Spanky and Our Gang
| Spanky and Our Gang | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Chicago , United States |
| Genre (s) | Folk , pop |
| founding | 1966 |
| resolution | 1970 |
| Last occupation | |
| Elaine McFarlane | |
| Malcom Hale | |
Bass , vocals |
Paul "Oz" Bach (until 1967) |
Guitar, banjo , vocals |
Lefty Baker |
| John Seiter | |
bass |
Kenny Hodges |
Spanky and Our Gang was a folk-pop group from the United States that had several single hits in the charts in the 1960s. The group was founded in Chicago in 1966 . Their lead singer was Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane.
The band experienced their rise when the hit parade successes of Mamas and Papas waned. With these they had a similar stage appearance, sophisticated choral arrangements and the voice of McFarlane, which was similar to Mama Cass . The two singers met in the early 1960s.
history
The beginnings
Elaine McFarlane (* 1942 in Peoria , Illinois) was the singer of the jazz formation Jamie Lyn Trio in 1962 and joined the folk group The New Wine Singers in 1963, at the height of the folk boom, which combined protest songs with Dixieland jazz. During this time she became friends with the singer and trombonist Malcolm Hale. After the group broke up, they went to California in 1965, where they met Paul Bach and Nigel Pickering at a party held on the occasion of a hurricane . While the storm raged for three days, the musicians jammed intensely and Bach and Pickering invited McFarlane to follow them to Chicago. Once there, she worked as a singer in a club, the owner of which asked her to put together an ensemble as an opening act for musicians who were guest there. She recruited Pickering and Bach, with whom she rehearsed three-part folk songs. Since there was little time available for rehearsals, they filled their repertoire with comedy interludes, similar to the Kingston Trio , which was popular at the time .
With Bach on double bass, Pickering on guitar and McFarlane on washboard and kazoo, the trio sounded like a youth band with a minimal line-up. Originally intended as a joke, they were called Spanky and Our Gang. The name they had borrowed from comedy short films from the 1920s to 1940s, commonly known as Our Gang and produced by Hal Roach . These series with numerous child actors later became very popular with children under the title " The Little Tramp ". One of the main roles was played by a certain George "Spanky" McFarland . When newspapers announced it under that name, they finally kept it. After Malcolm Hale joined on guitar and percussion, the band soon appeared at major events.
1966 to 1970
When folk rock was booming in 1965/1966 , the record label Mercury Records noticed the band and signed them in 1966. The producer Jerry Ross made sure that the studio recordings of the group received a sound similar to that of the Mamas and Papas. During their first recording session in New York in 1967, they were offered the song Sunday Will Never Be the Same , which had previously been offered to Mamas and Papas and The Left Banke . With its choir intro, arranged by Malcolm Hale, the song matched the mood of the Summer of Love perfectly and reached number 9 on the US charts in June 1967.
In the summer of 1967 drummer John Seiter joined and the group recorded other hit singles such as Making Every Minute Count (# 22) and Lazy Day (# 14), as well as their first album.
In early 1968 Paul Bach left the group and was replaced by Kenny Hodges on bass, who brought along his friend Lefty Baker (actually Eustace Britchforth), a guitarist and singer. Despite the success they had with producer Jerry Ross, the musicians complained that the sound was too polished and elegant and not representative of the group. Stuart Scharf and Bob Dorough , a songwriting and producing team who had also produced the Chad Mitchell Trio , took over. The recordings for the number 30 chart success Sunday Mornin 'were made under Scharf and Dorough , with a six-part choir singing as a special feature.
During the recording of their second album, the next single hit Like to Get to Know You was created , which gave the LP its name. Stylistically, the band expanded their repertoire to include blues and jazz vocals in the style of the 1940s, which would later become the template for songs for the Manhattan Transfer . Another single was Give a Damn , which, despite being banned from the radio because of its title and socially critical text, reached number 43 in the charts.
Her third album Anything You Choose (Without Rhyme or Reason) was again a mixture of blues, jazz , folk and pop with increasingly demanding compositions and arrangements by Scharf and Dorough, but missed a hit single. Although the band set out for new musical shores, the audience perceived the program as "too serious".
