Since February is the Month of Love, I thought this compilation CD with Summer of Love songs would fit right in. As always, some of the song choices are questionable. How many of you remember “The Days of Pearly Spencer” by David McWilliams? Or Amen Corner’s “(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice”? Or Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In the Air”?
I do remember hearing The Mood Blues’s “Nights in White Satin” and immediately running out to buy their vinyl album. Donovan’s “Catch the Wind” received heavy radio airplay. Joe Cocker created a classic song with “With A Little Help From My Friends.”
The Turtles show up on this CD with “Happy Together” and “Elenore.” The Summer of Love had a distinctly British flavor with The Mindbenders, The Zombies, Traffic, The Kinks, The Hollies, The Troggs, Manfred Mann, and The Walker Brothers.
Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | The Turtles– | Happy Together | 2:53 |
| 2 | The Mindbenders– | A Groovy Kind Of Love | 1:59 |
| 3 | The Flowerpot Men*– | Let’s Go To San Francisco | 3:33 |
| 4 | Matthews’ Southern Comfort– | Woodstock | 4:27 |
| 5 | The Zombies– | She’s Not There | 2:24 |
| 6 | Thunderclap Newman– | Something In The Air | 3:53 |
| 7 | Traffic– | Hole In My Shoe | 2:52 |
| 8 | The Kinks– | Sunny Afternoon | 3:30 |
| 9 | Joe Cocker– | With A Little Help From My Friends | 5:08 |
| 10 | The Beach Boys– | Heroes And Villains | 3:36 |
| 11 | The Tremeloes– | Silence Is Golden | 3:07 |
| 12 | Amen Corner– | (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice | 2:47 |
| 13 | The Mamas & The Papas– | Monday Monday | 3:22 |
| 14 | Small Faces– | Itchycoo Park | 2:50 |
| 15 | The Hollies– | Carrie-Anne | 2:54 |
| 16 | Manfred Mann– | Semi-detached Suburban Mr James | 2:36 |
| 17 | David McWilliams– | The Days Of Pearly Spencer | 2:32 |
| 18 | The Walker Brothers– | Make It Easy On Yourself | 3:11 |
| 19 | Donovan– | Catch The Wind | 2:54 |
| 20 | The Moody Blues– | Nights In White Satin | 4:25 |
| 21 | Fleetwood Mac– | Man Of The World | 2:49 |
| 22 | The Turtles– | Elenore | 2:30 |
| 23 | The Casuals– | Jesamine | 3:33 |
| 24 | The Troggs– | I Can’t Control Myself | 3:03 |
Mostly good songs. I would rather Donovan was represented by Sunshine Superman. And where are The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane? Never heard od David McWilliams, The Casuals or The Flowerpot Men. Amen Corner was a British band that didn’t get much airplay here. Thunderclap Newman were produced by Pete Townsend. And Woodstock took place to years after the summer of love. And I much prefer CSNY’s version. And not one of Traffic’s better numbers. I’d give it a B.
Steve, yes THE SUMMER OF LOVE is the usual hodgepodge of songs with some glaring omissions.
A bit of a mish-mash—and, as Steve notes, some of the songs (like “Woodstock”) and artists (Thunderclap Newman) seem totally wrong for a Summer of Love vibe. On the other hand, “Heroes & Villains” is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, always good to hear it regardless of whether it qualifies as Summer of Love material. There’s a song by the B-52s titled “Summer of Love”—although they produced it at least two decades after the actual SofL, I think it captures the spirit of the times beautifully. Give it a listen:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PZOWf52lkMM
Deb, thanks for the link! You’re right!
I’m familiar with about 14 of the artists and like all the ones I’ve heard of except Joe Cocker, who I just can’t tolerate. “Heroes and Villains” and “She’s Not There” are my picks for favorite songs here. Isn’t “Woodstock” a Joni Mitchell song? I’ve never heard of the band doing it here but, like Steve, I prefer CSNY’s version. I think this is the only Mitchell song where I prefer another version to Joni’s.
Michael, I love “Heroes and Villains” but my favorite Beach Boys song is “God Only Knows.” Paul McCartney called it “the perfect song.”
George, I’d agree with you here–“God Only Knows” is my favorite Beach Boys song and probably the best love song ever, and I’d have picked it had it been here to be picked. But I’d go with GIMME SHELTER as THE perfect song.
Michael, I love “Gimme Shelter” but my favorite Rolling Stones song is “Tumbling Dice.”
George, “Tumbling Dice” is also my favorite Stones’ song.
Deb, Great Minds think alike!
I’m totally unfamiliar with eleven of the twenty-four songs and seven of the artists. I sincerely wish I was unfamiliar with ITCHYCOO PARK. The Turtles, The Kinks, The Zombies, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, The Hollies, Donovan, and The Moody Blues are all worth a listen, although all have recorded much better songs. And why two from The Turtles? Couldn’t they have found another artist? I’d give this album a C-.
Jerry, I’m with you on “Itchycoo Park.” The Turtles were a hot group around the time of The Summer of Love. Plus, maybe their song rights were cheap.
I’m a big Small Faces fan but Itchycoo park isn’t their best song. Just the only big hit they had in the U.S.
P.S. The Summer of Love was actually my Summer of Awkwardness.
Jerry, The Summer of Love (aka, 1967) was the summer I worked as a dish washer at a restaurant on Goat Island near the roar of Niagara Falls. Most of the time I was thinking about becoming a freshman at Marquette University in September.
“The Summer of Love”?
Apparently no one told the girls I was dating in college.
