The last time this writer saw John Sebastian was in a muddy field being introduced by Wavey Gravy. Not Woodstock, unfortunately, but Hyde Park. The intervening years made it easy to forget just how many favourite songs he had written, with and without The Lovin’ Spoonful. Ostensibly simple tunes, they almost always have an interesting twist somewhere – a change of rhythm (Younger Girl, 4 Eyes), an unusual chord progression or harmony, a crossgrained guitar figure or interesting production. Summer In The City is the prime example of the latter, while Daydream actually has a much more complex arrangement than one remembers. There’s plenty of humour too, to leaven what can sometimes be incipient syrupy sentimentalism (see Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind), though I have to admit that Darling Be Home Soon still tugs at the heartstrings.
Some people fell out of love with Sebastian, surely the king of tie-dye, when the soft-hearted side of his work began to get the upper hand, but the 29 tracks on this retrospective help to re-establish his position in the canon. Not a major artiste, but one without whom the world would be a poorer place.
