In Memoriam: Paul Revere (1938-2014)

The official website of Paul Revere and the Raiders has just confirmed the passing of group leader Paul Revere at the age of 76.  Today, we remember Revere for the timeless music he created with Mark Lindsay,  Phil “Fang” Volk, Mike “Smitty” Smith, Drake “The Kid” Levin, Freddy Weller, Joe Correro, Jr. and Keith Allison – songs like “Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Just Like Me,” “Good Thing” and so many others, all of which reminded listeners besotted with the British Invasion that Americans still knew a thing or two about rock and roll!  Long after the group had called it a day in the recording studio, Revere kept the band’s name, music and spirit alive through continuous touring right up to the present day including annual visits to Walt Disney World’s Epcot.  Though the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inexplicably overlooked the rich and varied legacy of The Raiders, the band’s music endures as some of the most exciting of its era – or any other.

We’re republishing our March 18, 2011 review of The Essential Paul Revere and the Raiders and Country Wine…Plus in memory of a great musician and beloved artist, Paul Revere.  Rest in peace.

If kicks just keep getting harder to find, fear not! The deep catalogue of Paul Revere and the Raiders has just gotten much easier to find, thanks to two new releases. Legacy’s The Essential Paul Revere and the Raiders has just hit stores, while Raven Australia has brought to CD the band’s final released album for Columbia Records, Country Wine. The Essential spans 1963 and 1972 and covers “where the action is” (though ironically not the song “Action!”).  Country Wine reflects the sound of a band adapting with the disappearing AM radio format that afforded them so many hit records.

The Essential Paul Revere and the Raiders (Columbia/Legacy 88697 81565-2) represents the best domestic release on the group currently available. While single-disc compilations are available as imports, this does Raven’s Kicks: The Anthology and Rev-Ola’s Hungry for Kicks: Singles and Choice Cuts 1965-1969 one better. Over its thirty-six tracks compiled by producer and mastering engineer Bob Irwin of Sundazed, The Essential takes listeners from the Raiders’ garage roots in 1963 to the polished pop sheen of their latter-day singles including the 1971 chart-topper “Indian Reservation,” surprisingly the group’s first No. 1 single.

Dominic Priore’s fine new liner notes recount the story of the Raiders, anchored by Paul Revere (organ/piano) and Mark Lindsay (vocals/saxophone). And yes, that really was Paul Revere’s real name; he was born Paul Revere Dick and simply dropped his surname. One of the most successful bands to come out of the fertile Pacific Northwest music scene, the Raiders first came to national recognition in 1963 on the strength of their rendition of Richard Berry’s “Louie, Louie,” the first track on the new compilation. Unfortunately, The Kingsmen got to it around the same time (it’s lost to time as to which version was released first), and reached No. 2 on the charts.  The Raiders’ version stalled at No. 103. Revere’s recording is somewhat less primal than the Kingsmen’s, but established the group’s garage punk sound, rooted in hard-driving rhythm and blues. The band’s tastes were eclectic, though; Allen Toussaint’s “Over You” and “Ride Your Pony” deftly display a funky side. 1965’s “Steppin’ Out,” co-written by Revere and Lindsay and produced by Terry Melcher, really set the wheels in motion for the group’s biggest successes, and coincided with the band being selected by Dick Clark to appear on his ABC after-school program, Where the Action Is!

Revere and the Raiders defied the British invasion, going so far as to make Revolutionary War costumes (inspired by Revere’s name, natch) their de facto attire. And while their music had similarities to British acts like The Kinks and The Animals, those bands were influenced by the same tough American R&B as Revere’s group. After “Steppin’ Out” and its No. 65 chart placement, the hits just kept on coming, and so Disc 1 of The Essential is all-killer, no-filler. “Just Like Me” topped its predecessor at No. 11, with a prominent organ part keeping the band true to its garage sound. Much as he helped foment the folk-rock sound with The Byrds, Terry Melcher surely deserves much of the credit for shaping the sonic signature of Paul Revere and the Raiders, although he never boxed them into one style. Continue reading after the jump!

“Pin Ups” In Reverse: Ace Explores The Roots of Ziggy Stardust With “Bowie Heard Them Here First”

David Bowie did the unthinkable in this media-obsessed age when, on the date of his sixty-sixth birthday (January 8, 2013), he managed to catch the world off-guard to announce his first new album in a decade.  Bowie and his cohorts had kept The Next Day a secret, proving that the iconoclastic artist could still do things his way.  In six decades, from the 1960s through the present, David Bowie has kept his fans guessing what might come next.  And while Bowie’s sound is one of the most distinctive in popular music, it was shaped from a myriad of influences.  Many of those artists are represented on Ace Records’ recent release Bowie Heard Them Here First.  Following similar volumes for Ramones, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, The New York Dolls, and Dusty Springfield, this compilation features the original versions of songs recorded by Bowie over the years.

