In The Beginning - Paul Revere and the Raiders

In The Beginning
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Jerden JRL-7004
1966

This is a 1966 reissue of the Raiders' second album on Sande Records originally released in 1963.  The original has different cover art but an identical track selection and running order.  Over the holidays I paid a visit to my aunt and uncle who live up in the redwoods in Northern California.  At one point my aunt mentioned having traveled around the Pacific Northwest with a rock band in her younger days.  I was immediately interested in this tidbit and pressed her for more details.  When she said they were Paul Revere and the Raiders I was flabbergasted.  She said she was dating one of the guys in the band.  I asked his name and when she replied Mark Lindsay I went nuts.  My aunt dated Mark Lindsay, I still can't believe it.  She was unimpressed about all of this.  Mark was a nice guy but she didn't think the band was all that special and she disliked Revere.  This was of course before the band became famous, back when they were a struggling group working in small venues playing music like the songs on this album.  I pulled out this record when I got back home and listening to it, I can understand my aunt's lack of enthusiasm.  I really enjoy the record, but there is not much here that suggests the band's meteoric rise once they signed with Columbia Records.  They sound like a bar band, albeit an extremely good one with excellent taste in material.  Many of the songs are very well known covers.  Their version of Big Joe Turner's classic "Shake Rattle and Roll" is highly energetic driven by Revere's hot organ riffing.  They wisely avoid going up against Elvis by turning "Don't Be Cruel" into an instrumental that features Revere on organ dueling with Lindsay on sax with Lindsay winning.  Their rocking version of Bill Doggett's hit instrumental "Honky Tonk" is excellent, one of the best versions that I've heard.  Unfortunately there are also pedestrian performances of "So Fine" and "Hey Baby" that are less entertaining than the hit versions by the Fiestas and Bruce Channel.  Their uninspired version of Hank Ballard's "Work with Me Annie" isn't much better aside from Revere's dynamic piano solo.  The less famous covers include a punchy version of Ray Sharpe's "Linda Lu" that showcases Lindsay's charisma as a singer.  The Delmore Brothers' country classic "Blues Stay Away From Me" is transformed into a high energy instrumental that makes it nearly unrecognizable.  It is one of my favorite cuts on the record.  Larry Bright's "Mojo Workout" suits the band's sound extremely well.  They increase the tempo and Lindsay's gritty vocal gives the song plenty of oomph.  It is another one of my favorites.  Dave "Baby" Cortez's "Rinky Dink" is a vehicle for Revere to show his chops although Lindsay steals the spotlight with a brief but smoking sax solo.  Their version of "Irresistible You" seems to be taken from the Bobby Darin version and Lindsay shows he can swing just as well as Darin with one of his strongest vocal performances on the album.  The one "original" track on the album is "Crisco" (also known as "Crisco Party") and it is easily the best cut on the record.  The record is worth buying for it alone.  It features the music from the Olympics' "Hully Gully" but with entirely new lyrics.  It is a frat-rock classic with a lascivious vocal from Lindsay that has future rock star written all over it.  It is about boys, girls and a whole lotta Crisco and you can figure out the rest.  Did kids really do stuff like this back then?  I'll have to ask my aunt about that next time I see her.  This album is too derivative to be essential, but it is a lot of fun and a terrific record for a toga party.  Recommended to fans of the Wailers and the Kingsmen. 

A Christmas Present....And Past - Paul Revere and the Raiders

A Christmas Present....And Past
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Columbia CS 9555
1967

