Like to Get to Know You

• Artist: Spanky & Our Gang
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1968 04
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rock

Review

Spanky & Our Gang had been unhappy with various aspects of their self-titled debut album, and as a result they recruited two new producers, Stuart Scharf and Bob Dorough, who were more in sympathy with how the group actually sounded. Recorded somewhat on the fly, Like to Get to Know You was the first album to reflect what the group considered their own sound, and was harder-rocking, bluesier, and more inventive in its folk stylings than anything on their debut album. The mix of sounds was actually quite startling in its own time and is engaging even 30 some years later, with various top New York and Los Angeles-based session musicians and a cadre of Chicago bluesmen adding their talents to the band's core instrumentalists. Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane gives convincing and honest performances, and Lefty Baker acquits himself well as a singer. The group opens new vocal territory on the six-part harmony "Sunday Morning," and they do arguably the best cover ever of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," which dazzles with its tempo changes and the sheer variety of timbres employed. Side two of the original album was actually a prelude to their next LP, containing elements of conceptual rock and made up of songs that segue thematically from one to another. As an album, Like to Get to Know You was of its time, a conceptual record that was finely executed and fascinating to hear; it was perhaps taken a little less seriously, given the image of Spanky & Our Gang for light pop/rock. It's worth rediscovering, either on the original vinyl or on the 1999 Japanese-imported CD. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Swingin' Gate		Spanky & Our Gang	(2:14)
Prescription for the Blues	Little Brother Montgomery, Bruce Saunders	Spanky & Our Gang	(3:09)
Three Ways from Tomorrow	Lefty Baker	Spanky & Our Gang	(3:25)
My Bill		Spanky & Our Gang	(2:30)
Sunday Mornin'	Margo Guryan	Spanky & Our Gang	(3:56)
Everybody's Talkin'	Fred Neil	Spanky & Our Gang	(3:20)
Suzanne	Leonard Cohen	Spanky & Our Gang	(3:41)
Stuperflabbergasted		Spanky & Our Gang	(1:05)
Like to Get to Know You	Stuart Scharf	Spanky & Our Gang	(2:18)
Chick-A-Ding-Ding	Stuart Scharf	Spanky & Our Gang	(2:26)
Stardust	Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish	Spanky & Our Gang	(3:30)
Coda (I Like To Get To Know You)		Spanky & Our Gang	(1:00)

Credits

Larry Knechtel (Bass), Donald MacDonald (Drums), Nigel Pickering (Bass), Joe Sidore (Technical Supervisor), Nigel Pickering (Guitar (Rhythm)), Lee Katzman (Trumpet), Nigel Pickering (Guitar), Kenny Hodges (Bass), Lefty Baker (Vocals), Blue Band (Musician), Richard Davis (Bass), Malcolm Hale (Guitar), Hal Blaine (Drums), Spanky McFarlane (?), Spanky McFarlane (Vocals), Stuart Scharf (Vocal Arrangement), Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane (Percussion), John Seiter (Drums), Stuart Scharf (Musician), Stuart Scharf (Producer), Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane (Vocals), Bob Dorough (Vocal Arrangement), Lefty Baker (Guitar), Red Rhodes (Guitar (Steel)), Carlos Bernal (Musician), Artie Schroeck (Piano), Little Brother Montgomery (Musician), Artie Schroeck (Organ), Jim Ladwig (Art Direction), Bob Dorough (Producer), Chet Amsterdam (Bass), Stuart Scharf (Arranger), Richard David (Bass), Bill Lavorgna (Drums), Bob Dorough (Musician), Bob Dorough (Arranger), Mike Deasy Sr. (Guitar), Joe Sidore (Musician), Walter Raim (Guitar (12 String)), Little Brother Montgomery (?), Malcolm Hale (Drums)