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COWSILLS - For reasons I can't still fully explain, the whole Cowsills moment sort of passed me by - maybe it was I had had my fill of the whole "family" thing with The Osmonds and then the Partridge Family. Still, they were a viable phenomena and when I heard their song 1967 "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" several years back, I somehow felt totally different and began to get into their story - of six siblings from Newport, Rhode Island making music together.
In 1967 they did the theme song from ABC's Love American Style - then a huge TV hit and in 1969 they had a massive hit with the song "Hair" from the play.
Still performing, friends kept telling me they did a terrific live show and last night at Steve Walter's Cutting Room I finally saw them and it was a pretty phenomenal show. Bob, Susan and Paul are the main players, but they were backed up with a pretty formidable band.
They started the show with "The Rain," which was a smart move as that was the song everyone wanted to hear and performing it first, the crowd could relax and really enjoy the show. They followed with covers of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" which was just sensational. They also did Lulu's "To Sir With Love" which resonated with the SRO crowd.
They also did a terrific version of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Helplessly Hoping" that the crowd went crazy for and "Bus Stop" from The Hollies; always a personal favorite of mine.
The group has a new record coming out called The Rhythm of the World and they did several songs from it. They sounded just great and btw, it's their first new recording in 30 years!
It was just a great, great show. Seen here were Q1043's Ken Dashow; Billy Amendola; May Pang; and, David Salidor. And thanks to Steve Walter.
Per wikipedia: The Cowsills are an American singing group from Newport, Rhode Island, six siblings noted for performing professionally and singing harmonies at an early age, later with their mother.
The band was formed in early 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry Cowsill; their brother John joined shortly thereafter. Originally Bill and Bob played guitar and Barry played the drums. When John learned to play drums and joined the band, Barry began playing bass. After their initial success, the brothers were joined by their siblings Susan and Paul along with their mother, Barbara. A seventh sibling, Bob's fraternal twin brother Richard, was never part of the band during its heyday, although he occasionally appeared with them in later years.
When the group expanded to its full family membership by 1967, the six siblings ranged in age from 8 to 19. Joined by their mother, Barbara Cowsill (nee Russell), the group inspired the 1970's television show The Partridge Family.
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