A Nice Compilation Of McKenzie's Recordings

Everyone is quite familiar with singer and songwriter Scott McKenzie based on his single smash hit with the emblematic "San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair). Yet this talented and versatile singer and songwriter is much more than a one-hit wonder, and this collection of his recordings over a decade or so reflect that fact very well. He started his recording career as a member of the Smoothies, and worked his way into the khaki and button-down shirt folk work of the Journeyman, where, along with future Mamas and Papas founder John Phillips, he showed just how talented he was.

Yet it was as a solo performer that he attempted to make his mark, and while he flirted briefly with superstardom based on the overwhelming overnight success of "San Francisco" (written, incidentally, for him by friend John Phillips), McKenzie was turned off by the reaction that his success brought him. Like Don MacLean experienced with the phenomenal success of "American Pie" a decade later, Scott hastily retreated from commercial success, and did some of his best work away from the glare popular venues.

The covers provided on this album on other artist's work shows how versatile he was, and his own songs, such as "What's The Difference?" illustrate how thoughtful, articulate, and forceful a songwriter he could be. Finally, his later work, as in the "Stained Glass Morning album, also included on this CD, proves that Scott McKenzie was a talented, versatile, and gifted artist who deserves to be heard and appreciated on a much larger stage than he ever has been. This CD offers the listener with an opportunity to become more familiar with the range of his work, and I recommend it to anyone interested. Enjoy!

Be sure to wear flowers in your hair

Scott's real name was Phil Blondheim, but he became Scott McKenzie when he and John Phillips formed a group called The Smoothies. This group only lasted a few months. They disbanded, but Scott and John formed a trio called The Journeymen. They lasted long enough to release three albums and a couple singles before they also disbanded. While John formed the New Journeymen and (later) the Mamas and Papas, Scott went solo, but made no real impact until the Mamas and Papas became successful. At that point, John helped his old friend out. They discussed various ideas and it seems that Scott gave John the basic idea for the song that eventually made Scott famous, although John wrote the song entirely on his own.

Scott is not quite a one-hit wonder, as Like an old time movie (the follow-up to San Francisco) made the top thirty in America and just charted in Britain, but Scott couldn't handle the fame. He recorded an album in 1967 (including the hits, plus a mix of covers and original songs) and another in 1970 (for which Scott wrote all the songs) but neither made much impact.

This compilation begins with one track by the Smoothies and two by the Journeymen. The remainder of the tracks include the best of his solo music, although it must be said that nothing else is anything like San Francisco. The other songs are typical sixties folk music. It makes for interesting listening if (like me) you enjoy sixties folk, but if all you want is San Francisco, buy that song on a various artists compilation.

Great to have, but...

It really is great to have (finally!) a collection of Scott McKenzie available, but it seems odd that the entire FIRST album isn't on it, while the good but not nearly AS good "Stained Glass Morning" is there it its entirety. Too bad someone hadn't put out a "twofer" of those together on one disc.

Some of Mr. McKenzie's best singing was during his early to mid-60's folkie Journeymen days ( w/ Papa John Phillips and Dick Weissman). Now if the three albums that group put out were all issued, we'd have a complete package of this wonderful singer's work! The Collectibles compilation CD of that group is darned good, but the complete albums would certainly sell, I'm sure.