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The 1960s was a unique decade. The world was going through a social adolescence that made anything possible. This was especially true in the music. The grouping of housewife Barbara Cowsill and six of her offspring made for an unlikely rock band, but a combination of genuine talent and enthusiasm resulted in one of the most successful family bands in rock 'n' roll history.
A completely self-taught group with blissful harmonies and a vocal blending that could only come from a superior gene pool, this family was indeed a talented bunch. Several years of school dances and club dates trained the young men of the Cowsills (first Bill and Bob as a duet, later adding Barry then John) in the art of live performance. Heavily influenced by The Beatles, the singing siblings became a rockin' cover band with a respectable following before they had ever recorded an album. By the mid 1960s, teenage Bill, Bob and pre-teen John and Barry were jammin' every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at Dorian's, a night club in Newport, Rhode Island.
This album, The Cowsills In Concert, (released in 1969) was not only their biggest selling LP but also contains their biggest selling single, "Hair." The album consists entirely of cover songs, which were the staple of a live Cowsills performance, and show off beautifully the vocal stylings of the group then consisting of
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Bill, Bob, Barry, John, Paul, mother Barbara and little sister Susan. The Cowsills selected the material on the LP, and it showcases the individual talents of each band member in addition to displaying the group's fabulous harmonies.
Remarkably, as 1969 rolled in, there was no plan for a Cowsills live album. They had cut a demo tape of "Hair" that they were to lip-synch on "Pizzaz," an NBC fashion special (sans the original third verse which mentions Jesus; something you apparently couldn't do on TV in 1969). Their label, MGM Records, didn't think the song fit the image of the Cowsills and had no interest in releasing it on vinyl. The Cowsills thought otherwise. "We thought it was so cool that we went on tour and brought the demo with us to carry around," Bob Cowsill now says. While doing a personal appearance at a Chicago radio station, the D.J. played the demo during their on-air interview, and the phone lines lit up. "We split Chicago and continued on tour and things started bubbling, so MGM was forced to put it out as a single," recalls Bob.
With the success of the single, MGM decided another album was due, quickly. Because the band was on tour, a live offering seemed logical. The band opted to give the audience a genuine representation of the Cowsills in concert experience, filling the album with their cover tunes, rather than releasing an ersatz greatest hits album.
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Included in this reissue is the long lost and highly collectable "The Cowsills Collector's Record," also known to Cowsill insiders as "The Milk EP." Presented by the American Dairy Association, these four songs were offered by mail order only for fans of the refreshing beverage. The Cowsills were a shoo-in for the endorsement because of their family image, although at the time Susan Cowsill was convinced they were chosen "because they knew how much of this stuff we drank...we drank a lot of milk!" The older Cowsills felt a little squeamish filming a commercial at the legendary Filmore East under a marquee that read "The Cowsills Drink Milk," and felt downright silly when that night's headlining act, The Jefferson Airplane, sent over a gallon of milk to their dressing room as a joke.
Sadly, The Cowsills In Concert was the final offering from the original band. Bill left the group soon after it was recorded due to a falling out with father Bud Cowsill (who was creative director of the band.) A couple of less successful albums led to the eventual disintegration of the group. There was a short lived reunion of the group during the 70s which spawned an album of never released recordings and a second break up for The Cowsills. This is a family, however, and after a decade or so of hibernation, the Cowsills have regrouped, and can be found playing small concert halls and at an annual summer festival in Newport, R.I. True to their form, the current incarnation of the band performs material, old and new, with their signature magical harmonies and joyous pop melodies intact.
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