Search - The Cowsills :: The Best of the Cowsills

In the history of Bubblegum pop, the Cowsills deserve to be

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 06/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Today the Cowsills are probably better known as being the real-life inspiration for the television family "The Partridge Family," but they had a couple of minor hits in their own right which justify them being more than footnote in music history. After all, when the title song from the tribal rock musical "Hair" made the Billboard hit list (#2 in 1969) it was pretty much defanged because it was being sung by the Cowsills. The Cowsills were six siblings (Bill, Bob, Barry, John, Susan and Paul) along with mom Barbara, who started as two brothers singing Everly Brothers covers and kept adding members until almost the entire family was accounted for (dad "Bud" was around; he provided the guitars).



Their other minor hits were "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" (#2), "Indian Lake" (#10), and their best original song "We Can Fly" (#21) with its big chorus, which meant that in terms of Bubblegum music they were one of the few groups to make more than a couple of dents in the pop charts (obviously the Partridge Family and Tommy Roe represent the exceptions that prove this particular rule). Consequently, "The Best of the Cowsills" succeeds in living up to its title. The key to the success of the Cowsills was their sweet family harmonies, which were more in the tradition of the Mamas & the Papas or Association than either the Beach Boys or the New Christy Minstrels. The resulting sound is pleasant without becoming insipid, despite your expectations to the contrary.



Ultimately, the comparisons to the Partridge Family in terms of the music the two groups produced are unfounded because the Cowsills are much more of a complete vocal group instead of being backing vocalists for a David Cassidy. Plus, the Cowsills all looked like they were related to each other; no redhead sticking out like a sore thumb in this family. Ironically, by the time "The Partridge Family" was airing on television the Cowsills were basically done as a recording group. Columbia Pictures' television division checked out the Cowsills with thoughts of turning them into a TV family, but it did not pan out and the idea was then fictionalized."

Hits and album tracks from '60s family pop band

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 05/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As the real life family band upon which TV's Partridge Family was modeled, these six teen siblings and their mother turned out memorable, harmony-laden late-60s sunshine pop. Although their first few singles sputtered, the addition to the group of their mother, Barbara, turned the tide for 1967's superb "The Rain, The Park and Other Things." Against an arrangement led by light organ and drums, the harp glissandos and full family harmonies are swept up in the loving emotions of that tremendous year.



The group charted three more hits in 1968 and 1969. The title track from their "We Can Fly" LP features more soaring family harmonies and angelic harp, but with more of a West coast sunshine pop melody. "Indian Lake" is sweet bubblegum, but cleverly produced with honky-tonk piano and a taste of theramin on the introduction. The group's biggest success came with their cover of the title song from the rock musical "Hair," winningly turning their group harmonies a shade funkier and heavier.



Though inevitably compared to the TV family they inspired, the Cowsills were an actual group who wrote, played and sang the majority of their own music. Beyond the quartet of hits, they recorded engaging light-rock and pop, including the gospel-tinged "Path of Love," choral "Mister Flynn," bubblegum funk "Gotta Get Away From it All," chamber-pop "Newspaper Blanket," and barbershop harmony soul "Poor Baby."



These 14-tracks include the 12 on the group's original 1968 MGM "Best Of" LP, adding the 1968 LP track "Meet Me at the Wishing Well" and the 1969 hit single "Hair." This is similar to the 12-track "20th Century Masters" collection issued in 2001, but falls short of the recently issued 23-track "Painting the Day: The Angelic Psychedelia of the Cowsills." Both of these latter collections include the requisite helping of hits and add the non-charting theme to TV's "Love American Style," which is missing here. The "Painting the Day" collection also includes the the entirety of the group's 1970 folk-rock "II x II" LP, but at twice the price of the slimmer anthologies. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]"