''Workin' on a Groovy Thing'' is a 1969 studio album by the American pop singer

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

. Recorded while Sedaka was touring Australia that year, it was a one-off recording for the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

-based label

Festival Records Festival Records, later known as Festival Mushroom Records, was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...

; by that time his career had slumped, and his contract had not been renewed by his former label in the USA,

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

. It was recorded in Festival's studios in Sydney, and was co-produced by Sedaka and Festival house producer Pat Aulton, with

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian Record producer, music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963 ...

taking care of the musical arrangements. The LP featured notable Australian session players of the period, including guitarist

Jimmy Doyle James Doyle (20 March 1939 – 22 June 2015) was an Irish hurler who played as a right wing-forward for the Tipperary senior team. Born in Thurles, County Tipperary, Doyle first played competitive hurling whilst at school in Thurles CBS. He ...

(later a member of jazz-rock band

Ayers Rock Uluru (; ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It crops out near the centre of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, south-west of Alice Springs. Ul ...

) and veteran jazz musician

John Sangster John Grant Sangster (17 November 1928 – 26 October 1995) was an Australian jazz composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as a composer although he also worked with Graeme Bell, Humphrey Lyttelton and Don Burrows. H ...

. In the United Kingdom, the album was released on the MCA label under the title ''Sounds of Sedaka''.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

Personnel

*Neil Sedaka – vocals, piano * Alan Turnbull – drums *Len Hutchingson – bass *Jim Doyle, Mal Clarke – guitars *Mal Cunningham – piccolo & flute *

– percussion *Alan Nash, Bob McIvor – brass section leaders *Gordon Bennett, Lal Kuring – string section leaders *

– arrangements

Singles

In Australia, one single was released, "Wheeling, West Virginia", which reached No. 20 on the Australian pop chart in 1970. "The Love of a Woman" served as the B-side. In the UK, "Ebony Angel" was released as a single, with "Puppet Man" as its B-side.

Reissue

This album itself has not been reissued since its original 1969 release, but its contents are available as tracks 15-26 of the second disc of the 2002 compilation album, '' Let the Good Times In''. 1969 albums Neil Sedaka albums {{1960s-pop-album-stub