I was sad to read about Paul Revere's passing back in October.  He is depicted on the back cover of this record looking back at the camera while the rest of the band faces away.  I suspect that was a reference to the back cover of "Sgt. Pepper" where another guy named Paul faces away from the camera while the rest of his band faces forward.  I was too young to catch the Raiders in their heyday when they were on TV all the time clowning around in their Revolutionary War outfits.  I started to like them when I heard "Indian Reservation" on the radio in 1971 when it was a big hit.  Eventually I heard their classic recordings from the mid-1960s and became a big fan.  They weren't fashionable or cool at the time but I didn't care.  I thought they were great and since nobody wanted their records they were cheap and easy to find.  Well not this one.  This one took a little digging and patience to get.  I certainly understand why.  It is easily the weirdest of their Columbia albums, I'm still not sure what they were trying to do.  It was offered as a Christmas album, they called it a present, but I would definitely not recommend that you put this one on to trim the tree or have a Christmas party.  It is a downer as we used to say.  "Jingle Bells" is the only traditional Christmas carol on the record and it is played for laughs.  It features guest vocalists Elaine Gibford and Paul Edward Connors who I have never heard of although Gibford was apparently in a movie in 1966.  They sing the song in a cartoonish old fashioned style and just repeat the chorus over and over against an increasingly rocked up musical backing.  The song breaks down at the end as the singers increase the tempo and go out of sync.  It is an interesting deconstruction of the song that reminds me of the Mothers of Invention.  The rest of the album consists of original songs by lead singer Mark Lindsay and the record's producer Terry Melcher.  The album opens with an introduction that establishes the irreverent tone of the album.  An announcer introduces a brass band described as a Salvation Army street band.  The band is slow to start, but eventually kick in with "Joy to the World" and continue to play even after the announcer tries to get them to stop so the record can continue.  The band reappears throughout the album playing brief snippets of Christmas classics in between the actual songs.  The first actual song is "Wear a Smile at Christmas" which is a music hall type of song that complains about people unhappily rushing about on their holiday errands.  At one point someone impersonates Lyndon Johnson urging his "fellow Americans" to smile at Christmas.  "Brotherly Love" is set to the tune of the English folk song "Greensleeves."  The song attacks hypocrisy and the lack of genuine feeling in people's pretense of goodwill to others at Christmas.  "Rain, Sleet, Snow" is a tribute to the postal service's efforts at Christmas delivered with a quasi-psychedelic treatment featuring strings and a heavy riff.  It is my favorite song on the album.  Side one concludes with "Peace" which is an instrumental played by strings.  They play a simple motif that is repeated over and over interspersed with occasional thunderclaps.  At least I think they are thunderclaps, maybe they are supposed to be explosions that would make more sense.  Side two opens with "Valley Forge" which begins with an announcer setting the scene as Christmas 1775 and noting that no resemblance is intended to any future conflicts presumably referring to Vietnam.  The song reflects the perspective of one of George Washington's disgruntled soldiers who doesn't understand what he is fighting for which sure sounds more like Vietnam than the Revolutionary War to me.  The song moves from a musical comedy type tune to a more rock based one with sleigh bells running through the song for an ironic effect.  "Dear Mr. Claus" is a music hall style song about a guy who wants a "real live doll" for Christmas.  He doesn't want her just for companionship, he needs her to wash the dishes as well.  "Macy's Window" is a description of typical Christmas vignettes that I believe are meant to express the lack of a true Christmas spirit.  This song is followed by "Christmas Spirit" which is another musical hall type tune that celebrates the Christmas spirit but the song is given an exaggerated, almost sloppy performance that suggest some sarcastic distance from the subject not unlike their version of "Jingle Bells."  The album concludes with "A Heavy Christmas Message" which is "who took the Christ out of Christmas."  It takes less than a minute to deliver the message but the song lasts about 4 minutes and 15 seconds.  There is a minute of near silence as the music is mixed so low as to be almost inaudible unless you crank up the volume.  Eventually it is faded up enough to hear some jug band style jamming with a prominent kazoo and then it is faded down for another minute of barely audible music.  It is kind of amusing but I have to admit I don't always wait for it to finish before I turn it off.  And there you have it, a not so merry Christmas with Paul Revere and the Raiders.  Looking at my description it sounds pretty awful, but actually I really like the record.  Its consistency of theme and technique as well as the device of linking the songs with the brass band elevate the whole above the parts.  It is what albums are all about.  The dynamics of this band are so fascinating.  Like the Monkees they combined comedy, crass commercialism and artistic ambition to create a train wreck of an album that still somehow works.  I would compare it to the Monkees' project "Head," a work designed to confound a teenybopper fan base while using the commercial clout of that fan base to create a personal statement.  People who dismiss Paul Revere and the Raiders as a lightweight group ought to give it a spin.  I say these guys were one of the best American bands of their era.  Recommended to fans of "The Beatles Christmas Album."

