Thrifty Tunes 11.08.08: Paul Revere & The Raiders
Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 11.08.2008
An American band with an appropriate name battles the British Invasion of the 60's. Will they survive the onslaught well enough to still have musiclal relevance forty years later?
1967 was a watershed year for music. Call it the alignment of the stars, fate, destiny, harmonic convergence, or any number of things, but years like 1967 rarely happen.When they do, the musical landscape alters in such a way that everything that comes after is either a direct result or more interestingly, a direct reaction to what has happened. The records released during that year include: the Beatles Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band, The Doors' and Pink Floyd's debut albums, His Satanic Majesty's Request by the Rolling Stones, and a young preacher's daughter from Detroit, named Aretha Franklin,recorded a single called 'Respect.' Somewhere between the California and London psychodelics and Motown soul, bands like Paul Revere & The Raiders attempted to stake out musical territory of their own.
Paul Revere & The Raiders Greatest Hits was released in May of 1967 and reflected the changing musical climate of the time.The songs on the album are part garage-band, part blue-eyed soul and part psychodelic. It peaked at #9 on the U.S. album charts later that year. The band itself, with many, many line-up changes, soldiered on for several more years, culminating with a #1 hit in 1971, "Cherokee Reservation."
The record begins with the band's cover of one of the most famous songs of all time, "Louie, Louie", which was made famous a few years earlier by the Kingsmen. It was also the first song the band recorded in a rented studio in 1963. (The same studio used by the Kingsmen, incidently.) The Raider's version is a little bit easier to understand, at least lyrically. However, after years and years of hearing the Kingsmen's version, it sounds sterile and much too polished. Lead singer Mark Lindsay, however, manages to infuse a bit of soul into the song, as he does on even the most plastic sounding of songs throughout the rest of the album.
The second track is "Louie, Go Home", a minor hit for the band in 1964. This song sounds much more focused and draws upon a much wider variety of influences. You can sense the change in the air, and within the band. They are trying new things, listening to things going on in the pop world at the time, but they aren't quite there yet. The band plays it safe, offering a simple coda to the earlier "Louie, Louie", instead of a direct challenge.
The third track, "Stepping Out", is more of the same, but the fourth track, "Just Like Me", manages to acknowledge the influence of the British invasion which was in full swing at the time and also add some definite American stylings to the song. (Which is, of course, sort of a misnomer. All the British bands at the time wanted to sound like American blues and early rock and roll musicians. The Raiders, I believe, were just one of the first American bands to recognize this and beat the Brits to the source. Stripped down to its basic elements, 'Just Like Me' could have been recorded by Buddy Holly.)
The next track, "Melody For An Unknown Girl", is the sort of song I have difficulty in understanding. There's a spoken word introduction by Mark Lindsay and some musical things happening in the background, but it doesn't come together in any way. Mad River, a San Francisco band that nobody has ever heard of had a similar song on their second album called "Love's Not The Way To Treat A Friend", but Mad River had the excuse of taking large quantities of LSD. From what I've read of the Raiders, they have no such excuse. Side one ends with "Kicks", a top five hit for the band in 1966. Much like "Just Like Me" before it, the song showcases the considerable ability and musical prowess of the band. One gets the feeling they are well on their way to become just as important to the music of the times as the Beatles or the Stones.
Side two opens with a promising tune called "Hungry". The singalong chorus is obviously indebted to bands like the Kinks and the Animals. However, unlike other bands of the time, the Raiders manage to retain elements of their own style and sound and mesh it seamlessly with the prevailing musical winds of the time. The next song, "The Great Airplane Strike", opens with some nice guitar work by lead guitarist Jim Valley. Lindsay's voice, which goes from John Lennon-like to Eric Burdon-light is also in full force here and is one of the strongest tracks on the whole of the record.
Unfortunately, after the first two songs, the record turns much more to pop and loses all but the smallest traces of garage band influence. "Good Thing", in particular, sounds so mechanical and copycat-ish that it's difficult to recognize it as being recorded by the same band. (This probably has lots to do with the revolving member policy. Lindsay was one of the few members of the original band to stick around until the final break up in 1975.) Around this time, the band also became involved in television shows, in particular a show called "Where the Action Is". (Dick Clark produced the show, sort of a companion to American Bandstand, but with comedy routines. The Raiders were often featured in the comedy segments of the show.) The record ends with the country-sounding "Legend of Paul Revere", which is the only song on the album which wasn't featured on one of the groups previous albums. (Yes, they had 'bonus tracks' even back then.) It's not a bad song, and sort of hints at where the band will go next.
Paul Revere and The Raiders had a long musical career which saw them weather the British Invasion of the 60s and survive. Aside from the Beach Boys, they were one of the few American bands to do so. While it's not a record I've listened to much, it is an interesting time capsule of the era when music changed almost overnight, by the arrival in America of the Beatles. One of the greatest what-ifs, musically speaking, is the ‘what if' of the Beatles and America. If the Beatles had not conquered America, what would American rock and roll have become? The first few tracks on this record show where it was heading, but we'll never know where it would have gone.
Complete Track Listing:
Side One:
1. Louie, Louie
2. Louie, Go Home
3. Steppin' Out
4. Just Like Me
4. Melody For An Unknown Girl
5. Kicks
Side Two:
1. Hungry
2. The Great Airplane Strike
3. Good Thing
4. Ups and Downs
5. Legend of Paul Revere
