“State Of Mind” taken from the LP ‘The Art Of Lovin’’ | (Mainstream Records S/6113) August 1968
The Art Of Lovin’ | State Of Mind | (Mainstream) 1968 | I’ve returned to this album for a renewed look, since some people clearly like it. I guess one problem I see with it is the familiar phenomena of people hyping something as ‘psych’ when it isn’t very psychedelic at all.
Art Of Lovin’ came out of the mixed male/female vocal harmony folk-rock tradition that was introduced by We Five and Sonny & Cher, and brought to great commercial heights by Mamas & the Papas.
Due to poor judgment, some folks confuse this style with the very different San Francisco sound of bands like Jefferson Airplane, and thus you will see Art Of Lovin’ (and Growing Concern, Neighb’rhood Childr’n, Birmingham Sunday, Yankee Dollar, and dozens more) listed as ‘Airplane-style west-coast psych’, when they are in fact ‘We Five-style vocal-oriented folk-rock’.
With that bit of semantic grumbling out of the way, I can say that there’s nothing wrong with Art Of Lovin’s music, which is full of happy major chord melodies, tight vocal harmonies, and fine playing.
The Art Of Lovin’ | State Of Mind | (Mainstream) 1968
I’ve seen them compared to Ill Wind but they lack Ill Wind’s vital backbone of ‘rock’, yet I would rate Art Of Lovin’ more rocking than Growing Concern or Birmingham Sunday. Yankee Dollar seems a reasonable comparison, and similar benefits are reaped from an excellent, lively recording.
Art Of Lovin’ must have worked quite a bit on their arrangements, and the result is less cheesy and less garagey (for better or worse) than some of their Mainstream colleagues.
Unfortunately, I’m still unable to find much to hang on to beyond the pleasant surface; the songwriting lacks John Phillips’ magic touch and the overall sound is like that of a 100 other Mamas & Papas imitators.
The closing “State Of Mind” seems intended to work up some psychedelic credentials, with a “Taxman” groove, piercing fuzz leads, and Grace Slick-like acid queen moves from the female vocalist; she sounds more operatic than convincing, but the track is pretty cool in an Ultimate Spinach way.
The 45 track “You’ve Got The Power” is missing from some copies of the album. (The Acid Archives)
Meet the band:
Where does THE ART OF LOVIN’ begin? Paul Applebaum loves. He loves words. His compositions mould like clay around a sculpture of feeling.
Gail Winnick loves. Paul’s words flow from her in a mainstream of intense here and now.
Johnny Lank‘s bass lines and leads structure the love of THE ART OF LOVIN’. Johnny soars with Paul’s lead guitar. They talk to each other through their strings. They talk of loving.
Loving has a beat and Sandy Winslow is that beat. His percussion is the love THE ART OF LOVIN’ builds on.
Loving has accents, innuendos. Barry Tatelman is those melodic shadings, the true feeling of love. His sax talks of his love. His voice speaks it. THE ART OF LOVIN’ is a group love. They love together. You’ll get the idea. You’ll soon have their art.
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