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TheCellarTapes · 08-19-2009, 02:27 PM

The Now Generation - The Legendary Spar Recordings
(2007)

Tracks

1. Come On On
2. This Town
3. Daytona Darlin'
4. Wise Like Solomon
5. My Bonnie
6. Whole Summer Through
7. Uptown Downtown
8. Wooly Bully
9. Little Bit Of Soul
10. Truckstop
11. Sideroad
12. Crawl Along The Sand
13. Big Windy City
14. Sure Gonna Miss Her
15. Indian Giver
16. You're Slipping Away From Me
17. Rainy Night In Georgia
18. What Difference Does It Make
19. Making A Fool Of Myself

The Now Generation were really a fictional band led by the late great and vastly underrated Bobby Russell, a songwriter from Nashville in Tennessee. Their principle output was sound-alike recordings for the Spar Record Label, created by Tennessee's finest session musicians partaking in various sessions in the studio just off Nashville's Music Row.

Although that all sounds pretty horrid, in 1967 the band released quite the LP, their self titled debut would be a departure from the made up band's normal output. It contained on the whole material written by Bobby Russell, the majority of which luckily can be found on this release, and you know what, it’s actually quite good.

Re-released in 2007 with extensions on SPV Records, The Legendary Spar Recordings is Bobby Russell at his finest, with some brilliant original material. The first two songs on this album are great catchy numbers and the best on the record despite sounding awfully familiar, Come On On and This Town frankly are solid gold efforts, worthy of anybody’s playlist, but there are some other strong efforts written by Bobby Russell to be found here as well. Daytona Darling is upfront Surf, Big Windy City could have been penned for Roy Orbison, and Uptown Downtown is very Dion.

But this retrospective sound of Surf music and Orbison was hardly cutting edge post `66 and as a result the original LP was a low seller. In subsequent years, The Now Generation were no longer a vehicle for Bobby Russell to write as originally intended, and instead the band reverted solely to covers, some of which can be found on this album, the best of which is most definitely their version of You Showed Me.

It depends what you are after I suppose, this album could be described as evidence of a sixties record label out to make some easy money off some covers and sound-alike records, or as I like to think, this is purely a collection of some splendid quirky songs that are harmless on the ears which are actually a rather good listen.

One more thing before you consider your options with this album, it should also be said that Bobby Russell once kept a draw full of cheques made out to him from Spar Records that he couldn't be bothered to cash in, so perhaps this wasn't about the money after all.

08-19-2009, 02:27 PM	#113 (permalink)
TheCellarTapes Music Addict Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 490	The Now Generation - The Legendary Spar Recordings *(2007)* Tracks 1. Come On On 2. This Town 3. Daytona Darlin' 4. Wise Like Solomon 5. My Bonnie 6. Whole Summer Through 7. Uptown Downtown 8. Wooly Bully 9. Little Bit Of Soul 10. Truckstop 11. Sideroad 12. Crawl Along The Sand 13. Big Windy City 14. Sure Gonna Miss Her 15. Indian Giver 16. You're Slipping Away From Me 17. Rainy Night In Georgia 18. What Difference Does It Make 19. Making A Fool Of Myself The Now Generation were really a fictional band led by the late great and vastly underrated Bobby Russell, a songwriter from Nashville in Tennessee. Their principle output was sound-alike recordings for the Spar Record Label, created by Tennessee's finest session musicians partaking in various sessions in the studio just off Nashville's Music Row. Although that all sounds pretty horrid, in 1967 the band released quite the LP, their self titled debut would be a departure from the made up band's normal output. It contained on the whole material written by Bobby Russell, the majority of which luckily can be found on this release, and you know what, it’s actually quite good. Re-released in 2007 with extensions on SPV Records, The Legendary Spar Recordings is Bobby Russell at his finest, with some brilliant original material. The first two songs on this album are great catchy numbers and the best on the record despite sounding awfully familiar, Come On On and This Town frankly are solid gold efforts, worthy of anybody’s playlist, but there are some other strong efforts written by Bobby Russell to be found here as well. Daytona Darling is upfront Surf, Big Windy City could have been penned for Roy Orbison, and Uptown Downtown is very Dion. But this retrospective sound of Surf music and Orbison was hardly cutting edge post `66 and as a result the original LP was a low seller. In subsequent years, The Now Generation were no longer a vehicle for Bobby Russell to write as originally intended, and instead the band reverted solely to covers, some of which can be found on this album, the best of which is most definitely their version of You Showed Me. It depends what you are after I suppose, this album could be described as evidence of a sixties record label out to make some easy money off some covers and sound-alike records, or as I like to think, this is purely a collection of some splendid quirky songs that are harmless on the ears which are actually a rather good listen. One more thing before you consider your options with this album, it should also be said that Bobby Russell once kept a draw full of cheques made out to him from Spar Records that he couldn't be bothered to cash in, so perhaps this wasn't about the money after all.