| Spanky and Our Gang | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Spanky and Our Gang |
| Cover: | Spanky_&_our_gang_first_album.jpg |
| Released: | August 1, 1967 |
| Studio: | Western Recorders, Hollywood, California; Olmstead Studios, New York |
| Genre: | Folk rock, sunshine pop |
| Length: | 35:01 |
| Label: | Mercury |
| Producer: | Jerry Ross |
| Next Title: | Like to Get to Know You |
| Next Year: | 1968 |
Spanky and Our Gang is the debut album by Spanky and Our Gang, released on August 1, 1967. The album was released by Mercury Records and included three songs that were released as singles. These were "Sunday Will Never Be the Same", their biggest hit, which reached number Number 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1967, "Making Every Minute Count", which reached Number 31, and "Lazy Day", reaching Number 14.[1]
"Sunday Will Never Be The Same" and "Lazy Day" both sold over one million copies. "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" was written by Terry Cashman and Gene Pistilli. In an interview, Cashman said that the song was originally written as a ballad, but the group changed it and added the vocal - 'Ba-da-da-da-da' - which turned out to be a "great hook" for the song.[1]
Writing for Allmusic, music critic Bruce Eder wrote of the album "The group's debut LP demonstrates what can go wrong, even with a group enjoying a trio of hit singles. Though those hits are here, the album is the least representative of what the group was about and a mixed bag for fans, presenting a trio of widely available hits, six or seven fine tracks currently unavailable elsewhere, and two musical lapses that between them account for nearly one-third of the running time."
The band recorded the instrumental backing to tracks 2, 3, 5, 9, 11, and 12. Studio musicians recorded the rest.