Country Wine - The Raiders

Country Wine
The Raiders
Columbia KC 31106
1972 

This album marks the end of Paul Revere and the Raiders' long ride with Columbia Records aside from a few more unsuccessful singles.  It is also essentially the end of the group as a relevant band.  Mark Lindsay would never make another album with the group, although Paul Revere would hire a new bunch of Raiders and continue as an oldies act for decades to come, kind of a sad end to one of the best commercial American bands of its era.  I wish I could report that the band's final album was a worthy finish to a fine career, but alas it is nothing of the sort.  It is not terrible, just ordinary and dull, easily the worst of their Columbia albums.  Even the cover art is boring (although Mark's moustache on the front cover is kind of funny.)  Side one (entitled "upside") is the only part of this record that I listen to much.  The album begins with "Country Wine" which was a flop single.  The song was written by Edmund Villareal and Wanda Watkins who were in the 1960s group The Joint Effort who released a great psych-pop single "The Third Eye."  "Country Wine" sounds nothing like that song, it is very commercial pop bordering on bubblegum, you could imagine the Grassroots doing the song.  It is catchy and fun but as lightweight as a feather.   Mark Lindsay's "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen" was the other flop single off the album.  It is heavier, driven by a big rocking riff.  It sounds like a lighter version of Mountain.  It could be an ode to a hot car or a groupie, it works either way.  Bob Siller's "Hungry For Some Lovin'" features a notable resemblance to the band's classic single "Hungry" from their glory days which may be what attracted Lindsay to the song.  It is a hooky rocker punched up with some brass, it reminds me of the Guess Who.  John D'Andrea and John Porter wrote "Baby Make Up Your Mind."  D'Andrea was the group's musical arranger and he's given the song an elaborate arrangement with prominent brass.  It is more catchy commercial pop, very enjoyable if you are into that sort of thing.  Lindsay and bassist Keith Allison wrote "Take A Stand" which is my favorite song on the album, really the only song on the album that lives up to the standards of their classic work.  It is in the heavy, hard rock style the band began to explore in the latter part of their career with a nice growling, get-down vocal from Lindsay.  It features a modest political theme urging the listeners to get involved and stand up for what they believe in.  The song provides some hope that the Raiders still have something to offer, but side two (aptly entitled "downside") proves otherwise.  It opens with "Where Are Your Children."  It is a sappy song criticizing neglectful parents, it reminds me of Lindsay's solo work.  The sappiness continues with Scott English and Larry Weiss' "Ballad of the Unloved."  They also wrote the American Breed's "Bend Me Shape Me" but the song is more like another song English co-wrote, Barry Manilow's "Mandy."  That is not a compliment.  It gets worse with Alan O'Day's "American Family."  It veers pretty close to easy listening in style with banal lyrics about domestic turmoil and staying together despite it all.  John D'Andrea arranges up a storm so the song sounds kind of pretty but I still hate it.  Things improve with Allison and Lindsay's "Golden Girls Sometimes."  It is still kind of sappy but at least it is about a woman rather than some pretentious statement about loneliness or the decline of the American family.  Also it features a return to rock (albeit soft rock) it even has some cowbell.  The album ends with Lindsay's "Farewell to a Golden Girl" which is a lot like his 1966 song "Melody for an Unknown Girl," an instrumental with some recitation only instead of a sax the melody is played on what I think is a glockenspiel or something like that.  It is definitely different and sounds lovely but it makes for a lackluster finish to the album as it just sort of peters out, kind of like the Raiders' career I suppose.  So one side is pretty good and one side is pretty bad which basically adds up to zero.  It is a depressing finish to a band that made a lot of terrific music.  I like side one enough to feel okay about having the record, but I'm a big fan.  I imagine most non-fans will feel differently.   Recommended to Paul Revere and the Raiders completists.

Midnight Ride - Paul Revere and the Raiders

Midnight Ride
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Columbia  CL 2508
1966

This was Paul Revere and the Raiders' third album for Columbia and along with "The Spirit of '67" it represents the high point of the band's career for me.  I don't think any of the band's studio albums are essential, the majority of their best songs were singles so most people can get by with any of their numerous comps.  Nonetheless I'm enough of a fan that I like just about all of their Columbia albums and I play this one quite a bit.  It starts off with the group's classic single "Kicks" which was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.  It is a hard rocking anti-drug song with a memorable guitar riff, a propulsive bass line and a strong, gritty vocal from Mark Lindsay.  It may not have gone down so well with the hippies, but I like the lyrics and think it is one of their best songs ever.  The only other song not penned by the band is "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" which was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and would later be a hit single for the Monkees, but I prefer the Raiders' version which rocks harder and has a more urgent vocal.  If there was ever any question about these guys' garage band credentials, this song answers it convincingly.  The remaining songs are all originals and every member contributes to the songwriting.  The team of Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay has the most compositions but lead guitarist Drake Levin comes up with the best original song on the album, "Ballad of a Useless Man."  It has a great riff, another fine Lindsay vocal and unusual lyrics written from the perspective of a homeless guy.  Levin and drummer Mike Smith wrote the hard rocking "There's Always Tomorrow" which features a lead vocal from Smith who is no match for Mark Lindsay in that regard.  It is a really good song though and I like the raga-like solo.  Bassist Phil Volk and Levin wrote the punchy "Get It On" which has a compelling organ riff, a sizzling guitar solo and a rough but effective lead vocal from Volk.  Revere and Lindsay's contributions are more eclectic.  They include the sappy "Melody for an Unknown Girl" which features an awful Davy Jones type recitation by Lindsay which he follows up with a lengthy sax instrumental that reminds me of Mr. Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore" - that is not a compliment.  "Little Girl in the 4th Row" is another sappy tune directed at the teeny-bopper fan base.  It is pretty embarrassing.  Aside from those two duds the other Lindsay/Revere songs are all really good.  "There She Goes" has a country feeling that is better than you'd expect.  I think "Louie, Go Home" is inspired by "Louie, Louie" which the band released as a single earlier in their career.  It has a simple staccato riff and seems like a conventional pop song until the break which features a raga rock guitar solo.  "All I Really Need Is You" has another passionate vocal from Lindsay and more raga rock in the verses which gives way to a catchy pop chorus.  "Take A Look At Yourself" is a hard-driving putdown song with nice folk-rock style guitar licks.  The liner notes for this album compare it to "Rubber Soul" and quote Time magazine comparing the Raiders to Dylan and the Rolling Stones, which is ludicrous, but as far as mid-1960s commercial rock goes, the Raiders are about as good as it gets.  Mark Lindsay was one of the most talented vocalists in mid-1960s American rock and these guys came up with more good songs than almost any of their peers.  Recommended for snooty garage aficionados, if you think some teenage punks playing the high school dance circuit were better than these guys just because of their commercial attitude, you are kidding yourselves.  This is the real deal.

