The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful explained

The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful
Type:	Greatest hits
Artist:	the Lovin' Spoonful
Cover:	best of the lovin spoonful.jpg
Released:	March 1967
Recorded:	June 1965March 1966
Genre:	Folk rock^[1]
Length:	29:10
Label:	Kama Sutra
Producer:	Erik Jacobsen
Prev Title:	Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful
Prev Year:	1966
Next Title:	You're a Big Boy Now
Next Year:	1967

The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful is a 1967 compilation album by the Lovin' Spoonful featuring hits and other tracks from their first three albums. It charted the highest of the group's career, hitting number three on the Billboard Top LPs chart.

The album also included 9" x 12" individual color photos ("Suitable for framing", as labeled) of John Sebastian, Joe Butler, Steve Boone, and Zal Yanovsky.

Reception

In his Allmusic review, music critic William Ruhlman wrote "this compilation is an attempt to balance group concerns rather than present their most successful performances. Nevertheless, it picks the strongest material from the group's three previous albums..."

Track listing

All songs written by John Sebastian, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Do You Believe in Magic"2:04
2. "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?"2:00
3. "Butchie's Tune" (Steve Boone)2:34
4. "Jug Band Music"2:49
5. "Night Owl Blues" (J. Sebastian, Zal Yanovsky, Boone, Joe Butler)3:00
6. "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" (J. Sebastian, Boone)2:29

Side 2

1. "Daydream"2:18
2. "Blues in the Bottle" (traditional, adapt. and arr. by the Lovin' Spoonful, Steve Weber, Peter Stampfel)2:10
3. "Didn't Want to Have to Do It"2:06
4. "Wild About My Lovin (traditional, adapt. and arr. by J. Sebastian)2:38
5. "Younger Girl"2:23
6. "Summer in the City" (J. Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, Boone)2:39

Charts

+Weekly chart performance	Chart (1967)	Peak position
Canadian RPM 25 Top LPs^[2]	3
U.S. Billboard Top LPs^[3]	3
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 Albums^[4]	3
U.S. Record World 100 Top LPs^[5]	3

+Year-end chart performance	Chart (1967)	Ranking
U.S. Billboard Top Records^[6]	23
U.S. Cash Box Best Albums^[7]	15

Notes and References

1. Book: Nelson . Paul . Paul Nelson (critic) . Miller . Jim . The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll . 1980 . . New York City . 0-394-73938-8 . 231–234 . Revised and Updated . https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneillu00mill/page/231/ . Folk Rock . registration . the Internet Archive.
2. RPM 25 Top LPs. RPM. May 13, 1967. 5.
3. The Lovin' Spoonful Chart History (Billboard 200) . . June 28, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221121215619/https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-lovin-spoonful/chart-history/hsi/ . November 21, 2022 . live.
4. Top 100 Albums. Cash Box. May 20, 1967. 49.
5. Top 100 LP's. Record World. May 20, 1967. 60.
6. Top Records of 1967 (Based on Billboard Charts). Billboard. December 30, 1967. 42.
7. Best Albums of 1967. Cash Box. December 23, 1967. 24.