Daydream (The Lovin' Spoonful album)

Daydream is the second album by the Lovin' Spoonful, released in 1966. It features two hits, "Daydream", which reached No. 2 in the U.S. Billboard Top 40 charts, and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" (U.S. No. 10).

Daydream
Studio album by the Lovin' Spoonful
Released	March 1966
Recorded	November–December 1965
Studio	Bell Sound and Columbia, New York City RCA, Hollywood
Genre	Folk rock^[1]
Length	30:24
Label	Kama Sutra
Producer	Erik Jacobsen
The Lovin' Spoonful chronology
Do You Believe in Magic (1965) Daydream (1966) What's Shakin' (1966)
Singles from Daydream
"Daydream" Released: February 1966^[2]

History

The Lovin' Spoonful recorded most of Daydream in four days at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, from December 13 to 16, 1965.^[3] Some songs had been recorded in November, including the non-album single "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice".^[4][5] Sessions also took place at Columbia Studios in New York City and RCA in Hollywood, Los Angeles.^[5] With only five originals on the band's debut release, Do You Believe in Magic, Daydream featured much more songwriting by Lovin' Spoonful co-founder singer and vocalist John Sebastian, who either wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs on this release.

Kama Sutra Records issued Daydream in the United States in March 1966.^[5] Release of the album followed in the United Kingdom on April 29.^[6]

Covers

The song "Daydream" was recorded by Bobby Darin for his album If I Were A Carpenter. British pop group Right Said Fred took the song "Daydream" to Number 29 on the UK Singles Chart in 1992. The New Jersey band Yo La Tengo released its arrangement of "Butchie's Tune" on their 2015 album Stuff Like That There. In 1967 Scott McKenzie recorded "It's Not Time Now" for his debut album The Voice of Scott McKenzie.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[8]
MusicHound Rock	3.5/5^[9]
Record Mirror	^[10]
Select	^[11]

Writing for AllMusic, Gary Mollica describes the album as "very strong".^[7] It was voted number 767 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).^[12] The album reached number 9 on the Finnish Album Chart in August 1966.^[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Sebastian except as noted.

Side one

1. "Daydream" – 2:21
2. "There She Is" – 1:58
3. "It's Not Time Now" (Sebastian, Zal Yanovsky) – 2:49
4. "Warm Baby" – 2:03
5. "Day Blues" (Joe Butler, Sebastian) – 3:15
6. "Let the Boy Rock and Roll" (Butler, Sebastian) – 2:34

Side two

1. "Jug Band Music" – 2:53
2. "Didn't Want to Have to Do It" – 2:36
3. "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice" (Steve Boone, Sebastian) – 2:29
4. "Bald Headed Lena" (Willy Perryman, Edward Snead) – 2:25
5. "Butchie's Tune" (Boone, Sebastian) – 2:37
6. "Big Noise from Speonk" (Boone, Butler, Sebastian, Yanovsky) – 2:21

Personnel

• John Sebastian – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, autoharp, harmonica, keyboards
• Steve Boone – bass, vocals
• Joe Butler – drums, percussion, vocals
• Zal Yanovsky – electric and acoustic guitars, vocals

Charts

Weekly chart performance Chart (1966) Peak position Finland (Suomen Virallinen)^[13] 9 UK Record Retailer LPs Chart^[14] 8 US Billboard Top LPs^[15] 10 US Cash Box Top 100 Albums^[16] 25 US Record World 100 Top LPs^[17] 7

Year-end chart performance Chart (1966) Ranking US Billboard^[18] 85 US Cash Box^[19] 49

References

1. Nelson, Paul (1980). "Folk Rock". In Miller, Jim (ed.). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll (Revised and Updated ed.). New York City: Random House. pp. 231–234. ISBN 0-394-73938-8 – via the Internet Archive.
2. Turner 2017, p. 423.
3. Boone & Moss 2014, p. 104.
4. Boone & Moss 2014, p. 105.
5. Diken, Dennis (2002). Daydream (Liner notes). The Lovin' Spoonful. Buddha, BMG Heritage. 74465 99731 2.
6. Anon. (April 30, 1966). "News Extra: Spoonful LP". Melody Maker. p. 15.
7. Mollica, Gary. "Daydream > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
8. Larkin, Colin (2011). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 3074. ISBN 978-0857125958.
9. Rucker, Leland (1996). "Lovin' Spoonful / John Sebastian". In Graff, Gary (ed.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit, Michigan: Visible Ink Press. pp. 422–423. ISBN 0-7876-1037-2 – via the Internet Archive.
10. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (14 May 1966). (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 270. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
11. Cavanagh, David (October 1990). "The Lovin' Spoonful: Daydream/Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful". Select. No. 4. p. 132.
12. Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 242. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
13. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 199. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
14. "Lovin' Spoonful". Official Charts Company. from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
15. "The Lovin' Spoonful Chart History". Billboard. from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
16. "Cash Box Top 100 Albums". Cash Box. June 18, 1966. p. 53.
17. "100 Top LP's". Record World. June 18, 1965. p. 24.
18. "Top Records of 1966". Billboard. December 24, 1966. pp. 34–35 – via Google Books.
19. "Best Albums of 1966". Cash Box. December 24, 1966. p. 34.

Sources

• Boone, Steve; Moss, Tony (2014). Hotter Than a Match Head: My Life on the Run with The Lovin' Spoonful. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77041-193-7 – via Google Books.
• Turner, Steve (2017). Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year. New York City: Ecco. ISBN 978-0-06-247558-9 – via the Internet Archive.