The Cowsills

With my new "direct to MP3" record player I recorded three of The Cowsills' LPs yesterday.

I did this pretty much with the sound turned off because I had other official duties that I couldn't be distracted from. This is what makes me nervous, that a couple years ago, with my old unreliable record player there was a skip on one of the tracks. But I don't remember which one.

So now the tracks are on my iPod and I'm thinking I'm eventually going to come across that skip ... if it's there. This new record player does skip at some of the same spots as my old one did, meaning, I guess, that it's conclusive that there are issues at those spots on the record. But for other records it makes it through. I'm hoping that it made it through the skip on the Cowsills LP.

I've always liked The Cowsills' sound but for the most part didn't have the LPs originally when they were popular. So I only knew the singles at the time. But getting at least these three over the years and hearing them, there's a lot of sweetness and joy in the tracks. I like all that sunshine pop stuff. And you can tell they were also trying to stretch, reach for new stuff. They're worth getting.

The records I have are "The Cowsills," which leads off with "The Rain, The Park and Other Things"; "We Can Fly" and "Captain Sad and His Ship of Fools." The title tune to "We Can Fly" is one of the most wonderful things I've ever heard. "Captain Sad," of which I'm no expert but I have heard it a time or two, is what I was referring to that they were trying to stretch. Even the liner notes suggests this, with their 'audience growing with them,' that sort of thing. The title sounds vaguely like "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" or "Their Satanic Majesties Request" or "Major Happy's Up and Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band," that kind of effort.

I didn't have the sound off on this one but I was in another room, so I wasn't hearing it well yesterday. There was one track that sounded like a sore thumb, "The Fantasy World of Harry Faversham." I'm going to have to study that one out. The weird voice on it didn't appeal to me through the wall.

I read a little about The Cowsills at their website. Actually back when the hurricane happened, which killed one of the brothers. Then they were having a benefit for another brother, who, I see, since has also died. Plus their mom and dad have passed on.

They're still putting out an occasional record. And they have one at CD Baby (also at Amazon) that has a terrible title, something like "The Cocaine Drain Album," and it says it was dubbed off a single existing acetate. So I don't know what the problem was there. Since I believe in multiple backups and copies of everything. How could someone make an entire album and not have a tape?

I'd love to have all the Cowsills' albums on CD. And I see some are available or have been available. One of them, though, is like $155 at Amazon. I don't think so.