It sometimes feels as though the Lovin' Spoonful have been reduced to a footnote in the history of rock & roll. Yet few of their contemporaries could match the likes of "Daydream," "Summer in the City," and the transcendent "Do You Believe in Magic?"--a song that can still turn January into June. Legend has it that the Spoonful auditioned for The Monkees, and they'd have been good in those roles, having the right candy-sweet sound and a warm humor in constant evidence. But it wouldn't have lasted: lead songwriter John Sebastian was too willful and idiosyncratic, coming on like an American Ray Davies on songs such as "Younger Generation," a prescient meditation on the hippie generation's future parental dilemmas. Greatest Hits is a fine 26-song introduction to a perennially underrated band. --Taylor Parkes
