The Lovin' Spoonful's fourth album,
Everything Playing, was made under trying circumstances. Musically, the
Sgt. Pepper/Summer of Love era had made
the Spoonful's good-time, jugband approach obsolete, and chief songwriter
John Sebastian had to try to keep up. Personally, the group had suffered the disaster of a drug bust that resulted in the departure of lead guitarist
Zal Yanovsky, who was replaced in August 1967 by
Jerry Yester. Despite these problems,
Sebastian was able to turn out a good album paced by its three Top 40 hits, "Six O'Clock," "She Is Still a Mystery," and the deceptively comic "Money," in which he castigated financial aspects of the music industry. Also excellent were "Boredom" and "Younger Generation," which
Sebastian later would sing at Woodstock. When
Sebastian wasn't at the mic, the singing could be mediocre, and the group was often all over the map in its attempt at musical sophistication, but the record was saved by
Sebastian's writing and singing. Then he too jumped ship. [The 2003 Buddha reissue contains alternate versions of three songs from the album: "She is Still a Mystery," "Only Pretty, What a Pity" and "Try a Little Bit".] ~ William Ruhlmann