In October 1968, Malcom Hale died. The doctors assumed gas poisoning caused by a defective gas oven. The 27-year-old multi-instrumentalist, singer and arranger had been a central figure and his absence plunged the band into crisis. After his death, the musicians had to make further contractually agreed performances. McFarlane, who was pregnant at the time, then announced that she was leaving. Shortly afterwards, Seiter, who had accepted an offer from The Turtles , also left. Instead of reorganizing the group, it was decided to dissolve. McFarlane and her husband Charly Galvin, who had been the band's road manager, worked on the release of the LP Spanky's Greatest Hit (s), which sparked controversy because it had reworked many of the original songs.
In 1970 Mercury Records released the album Spanky and Our Gang Live . It was one of their first appearances in 1966, shortly after they were signed. Valued today as a historical recording that documents the early sound of the band, the band members were not impressed by the release back then.
After 1970
Lefty Baker died on August 11, 1971 of cirrhosis of the liver.
In 1975 McFarlane and Pickering founded a new band under the same name together with the musicians Bill Plummer, Marc McClure and Jim Moon. They recorded an album ( Change ) in country and western style on Epic Records and played several concerts for their old fans between 1975 and 1976, during which Paul Bach reunited them. McFarlane contributed vocals to Roger McGuinn's first album in 1973 . Spanky and Our Gang toured until 1980, mostly in Texas. McFarlane subsequently released a few records as a solo singer before joining the re-established Mamas and Papas. Nevertheless, she stayed true to her folk and blues roots, for example at a benefit concert in 1996 for the sick folk singer Bob Gibson . In 1999 Spanky and Our Gang performed again on the occasion of a reunion concert in the Tradewinds Lounge in St. Augustine, Texas.
In September 1998 Paul Bach died of complications from cancer.
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 US
|
|||
| 1967 | Spanky and Our Gang |
US77 (15 weeks) US |
|
| 1968 | Like to Get to Know You |
US56 (25 weeks) US |
|
| 1969 | Without Rhyme or Reason (Anything You Choose) |
US101 (7 weeks) US |
|
| Spanky's Greatest Hit (s) |
US91 (17 weeks) US |
More albums
- 1970: Spanky and Our Gang Live
- 1975: Change
- 1986: The Best of Spanky & Our Gang
- 1994: Give a Damn
- 2005: The Best of Spanky & Our Gang: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection
- 2006: The Complete Mercury Recordings
- 2007: Greatest Hits
- 2010: Back Home Americana
- 2013: The Singles and More
- 2014: The Complete Mercury Singles
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
US
|
|||
| 1967 | Sunday Will Never Be the Same Spanky and Our Gang |
US9 (8 weeks) US |
B-side: Distance
|
| Making Every Minute Count Spanky and Our Gang |
US31 (7 weeks) US |
B-side: If You Could Only Be Me
|
|
| Lazy Day Spanky and Our Gang |
US14 (11 weeks) US |
B-side: Byrd Avenue
|
|
| 1968 | Sunday Mornin ' Like to Get to Know You |
US30 (8 weeks) US |
B-Side: Echoes (Everybody's Talkin ')
|
| Like to Get to Know You Like to Get to Know You |
US17 (11 weeks) US |
B-side: Three Ways From Tomorrow
|
|
| Give a Damn Without Rhyme or Reason |
US43 (8 weeks) US |
B-side: The Swingin 'Gate
|
|
| Yesterday's Rain Without Rhyme or Reason |
US43 (3 weeks) US |
B-side: Without Rhyme or Reason
|
|
| 1969 | Anything You Choose Without Rhyme or Reason |
US86 (3 weeks) US |
B-side: Mecca Flat Blues
|
| 1970 | And She's Mine Without Rhyme or Reason |
US97 (1 week) US |
B-side: Leopard Skin Phones
|
More singles
- 1966: And Your Bird Can Sing / Sealed with a Kiss
- 1969: Everybody's Talkin '/ It Ain't Necessarily Bird Avenue
- 1975: When I Wanna / I Won't Brand You
- 1976: LA Freeway / Standing Room Only
literature
- Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 452f