There's an old cliché that suggests if you remember the '60s, you weren't actually there -- the
Doodletown Pipers'
Sing-Along 67 proves the hypothesis true, and while the title alone dates the album to the Summer of Love, there's absolutely no trace of sex, drugs, or revolution in the group's squeaky-clean harmonies and Jimmy Bryant's whiter-than-rice arrangements.
Stu Phillips' production is all 90-degree angles, and the material is dandelion fluff that spans from "Somethin' Stupid" to "Spanish Flea" to "Winchester Cathedral" -- it's an interpretation of rock & roll summoned from an alternate reality where JFK still lives, the Vietnam War never happened, and a generation merely got high on life. A potent reminder that Doodletown isn't a place, baby -- it's a frame of mind. [Epic Japan's 2006 CD reissue includes both mono and stereo presentations of the complete LP.] ~ Jason Ankeny