Search - Various :: Here's A Song (You Might Have Missed)®: Great Record Finds Vol. 1

Worth the price for rare Cass Elliot

gassy goon | 03/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just to have the rare CASS ELLIOT versions of THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL song " DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO IT " was reason enough for me to buy this CD. What a historic , long buried song that was done in late 1964 or early 1965. This was after Cass & Denny Doherty's pre-Mamas and Papas group The Mugwumps had recorded & played live gigs, but before The Mamas & The Papas came together in 1965. Cass' versions of this dreamy John Sebastian song are a revelation to hear. She's backed up by John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky on guitars and there is also a drummer on these tracks. The first version has Cass singing withiout any extra vocals. Just amazing to hear this historic song by Cass - soothing, dreamy, ethereal - much like her ballad hits like " DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME " or her version of Sebastian's " DARLING BE HOME SOON". Version 2 has Cass adding extra background vocals , and this is an amazing version as well, although it has a drop out/skip at the end of it. The master sounds clear and it's a definite find that confirms the evolution of American rock and roll that Cass Elliot, John Sebastian & their respective groups contributed to the history of rock and roll. A must for any fan to own this CD just for these very rare versions of this song, done just a bit later by The Lovin' Spoonful themselves. The Cass version was the template then, & it sounds not unlike the well known Spoonful version, but longer.



The rest of the CD is okay, with oddities by various musicians, most notably what is CLYDE MCPHATTER's last studio output, JOHNNY CYMBAL [ later known as DEREK when he had a hit with " CINNAMON " ], CHEVY CHASE when he was in a band, and others. But it's the CASS ELLIOT song that made me buy it, and it's worth every penny to hear this true discovery today, all these decades later."