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The Cowsills (RI)
Personnel:
BARRY COWSILL bs A
BILL COWSILL gtr A
BOB COWSILL gtr A
JOHN COWSILL drums A
EP: 1(A) THE COWSILLS COLLECTOR'S RECORD (All My Days/Nothing To Do/The Fun Song/The Milk Song) (MGM PEP-1) 1969/1970 SC
45: All | Wanta Be Is Me/And The Next Day Too (Joda 103) 1965
NB: There's also CD, Painting The Day - The Angelic Psychedelia Of The Cowsills (El ACMEM69CD) which may be of interest.
The EP shown above was never available in the shops and comprises four original compositions never released before. It was sponsored by the American Dairy Association. Side one commences with the Milk Song which extols the virtues of milk as a restorative agent. The remaining three cuts are the harmony-layered All My Days, the gentle Nothing To Do and tambourine sunshine-pop of The Fun Song.
Their single, All | Wanta Be Is Me, is an excellent garage record with almost sneering vocals. It has also resurfaced on Hipsville 29 B.C. (LP).
Former Navy man Bud Cowsill brought a couple of guitars back to Newport, Rhode Island from Spain for his two older sons Bill and Bob (18 and 16 at the time). They taught themselves to play and were soon augmented by their younger brethren, Barry (11) and John (10). Precursors to The Osmonds’ brand of sibling pop; they were also managed by their father.
After the Joda single they had considerable success and released eight albums and numerous singles on MGM, Philips and London between 1966 and 1971, although these fall outside the remit of this book. Bill Cowsill went solo and put out an album in 1970. Sister Susan joined the group at a later stage and released some solo singles in the mid-seventies.
Painting The Day - The Angelic Psychedelia Of The Cowsills is a 23-track, 80-minute compilation of their better examples of sunshine pop.
Their flower-power The Rain, The Park, And Other Things, is also reputedly worth a spin and you can also check out Mystery Of Life on Fading Yellow Vol. 7 (CD). (BM/MW/VJ)
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