Collage - The Raiders

Collage
The Raiders
Columbia  CS 9964
1970 

Presumably in search of a more serious rock identity, Paul Revere and The Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay, emerged as simply the Raiders on this record.  The music basically follows suit, being somewhat less commercial and pop-oriented than the music they produced during their top-40 heyday.  The sound is definitely heavier, the bass is very prominent in the mix, the music is bolstered by brass and winds, and Lindsay sings in the kind of gut bucket, get-down style favored by heavy rock bands in the late 60s.  I guess this is more serious than "The Spirit of '67" though definitely not better.  Given that their idea of seriousness is covering Laura Nyro's "Save the Country" (they do it surprisingly well actually) no one was going to mistake them for Blind Faith or Steppenwolf, but this is more than credible and a lot more enjoyable than many of the heavier albums from 1970.  I kind of miss the humor of the earlier records, but at least their pop sensibility remains largely intact even when they are intoning hippie platitudes or trying to jam - I'm not kidding about the latter, the raunchy "Dr. Fine" has both a drum solo and a guitar solo that lasts well over a minute.  There are signs of burn out in the songs.  "Think Twice" is one of my favorite tunes on the record and it sounds the most like the band's classic sound but lyrically it is a bitter screed about how hard it is to be in a rock band because of taxes, greedy managers, equipment prices, drugs and groupies (Mark's advice is to stick with the shy ones.)  Speaking of groupies "Just Seventeen" is about enjoying teenage ones and getting busted for it, another occupational hazard for the unfortunate rock star.  "Interlude" and "Gone Movin' On" are about loving them and leaving them.  The hippie platitude song "We Gotta All Get Together" comes courtesy of guitarist, Freddy Weller, but to his credit Lindsay sings it like he really means it.  "Sorceress With Blue Eyes" is perhaps the heaviest song on the record with its pounding riff, screaming guitars and Lindsay's howling vocals, if I heard it on the radio I would never believe it was the Raiders.  It is a remarkable song and definitely shows the band's musical ability.  I don't entirely approve, but I am impressed by it.  "Wednesday's Child" is a welcome respite from the onslaught of heaviness, it is a lovely acoustic based number that sounds a bit like Simon and Garfunkel.  Two of my favorite songs on this record, "Gone Movin' On" and "Tighter" both bear 1967 copyrights which pretty much tells you how I feel about the new sound of the band.  I understand that the band had to grow or at least adapt to changes in order to survive and I do like this record but I don't play it much.  I admire it though, not too many bands produce such interesting records so late in their careers.  Recommended for fans of the James Gang and the Guess Who.

Hard 'N' Heavy (With Marshmallow) - Paul Revere and the Raiders

Hard 'N' Heavy (With Marshmallow)

Paul Revere and the Raiders

Columbia CS 9753

1969

A return to form after the disappointing (to me anyway) "Goin' To Memphis" and "Something Happening."  This offers the alluring mixture of bubblegum and garage that fueled them in their classic period.  Despite the title, it is not all that hard and it is certainly not heavy, which to me is a good thing.  1969 had way too much crappy hard and heavy music already.  As for the marshmallow, well I guess there is some of that, the sappy "Trishalana" comes to mind, gotta keep the teenyboppers happy.  There are plenty of good songs to make up for that, the vaguely hippyish single "Mr. Sun, Mr Moon," the hard-rocking "Out on That Road," the light pop-psych of "Cinderella Sunshine" and the Stonesish "Without You."  Plus you get to hear Paul Revere imitate a monkey, at least that's what I think he's doing.   Recommended for anyone who thinks fuzz guitar automatically improves any record.