (1966): Folk-rock is a label that was applied to numerous, mostly American rock bands and solo artists in the mid-1960’s. Besides the Lovin’ Spoonful, prominent folk-rockers in this time period were Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, the Youngbloods, and (early on) Jefferson Airplane. In the U.K., examples include Donovan and Fairport Convention. As far as I am concerned, none of these recording artists that are grouped together under the folk-rock label sound much like each other, although it is still a useful label. The Lovin’ Spoonful incorporated jug band music into their repertoire, and they created one hit single after another during the height of the British Invasion.
However beloved their music and the band itself were when they were active, their loose, good-time vibe hasn’t perhaps garnered the Lovin’ Spoonful the same kind of cachet nowadays as many of these other artists. The Lovin’ Spoonful was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful is their third album and one of their best; the bandmembers intentionally tried to create a different sound on each song. Hit singles included on this album include the #1 hit and perhaps their best song “Summer in the City” – more hard-edged than most of their music – plus two other songs that made the Top Ten, “Rain on the Roof” and “Nashville Cats”. Several of the songs on this album were hits for others: Bobby Darin had a Top 40 hit with a cover version of “Lovin’ You” (Dolly Parton also later recorded the song); and Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash included “Darlin’ Companion” in 1969 on his concert album Johnny Cash at San Quentin. Flatt & Scruggs made the country charts with their version of “Nashville Cats”, something that the Lovin’ Spoonful had hoped to do with their single. These days, Lovin’ Spoonful bandleader John Sebastian is probably at least as well known for singing the theme song for the sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, where John Travolta began his career.