Red Rubber Ball (A Collection)

by

The Cyrkle

Edit

For anyone growing up in the sixties, THE CYRKLE provided happy, crystal-clear pop (college pop or folk-rock as it was called then) As a kid, I loved the BEATLES, MOODY BLUES, HOLLIES, STONES, KINKS, Etc., but THE CYRKLE was my FAVE. I wore out my friend's RED RUBBER BALL single, then bought my own copy... and the album for Christmas! 5 tracks from that great 1st album are represented on this collection... the two HIT singles and another PAUL SIMON cover, CLOUDY. 5 others-from their RARE 2nd LP, "NEON," featuring their next 2 chart singles, of which "I WISH YOU COULD BE HERE" is a personal favorite of mine... It was on the local Top 40 in the winter of '66- '67.. you can almost see the snow falling outside your window listening to it (also co-written by PAUL SIMON/BRUCE WOODLEY of "RED RUBBER BALL" fame.) "NEON" also featured a song written by Chip ("WILD THING") Taylor: "I'M NOT SURE WHAT I WANNA DO" (not on this cd... I would have given it 5 stars if it was) It SHOULD have been released as a single! Hopefully, Columbia will raid their vaults again and release the remaining 11 album tracks & do a CYRKLE ANTHOLOGY disc! The remaining tracks on this RED RUBBER BALL COLLECTION disc are definitely a PLUS... Previously unreleased STEREO REMIXES of (most) of their remaining singles A & B sides... A NEIL SEDAKA tune "WE HAD A GOOD THING GOIN'" & another great summer tune "PENNY ARCADE" plus their last released single, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING" with some studio chatter at the end! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CD for 60's Baby Boomers (check out the hidden track-CYRKLE sings for the United Way! (Tom & Don became jingle producers) 2 other previously-not-on CD songs are on CYRKLE FAVORITES (1996) Now, if only their ULTRA-RARE movie soundtrack for THE MINX (1970) could be released on CD... "CYRKLE ANTHOLOGY" could be a 2-disc BOX SET! For now, ENJOY this "RED RUBBER BALL-A COLLECTION" CD!

Red Rubber Ball has some great tracks, including one of my favourite Cyrkle recordings: We Had A Good Thing Goin'. This was an interesting, and for the time, innovative treatment of Neil Sedaka's song. But I am so disappointed my all-time favourite Cyrkle song [the flipside of We Had A Good Thing Goin'] was not included. Two Rooms, which was on the now-unavailable Neon album, is a song of only 1'20" but it is so sweet and so sad, that I am sorry it was not made available.

If you like the music of Lovin' Spoonful, I think you'll love some of these tracks, but there are also quite a few duds.