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Although often easily dismissed as a Mamas And The Papas imitation, Spanky And Our gang cut some of the most fun-filled and bubbly tunes of the late sixties. The band was formed when singer Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane left the folk/cabaret act New Wine Singers to persue a more modern and poppy path. They recorded three albums, of bubbly mamas And The Papas soundalike tunes, several of whom were minor hit singles. During the recording of their third album, guitarist Malcolm Hale dies from cirrhosis, and shortly after that the bandmembers all went their seperate ways. In 1975 Spanky and guitarist Nigel Pickering reformed the band, and cut the country flavored "Changes" album. The album did sadly not capture the spark of their earlier efforts, and was to be their swan song. In the 80's Spanky McFarlane joined a rejuvenated version of Mamas And The Papas, and toured with them for a while. I am fairly sure that some live material from that outfit was released in some form |
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