The CD liner notes for The Cowsills in Concert identify the 1960s as “a unique decade" when, especially in pop music, "anything [was] possible." What they don't mention is that the proof is on the CD itself. As much as any multi-volume Time-Life collection, The Cowsills in Concert is like a microcosm of what made sixties' rock and roll unique.
Although the Cowsills were famously the inspiration for TV's "Partridge Family," the actual family band's story was as improbable as actor Danny Most actually playing those Joe Osborn bass parts on their records. In 1965, there was nothing unusual about a bunch of guys getting a band together to play frat parties and carnivals. What could be more far-out, though, than a rock band made up of five brothers, their sister, and their mother? And Dad retiring from the Navy to manage the band!
Rock and roll was supposed to be about rebellion, about rejecting the older generation's "plastic trip," not cutting loose on some Cream jams with your mom. And certainly not about the very embodiment of the Establishment—a retired military man—calling the shots on your career.
And yet, what could be more representative of this most egalitarian era of rock than a bunch of kids who go from playing Beatles and Everly Brothers songs at school dances, to multiple gold records and virtual immortality (in ersatz form, anyway) via "Partridge Family" reruns.
The Concert album, in particular, is very much a product of its time. In those days, a major act like the Cowsills could put out an album of cover songs—the same set list as countless bands in garages across the United States—without it seeming too much like a contractual fulfillment. Or a joke.
Just how close the Cowsills still were to their frat-party band roots, even with a couple of hits under their big wide belts, is evident in the range of rock and pop styles they cover. With vocal harmonies that rivaled the original groups’, their versions of the Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renee,” the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” are all credible. Even the complexity of “Good Vibrations” doesn’t trip them up, although the lyrics seem to. Some of the lead vocal performances are especially noteworthy, such as John’s “high lonesome” sound on “Act Naturally” and Barry’s on “Please Mr. Postman” (which suggests he could have really torn up Larry Collins’ “Whistle Bait”).
Article comments
1 - J. P.
Quick footnote: Donny Most was on "Happy Days" and played Ralph Malph. Danny Bonaduce was the one aping the Joe Osborn bass lines in front of the drummer who was aping Hal Blaine drum parts.
2 - James A. Gardner
Thanks, J. P. I've got to have words with my fact-checker!