Lovin’ Spoonful are often dubbed by the rock critics as one of the first true folk rockers. Now the band is getting its most comprehensive collection to date of the recordings titled What a Day for a Daydream: The Complete Recordings 1965-1969. The release date is set for March 27, 2026, via England’s Cherry Red Records.
Mastered by Grammy-nominated archivist/producer Alec Palao, the 7-CD, 170-track box set compiles the complete 1960s recordings by the American quartet that included John Sebastian (guitar, autoharp, harmonica, lead vocals), Zal Yanovsky (lead guitar, vocals), Steve Boone (bass) and Joe Butler (drums, vocals). It’s available to order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
The set includes their first four studio albums—Do You Believe In Magic (1965), Daydream (1966), Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful (1966) and Everything Playing (1967)—in both stereo and mono, plus stereo mixes of their two soundtrack albums, The Lovin’ Spoonful in Woody Allen’s ‘What’s Up Tiger Lily?’ (1966) and You’re a Big Boy Now (1967).
The box also contains the Joe Butler-helmed final album Revelation: Revolution ’69 (1969), Yanovsky’s solo album Alive and Well in Argentina (1968) and stereo and mono versions of the early Lovin’ Spoonful tracks included on Elektra’s 1966 compilation What’s Shakin’, the mono mixes appearing on CD for the first time.