Dan, girls operate on a different calendar!
What a very odd collections. A bunch of odd British songs that were never heard here – The Flowerpot Men? I’ve heard of them, but that’s about it. Don’t know their music. I know more than half of them. Even some of the groups I know are represented by unfamiliar songs. Favorites? The two Turtles songs, Monday Monday, the Zombies, Kinks and Joe Cocker songs, and Nights in White Satin.
Jeff, I agree with you. THE SUMMER OF LOVE is an odd album. Classics Like “Nights in White Satin” rub shoulders with Amen Corner’s “(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice.” A mix of well-known groups and some real obscurities!
How can you have a Summer of Love collection without Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)”? “Happy Together” was 1967, but “Elenore” was 1968. And how about “Get Together” by The Youngbloods? I know it was the reissue in 1969 that was the big hit, but the original was 1967.
Did you really not remember “Something in the Air”? I’ve always loved that song. Didn’t you recognize it when it came on?
The usual odd bag of “what rights are available?”, but better than most. As others have noted, these are from different years. Fleetwood Mac’s “Man of the World” is a good Peter Green song, but more of a downer, not the best choice for this collection. “Hole in My Shoe” is an odd choice from Traffic, but most of their first album is pretty trippy and psychedelic, so most anything would do.
The Matthews in Matthews’ Southern Comfort is Ian (or Iain) Matthews, who was on the first two Fairport Convention albums. He’s had a long career of putting out decent but rarely notable music. I have a really good 3-disc collection from the European “Collected” series that covers his career well.
I woke up early this morning, checked some things on my tablet, and went back to sleep. Your post may have influenced my dreams, as I had a really pleasant dream about Woodstock. I could time travel (by driving my car “at right angles”), and Ann and I took a quick trip to the concert. We sat with a bunch of latecomers where we could hear but not see the performers, and didn’t stay long. Then I asked my friend Bob if he wanted to go for the weekend. We decided to ask our friend George (Goebel, not Kelley; sorry, George). We were concerned that he would get too excited, and we really impressed on him that he couldn’t “know” what was coming next, or sing along to songs that hadn’t been released yet. We had to keep a close eye on him. It was a fun dream.
Jeff, I want to try that sleepy drug you took to have such vivid dreams!
hodgepodge describes it for me too.
Many songs I like and in 1967 you could already get them on European radio. I wrote my Diplomarbeit (Master thesis) in maths that summer and in the evnings I would relax with friends who also had LPs which I couldn’t afford.
It’s funny how different tastes are – the Joe Cocker song I really enjoyed like many others here but some song titles I just don’t remember.
Wolf, you can find all of these songs on YouTube.
Went through Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love, but definitely wasn’t a participant. This is one album I can do without.
Kent, I posted THE SUMMER OF LOVE ALBUM partly with tongue-in-cheek. Many of the songs on this CD don’t seem to have anything to do with The Summer of Love!
Reading about “Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love” I have to tell a story – rather OT but still …
In 2010 I took my new partner aka the Hungarian lady to the US South West, from SF via Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Brice Canyon, Las Vegas and even Laughlin (they had the only hotel rooms that we could afford over Easter).
We had a lot of fantastic experiences and at the end of our journey we returned to SF to relax for a few days, staying in the historical Hotel Whitcomb on Market St.
We rode the Cable Cars and the Streetcar which also was good to look around and one day when the sun was shining we rode it to the end – Castro District. I thought we might find a Spanish/Mexican place there. When we got out we were a bit thirsty so went into the next bar.
Standing at the door looking for a free place one guy at the bar turned round and said:
Come in – we don’t bite!
At that moment I realized that there were only men in the bar …
No problem, we went in and had a beer or two and a fantastic discussion with a nice and friendly couple, a bit younger than us. They told us that they were working in IT internationally and had been to Europe often so we started a discussion about beers in Belgium and Germany …
One of them grew up in Haight Ashbury, his partner as a gay person came to SF as the only place that would tolerate him in the Summer of Love – and they stayed together or so many years …
Fond memories!
PS:
It must also have been 1967 or 1067 when a gay friend introduced me to the first gay bar in the little university town of Tübingen where we were studying, very nice, interesting people (not a gay majority).
And now for his favourite singer:
Tiny Tim and his favourite song:
“Tiptoe Through the Tulips”
That was in 1968.
Wolf, that’s quite a story!
Sorry for the typing errors.
Yes my/our time at university was fantastic, most of my friends were Rock and Blues fans too and of course we were politically active, fighting against those “Clerical Fascists” as I called the CDU. Btw today’s extreme Repugs in the USA remind me very much of those “Christians” which only lost power at the end of the 60s.
Wolf, the winds of politics are constantly swirling!
Though the fascists sure seem like they’re on a too-great upswing these years.
The Zombies wrote and performed a Lot of good songs, but only a few were marginally better than “She’s Not There” (even if it’s not At All a SoL sort of song). Surprised that so many Joe Cocker fans find the variable emoting and volumes of “Itchykoo Park” so offputting, but I like it for what it is.
Never liked “Nights in White Satin” that much, but it was the best song on DAYS; very much preferred the first Moodys. I’ll plump for “Paint It Black” and “Gimme Shelter” as still my favorite Stones songs, at very least among the originals…and there are a number of Beach Boys songs, such as “The Warmth of the Sun” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” that are on par with “God Only Knows” for me, even given the clever lyrical shift of the latter…
Todd, The Wrecking Crew deserves a lot of praise for the sound of “God Only Knows” and some of the Beach Boy songs you mention.
I’m in moderation?