Revisiting A&M Records No. 42
Spooky Tooth: ‘It’s All About’ (July ’68)
Reissued as ‘Tobacco Road’ (June ’71)
Wish I could remember when and where and how I got the wrong impression of Spooky Tooth so I can revisit my younger self once time travel becomes possible and point out how misguided my assessment would be.
I know the lame name had something to do with it, probably Rolling Stones’s relatively middling opinion of ‘em, too. And I freely admit an aversion to the title tune, ruined forever via my first encounter, David Lee Roth’s ham-fisted ’86 version — which, being a staunch Van Halen fan, I loathed as much as the existence of Van Hagar on principle alone.
I’ve grown up (a bit) since then. At least enough to have a finer appreciation of the song, although I still rank it among the blandest folk blues.
As Side 2 opener of the marred mix that is Spooky Tooth’s debut, U.K. or U.S. edition, ‘Tobacco Road’ is not only the thuddingly dullest track, but I suspect it’s also a portent of less appealing things to come. That is, more rote blues-rock with a fraction of Led Zeppelin’s finesse in place of marvelous prog-rock that had only Traffic and nascent King Crimson as contemporaries.
That’s what makes this gem so striking nearly six decades later. Led by the dual keyboard/vocal attack of Mike Harrison and Gary Wright, Spooky Tooth was a step ahead of Yes, Genesis and Emerson, Lake and Palmer; lacked only horns to match the coming power of Blood, Sweat and Tears; and glanced past an approach or two that Pink Floyd would develop further (and master) soon enough. I also dare any Roxy Music fan to deny a sonic/structural connection between Spooky’s ‘Love Really Changed Me’ and the galloping breaks in ‘Ladytron.’
Yet this A&M reissue is ultimately inadequate, as it swaps in a not-unlikable but straightforward reading of the Band’s ‘The Weight’ for a superior redo of Dylan’s ‘Too Much of Nothing’ that fits into the mosaic much better.
The original also has a better cover.