Image of Doc Casey, Montreal minor league baseball player, from Piedmont Cigarettes baseball card, c. 1909
The story of Paul Revere & the Raiders starts in Boise, Idaho in the early '60s, where Paul started trying to put a band together. He eventually hooked up with Mark Lindsey, who became the band's lead singer and (eventually) best songwriter. I know the story of the band because the band tells the story in a song called "Legend of Paul Revere", which is included as a bonus track on the CD of their Revolution! album. Seriously, its lyrics tell the story of the band from the beginning in excruciating detail. Apparently, they first made a splash when they relocated to Portland, Oregon as an R'n'B and garage combo, but, listening to Revolution!, it's clear that by 1967 they were moving on to new sounds.
The album has a strange flow to it, starting with a big single "Him or Me" but moving from there to two downbeat numbers. Over half of the tracks on the record are slow songs or genre experiments, but it makes for a fun and unexpected listen. And the upbeat pop songs like "Mo'Reen" and "Gone - Movin' On" stand out more because of the album's variety. My favorite song on the record is probably "Tighter", a brief psych rock number that sounds a lot like the Monkees. Revolution! is good enough to make me want to track down more records from the Raiders' mid- to late-period.
"Tighter" by Paul Revere & the Raiders
1 comments:
Love it. If you haven't already, check out The Sonics. Pacific NW 60's garage band, less jangle, more lo-fi. Their song Strychnine is a favorite. Their stuff on itunes seems to be pretty low quality. Their double album Here Are The Ultimate Sonics rocks however.
Post a Comment