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Posted on 08/01/2025 7:07:40 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The group’s self-titled album represented the antithesis of 60s protest rock.
The Bloomington, Illinois, quintet Spanky And Our Gang took their name from Hal Roach’s 30s comedies Our Gang, known in latter-day times as Little Rascals. That escapist implication suited their music, which was commonly referred to as “sunshine pop”: a hybrid of close-control harmony singing with elements of nostalgic show tunes and a whiff of sweet bubblegum pop. Step forward Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane, Nigel Pickering, Paul “Oz” Bach, Malcolm Hale, and John “The Chief” Seiter.
In a way they represented the antithesis of 60s protest rock: at a time when it was de rigueur to chronicle the Western world’s troubles via plaintive angst, Spanky And Our Gang had more in common with The Mamas And The Papas or The Lemon Pipers. They weren’t trying to change the world through songs; they were on a mission to provide escapism and aural balm.
The group’s self-titled debut album, released through Mercury on August 1, 1967, contained what would become million-selling singles in “Sunday Will Never Be The Same” and the sublime “Lazy Day.” Terry Cashman and Gene Pistilli, seasoned backroom songwriters, penned the former. Originally a straightforward ballad, the Gang changed the song’s dynamic by adding a vocal “Ba-da-da-da-da” that cemented the hook for radio listeners and elevated the track into classic territory.
Unlike John Phillips’ Mamas And Papas, the Spanky crew didn’t write original material, but made a virtue out of revisiting such practiced lyricists as Meredith Wilson, whose Broadway piece “Ya Got Trouble (In River City)” was given a relentlessly cheery backbeat. Brill Building fellow Tony Powers (who composed tracks covered by everyone from The Banana Splits to KISS) was the brains behind “Lazy Day,” a nugget from the Screen Gems film production company that could easily have fallen into The Monkees’ clutches. To reiterate: we ain’t talking “Masters Of War” here; this is all about pure pop.
The bebop/cool jazz pianist and composer Bob Dorough provided the impetus for a slinky take on “5 Definitions Of Love.” Female folk singer Jo Mapes, who did write for The Monkees and The Association, had another perfect Spanky vehicle to hand in “Come And Open Your Eyes (Take A Look).” Disparate as it seemed, all of this hung together thanks to the production chops of Jerry Ross, mentor to Kenny Gamble and the man at the controls for Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’ and Shocking Blue’s epic “Venus.” meaning that both his previous and his aftermath were impeccable credentials.
Perhaps the other standout track is an early cover of John Denver’s now evergreen “Leaving On A Jet Plane,” the easy-listening standard that Peter, Paul and Mary made their biggest hit, though its position at No.1 arrived in 1969. Quite why Spanky and co didn’t see fit to make it a single is anyone’s guess, but they missed a chance there since the four-way harmony would surely have made a huge impact.
No matter, the highly arranged efforts on this underrated album make it well worth rediscovering. Regardless of what lay in the undergrowth, this is music from a distant and more innocent time. A year later, they caught a touch of the psychedelic blues bug and followed up with Like To Get To Know You, but even then everything in their garage was well ordered. They were that type of group.
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I liked singers in groups successfully harmonizing in unison.
The Mamas and the Papas, the Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Beatles most of the time, the Walker Brothers and this group.
“Like to Get to Know You” was a great song.
“Leaving on a Jet Plane” is mentioned in the article. Of all things, I was playing my “Female Vocalist” playlist on a good hike today and Judy Collins cover of that song came up. The one I listened to may have been recorded later because it didn’t have that magical, crystalline voice that Collins was famous for when she was young.
Peter, Paul and Mary covered “Leaving on a Jet Plane” on their 1967 album “Album 1700,” released in September 1967. Their version was later released as a single in October 1969, which became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Judy Collins’ version on her “Wildflowers” album also came out in 1967, but Wildflowers was released slightly later, in November 1967.
Peter, Paul and Mary’s album version release predates Judy Collins’ album release by a couple of months. But the PP&M single version went on to be an enormous hit leaving Collins’ version in the dust.
Malcolm Hale’s untimely death is what kiboshed the band.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13855578/malcolm-hale
https://www.nytimes.com/1968/11/02/archives/malcolm-hale-musician-with-spanky-and-our-gang.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanky_and_Our_Gang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07nK9CXZvAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=368Z2PvFBFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c6PNa9tqBg
“Grandma, what did you do in the 60’s?”
Kinda like that song; I Saw Pictures Of Momma Before She Was Momma.
Elaine’s voice was perfect for AM radio, cutting right through the lo-fi transistor and car radio speakers and static. What I’d like to know is - where did they record and who were the studio musicians on their tracks? It is wasn’t The Wrecking Crew they were every bit as good, but I’ve not heard mention of that connection.
Never heard of that song before! It’s quite good in the 1967 psychedelia vein but a little more pop sound. Quite well produced.
Grok gave me a good run-down on the song, but I won’t post it here.
How I loved these songs as a seventh-grader.
Elaine sings rings around Bing Crosby's 1931 version. She lays it all out on the line.
Loved this group when I was young and still do.
“I’d Like to Get to Know You “ was something I often hthought of when meeting a new possible serious man. “I can’t promise that I’ll love you” was so poignant.
Even at my advanced age, I’d love to love someone besides my daughter and my cat.
Don’t forget the Skyliners, or the Platters....so many others...
Agree. 50s and early 60s had some.
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