The Cowsills - Painting The Day mp3 download

September

Easily the best Cowsills compilation out there (not that there's much competition; the only other widely-available compilation is the "Best Of" that MGM came out with around 1970 (and which has been kept in print since then), this CD tries to highlight the more 'psychedelic' side of the Cowsills, while also containing all of their hits ("Indian Lake", "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" & "Hair"). But buried in this CD are some excellent psych pop, baroque pop and sunshine pop gems. The Cowsills were not really a bubblegum band (at least not in my eyes - after all, how many 'bubblegum' groups played all their instruments, as well as writing many of their songs?), they just happened to have several hits that have fallen into the bubblegum genre; but underneath this, they were recording very sophisticated material (as well as always trying to find the next hit).Many will want this CD for it's inclusions of tracks from the often-talked about album "IIxII" - many consider in the 'dark' Cowsills album, due to heavy Christian/Religious-themed lyrics, and it is more of a rock affair (if you want to get an idea of what they sounded like live at the time, search for "Cowsills at Playboy Mansion" on Youtube (actually them appearing on "Playboy After Dark") - I only WISH the version of "IIxII" that they issued was as heavy as the one they perform! Personally, I highly recommend this CD. Don't be turned off if you have a negative view of bubblegum - even the hits like "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" show a fine sunshine pop leaning, and some tracks make me think of Sagittarius and that type of psychedelic pop/baroque pop. If you are unfamiliar with the group, this would be an excellent introduction.