Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 12/06/2005
What happens when you take elements from two of
Spanky & Our Gang's hits --
"Sunday Morning" and
"Sunday Will Never Be the Same" -- create a sequel, and let veteran producer
Paul Leka oversee the concept? You get a brilliant Top 35 hit from April of 1969,
"Will You Be Staying After Sunday," by this little-known group out of Baltimore,
the Peppermint Rainbow. Sisters
Pat Lamdin and
Bonnie Lamdin, singing in unison, sound like
Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane, and the song has the same soaring melodic style that made
"Sunday Will Never Be the Same" so precious two years prior to this.
Leka would hit again in November of 1969 with
Steam's
"Na Na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye," and has an impressive résumé ranging from
Gloria Gaynor to songwriter
Tim Moore's
Behind the Eyes, and he hits a 90 percent with this album, which has a number of potential hits, from
"Walking in Different Circles" to
"I Found out I Was a Woman." The Lamdin sisters have a wonderful style, dipping into a
Mamas & the Papas mode for
"And I'll Be There" (
Spanky McFarlane, after all, replaced
Mama Cass in a latter-day
Mamas & the Papas). There are more references to "Sunday" here, as well as on
"If We Can Make It to Monday," a sequel to
"Will You Be Staying After Sunday," written by the same songwriters.
Paul Leka composed
"Green Tambourine" for
the Lemon Pipers, and it appears here as well, though in not as refined a form as the 1967 hit, this version a bit more folky.
"Run Like the Devil" is the one turkey on here, one of the guys in the band not being able to hold his own on vocals, but with material by
Barry Manilow/
American Breed songwriter
Scott English and superb production by
Leka,
the Peppermint Rainbow deliver a truly smart and entertaining
pop album.
~Joe Viglione, All Music Guide