Lovin' Spoonful
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- Pat Dawson
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Lovin' Spoonful
Just saw a special last night on MPT of John Sebastian and the Lovin' Spoonful. There was an old film clip of a performance where the guitarist was playing a single neck pedal steel. Who knew! I don't recall the tune, though.
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- Pat Dawson
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I'm pretty sure there was no steel guitar on any of those early hits, but I have seen a YouTube video of them on which Zal is sitting at a little S-10 (might have been a student model even), pretending to play steel, just as everyone else in the band was lip-synching and pretending to play their instruments. They were so bad at it, that they kept cracking up laughing at how ridiculous it all was. Of course, back in those days they were under medication too...
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I met John Sebastian at a gig once years ago and asked him about "Nashville Cats"... He said most of it is Zal Yanovsky on guitar playing sort of "steel like" licks, and then in between John played just a little actual pedal steel on I believe what he said was an old Fender...
I don't know about the video though...
I don't know about the video though...
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I just listened to Nashville Cats on Rhapsody, and I agree it's a pedal steel--clearly played by someone, probably Zal, who knew no more steel than to mash and unmash the A & B pedals. But, hey, it's in tune! Actually, I don't hear any six-string licks that sound steel-like at all. Interesting how they sandwiched the end lead with the most "adventurous" licks the steel could play at the beginning and end.
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I have a friend who did the liner notes of a couple of the recent Spoonful reissue CDs and he had some lengthy chats with the 3 surviving members of the group. John Sabastian said he did indeed play some rudimentary pedal steel on an instrument that was left in the studio from an earlier session. I don't exactly remember what kind of steel he said it was, but I have it in my head that he said it was a Sho-Bud. Kinda sounds like one.
- Joe Alterio
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The video clip in question is "Rain On The Roof" with Zal playing a single-neck Fender.
John was quite the multi-instrumentalist, so I would have to think he played all of the pedal steel on the handful of Spoonful songs that had it ("Nashville Cats," "Boredom," "Rain on the Roof"). He also played banjo, autoharp and killer harp on their records, too!
John was quite the multi-instrumentalist, so I would have to think he played all of the pedal steel on the handful of Spoonful songs that had it ("Nashville Cats," "Boredom," "Rain on the Roof"). He also played banjo, autoharp and killer harp on their records, too!
- Frank Freniere
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JS did indeed play pedal steel on the recording of "Rain On The Roof." When I asked him recently if he used a horn on the song he replied:Joe Alterio wrote:The video clip in question is "Rain On The Roof" with Zal playing a single-neck Fender.
John was quite the multi-instrumentalist, so I would have to think he played all of the pedal steel on the handful of Spoonful songs that had it ("Nashville Cats," "Boredom," "Rain on the Roof"). He also played banjo, autoharp and killer harp on their records, too!
The 'fluglehorn' is actually Zals’ Guild Thunderbird with all treble off at the guitar,then a treble setting on the Fender Super-reverb.
Who knew?
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Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
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- Jack Hanson
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One of the top American pop bands of the sixties who went head-to-head against the so-called British Invasion and ultimately prevailed. Unfortunately, the rode the crest for a relatively short period of time before the bottom fell out due to a drug bust in California.
One listen to "Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful" should convince anyone that the Spoonful could play "Country" in the mid-sixties at a level much higher than what passes for "Country" in 2016.
Possibly the most underrated band of all-time.
One listen to "Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful" should convince anyone that the Spoonful could play "Country" in the mid-sixties at a level much higher than what passes for "Country" in 2016.
Possibly the most underrated band of all-time.
- Bryan Staddon
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What about that Les Paul?
Don't know about the steel controversy,but the inside cover of The best of The Lovin' Spoonful has a picture of John S. playing a flame top Les Paul that looks amazing, wonder where that ended up?
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- Joachim Kettner
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The first time I ever heard "Last Date" was from Zally:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdS7RGVnjrk
On that same album is also "Brown To Blue" with steel from Red Rhodes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdS7RGVnjrk
On that same album is also "Brown To Blue" with steel from Red Rhodes.
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Re: What about that Les Paul?
Bryan Staddon wrote:Don't know about the steel controversy,but the inside cover of The best of The Lovin' Spoonful has a picture of John S. playing a flame top Les Paul that looks amazing, wonder where that ended up?
Its amazing to think that that guitar was probably worth all of $100 in 1966.. on a good day... Today if its really clean and original, it can command half a mil......
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- Earnest Bovine
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Re: What about that Les Paul?
Out of the 600 flame top Les Pauls that Gibson made in 1959, only about 18,000 remain today.... John S. playing a flame top Les Paul
Its amazing to think that that guitar was probably worth all of $100 in 1966..
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Re: What about that Les Paul?
I saw one with a bolt-on neck.Earnest Bovine wrote:Out of the 600 flame top Les Pauls that Gibson made in 1959, only about 18,000 remain today.... John S. playing a flame top Les Paul
Its amazing to think that that guitar was probably worth all of $100 in 1966..
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
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- Joachim Kettner
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Here's the story of another Les Paul that previously belonged to John Sebastian:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(guitar)
The link doesn't work, copy and put it into google search.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(guitar)
The link doesn't work, copy and put it into google search.
Last edited by Joachim Kettner on 4 Oct 2016 3:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Frank Freniere
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Re: What about that Les Paul?
He says he sold it to "some player."Bryan Staddon wrote:Don't know about the steel controversy,but the inside cover of The best of The Lovin' Spoonful has a picture of John S. playing a flame top Les Paul that looks amazing, wonder where that ended up?
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Re: What about that Les Paul?
correct.. there are a lot of rich guys with bogus bursts in their collections..George Gruhn has stated that some of the copies are so good that even he can't tell the difference on them and certain other electrics,, he also said that acoustic guitar fakes are much easier to spot.. at least for him...Earnest Bovine wrote:Out of the 600 flame top Les Pauls that Gibson made in 1959, only about 18,000 remain today.... John S. playing a flame top Les Paul
Its amazing to think that that guitar was probably worth all of $100 in 1966..
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......
Finney's right. Sebastian sat down at a Fender steel for an hour and came up with the steel licks on "Nashville Cats". Same thing with "Rain On The Roof". The Spoonful were absolute masters in the studio of producing orchestral sounds, textures and arrangements using just what they played (mostly electric guitars). Red Rhodes was mentioned in this thread from being on the Zal solo album. He also played on "Boredom" from the last Spoonful album. With all this hoopla about "Americana" these days, especially in Nashville, it's absolutely stupid that the aficionados have completely overlooked the Lovin Spoonful. American roots?? You want "American roots"? Okay, how 'bout taking Mississippi John Hurt, The Carter Family, Rev. Gary Davis, Gil Tanner & The Skillet Lickers and rolling it into one big joyous bundle? Any of the mealy-mouthed Tom Petty sound-alikes being fawned over by the hipsters done anything close to that?