The Lovin' Spoonful discography

For the discographies of individual members of the Lovin' Spoonful, see John Sebastian § Discography, and Zal Yanovsky § Discography.

The Lovin' Spoonful discography
A promotional photograph of the band
The Lovin' Spoonful in 1965
Studio albums5
EPs8
Live albums1
Compilation albums20
Singles19
Soundtrack albums2

The Lovin' Spoonful is an American folk-rock band which was originally active between 1964 and 1968.[1] During their original tenure, they released five studio albums, two soundtrack albums, four compilation albums, and fourteen singles in the United States. Between October 1965 and January 1967, their first-seven singles reached the Top Ten in the United States on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart,[2][3] and the magazine's 1966 end-of-year issue ranked the group as that year's third-best-performing singles artist, after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.[4][5][nb 1] Though the Spoonful achieved success during the transition to the album era, they and their label remained focused on the singles market;[7] the group's 1966 album Daydream was their only studio album to break the Top Ten of the Billboard Top LPs chart,[8] and its performance was bested only by a 1967 compilation album, The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful,[8] which RIAA certified for gold that year.[9] The Spoonful saw diminished success in 1967,[10] when only two of their singles entered the top twenty in the U.S.[3][11] Following further chart disappointments,[12] the group disbanded in 1968.[13][nb 2]

The Lovin' Spoonful's albums and singles were originally issued by Kama Sutra Records in the United States and by Pye International Records in the United Kingdom.[18][19] The band was not directly signed to Kama Sutra but was instead signed to Koppelman-Rubin, an entertainment company,[20] which negotiated a deal with the label in June 1965.[14] As part of the arrangement, MGM Records distributed the records, which Kama Sutra released on its label for Koppelman-Rubin.[20][nb 3] MGM's contract with Kama Sutra expired in 1967, and Kama Sutra's leadership founded Buddah Records (later renamed Buddha), transferring their five-year deal with the Spoonful in the process.[22][23] The band's new contract ran until 1975 and had their compensation at seven figures.[24][nb 4] In 2023, John Sebastian, the Spoonful's primary songwriter, sold the publishing and artist royalties rights for all of his compositions to AMR Songs, an American catalog marketing company.[28]

The Lovin' Spoonful's music has been regularly collected on compilation albums.[29] In the years after the band's breakup, many of their original multi-track master-tapes were lost and presumed destroyed.[30][31][nb 5] The group's earliest CD reissues were instead made from the best available stereo masters,[31] leaving the material sounding substandard when compared to reissues of other 1960s music.[33] In 2000, after the first-generation master-tapes were rediscovered, Buddha issued Greatest Hits, which was the first digital remaster of the band's material.[29][34] BMG Heritage Records, a reissue division of Sony BMG,[35] issued digital remasters of the band's first four studio albums on CD in 2002 and 2003,[36] along with previously unreleased bonus material.[37]

  1. ^ Unterberger 2002, pp. 75, 123, 279; Unterberger 2003, pp. 61, 316.
  2. ^ Jackson 2015, pp. xvii, 137.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Billboard was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Savage 2015, pp. 544–545.
  5. ^ "Top Singles Artists of 1966". Billboard. December 24, 1966. pp. 14, 18–19.
  6. ^ "Top Records of 1966". Billboard. December 24, 1966. p. 34 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, p. 145.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference D was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference RIAA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Unterberger 2003, p. 61.
  11. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 170, 173, 182, 189.
  12. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, p. 189.
  13. ^ Miles 2009, p. 232.
  14. ^ a b Helander 1999, p. 237.
  15. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 288–291.
  16. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 288–289, 293.
  17. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "The Lovin' Spoonful biography". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  18. ^ Unterberger 2002, p. 125.
  19. ^ Anon. (October 2, 1965). "Kama-Sutra, Pye Contract". Billboard. p. 10 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ a b Boone & Moss 2014, p. 71.
  21. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 69–70.
  22. ^ Bordowitz 2011, chap. 6.
  23. ^ Dannen 2011, p. 164.
  24. ^ H.I.M. KLEO Good Guy (July 12, 1967). "Peach Blight". The Wichita Beacon. p. 8B.
  25. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, pp. 167–168.
  26. ^ Unterberger 2003, pp. 61, 203–204.
  27. ^ Pollock 2009, p. 94.
  28. ^ Aswad, Jem (March 22, 2023). "John Sebastian's Catalog, Including 'Daydream' and 'Welcome Back,' Acquired by AMR Songs". Variety. Archived from the original on August 30, 2023.
  29. ^ a b Horowitz, Hal. "Greatest Hits [Buddha]". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  30. ^ Rucker 1996, p. 423: "Many of the masters for Spoonful recordings have long been destroyed, which makes more reissues unlikely."
  31. ^ a b Anon. (1995). Do You Believe in Magic / Hums (Liner notes). The Lovin' Spoonful. Kama Sutra, Replay. 75517 49500 2. Digitally remastered from the best available stereo master tapes. Unfortunately, all efforts to locate the multitrack session tapes over the years have been unsuccessful.
  32. ^ Boone & Moss 2014, p. 244.
  33. ^ Ruhlmann, William. " Do You Believe in Magic/Hums". AllMusic. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023. A sleeve note reveals that the original multi-track tapes for the albums are lost, which explains why the sound, while good, does not exhibit the dramatic improvement that has become common on CD reissues of '60s music.
  34. ^ Edmonds, Ben (2000). Greatest Hits (Liner notes). The Lovin' Spoonful. Buddha. 74465 99716 2. ... digitally remastered for the first time from the long lost first generation master tapes.
  35. ^ Gallo, Phil (October 22, 2004). "Sony BMG slots pair for catalog biz". Variety. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023.
  36. ^
  37. ^ Leggett, Steve. "Do You Believe in Magic/Daydream". AllMusic. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.


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