Bowie’s status as a songwriter par excellence has rarely been in doubt, so it’s no surprise that he’s felt comfortable enough to pay tribute to his colleagues over the years.  The songs on Bowie Heard Them Here First are presented in the sequence which Bowie recorded them.  The earliest pair of songs on the compilation, however, date from the period before Bowie had blossomed as a songwriter.  The opening cut, Paul Revere and the Raiders’ honking garage rocker “Louie, Go Home,” appeared on the B-side of Bowie’s very first record with his R&B group Davie Jones and The King Bees.  It’s followed by Bobby Bland’s torrid original recording of “I Pity the Fool,” which he had recorded with his second band, The Manish Boys – named, like The Rolling Stones, after a Muddy Waters song.

From there, Bowie Heard Them Here First surprises by addressing just how many of Bowie’s albums have featured cover songs in integral roles.  Though his first three albums – the 1967 self-titled Deram debut, 1969’s David Bowie a.k.a. Space Oddity and 1970’s The Man Who Sold the World – all eschewed others’ songs, Bowie surprisingly opened the second side of his 1971 LP Hunky Dory with a song by Biff Rose and Paul Williams.  The latter had already achieved major fame with smash hits like “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays” (both via The Carpenters) when Bowie interpreted “Fill Your Heart” which co-writer Rose had recorded in 1968.  Rose’s recording is included here, but Tiny Tim also recorded the sweetly twee ballad in 1968 for his debut album and the B-side of “Tip-Toe Thru the Tulips.”

Bowie’s glam breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars had one choice cover version, too, closing its first side with singer-songwriter Ron Davies’ ‘It Ain’t Easy” (also covered by Three Dog Night, Shelby Lynne and Dave Edmunds.)  Davies’ A&M single from 1969 is featured here.  The cover tradition continued on the Ziggy follow-up Aladdin Sane with The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” which likely was unavailable for licensing to Ace.  Hence, Bowie Heard Them Here First continues with a brace of five tracks representing Bowie’s first and only all-covers album, 1973’s Pin Ups.  Bowie intended the album to celebrate the period of 1964-1967 in London when pop, rock and roll and R&B all merged into a whole thanks to groups like The Kinks (“Where Have All the Good Times Gone”), The Mojos (“Everything’s Alright”), The Pretty Things (“Rosalyn”), The Easybeats (“Friday on My Mind”) and The Merseys (“Sorrow”).  The B-side of Bowie’s single release of the catchy “Sorrow” was from the same period but in a very different style: Jacques Brel’s 1964 chanson “Port of Amsterdam.”  Brel’s French original is included by Ace.  Brel’s louche story-songs also inspired another prime influence on Bowie, the romantic balladeer-turned-avant garde hero Scott Walker.  It took Bowie until 1993 to get around to recording one of Walker’s songs; the dark disco-styled “Nite Flights” from The Walker Brothers’ final album in 1978 is reprised on this collection.

Don’t miss a thing – hit the jump for more including the complete track listing with discography!

Brotherhood’s “Complete Recordings” Show Another Side of Former Paul Revere and the Raiders Members

Rock’s back pages are littered with “creative differences.”   Such differences split Paul Revere and the Raiders into two warring factions – Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay on one side; Phil “Fang” Volk, Mike “Smitty” Smith and Drake “The Kid” Levin on the other.  The Volk-Smith-Levin triumvirate bristled at the more pop direction that the onetime garage band had been taking, and were none too pleased with the studio musicians being enlisted to beef up the Raiders’ recordings.  In early 1967, the trio departed the band, leading to litigation and acrimony.  But both parties soldiered on.  Revere and Lindsay were joined in The Raiders by Freddy Weller, Joe Correro, Jr. and Keith Allison, and Volk, Levin, and Smith formed The Brotherhood.  But while Revere continued to notch hits, The Brotherhood wasn’t quite so lucky.  Its small three-album discography for RCA has gone all but forgotten in the ensuing years.  Luckily, Real Gone Music has found this missing link in Raiders history.  Brotherhood’s The Complete Recordings (RGM-0220, 2014) brings together all three of these fascinating LPs in one deluxe 2-CD set.

With a new label and newfound autonomy, bassist Volk, guitarist Levin and drummer Smith took few cues from their old band when they formed Brotherhood.  Organist Ron Collins rounded out the group which tried to live up to its name; on the first album, every songwriting credit was shared by the three core members.  Brotherhood’s first, self-titled long-player from 1968 began hopefully with the sound of applause, but despite the wealth of possibilities in its twelve tracks, a listener could be forgiven for wondering, “Just who are these guys?”  The versatile talents of Brotherhood failed to create a cohesive album for their debut, but succeeded in showing off the many musical styles they had mastered, gleefully jumping from genre to genre – at times in the same song!  The opening track “Somebody” veers from snarling garage rock to showbiz brassiness with a dash of reggae for good measure, but it gets even stranger from there.  Levin’s “Pastel Blue” is a gently wistful bossa nova tune, while “Lady Faire” is a decidedly Parisian cabaret jaunt.  “Box Guitar” is a slightly twee soft-shoe vaudeville track with enjoyable tack piano from Collins, but none of these tracks could have satisfied expectations of a new band built around the talents of the Raiders’ rhythm section.

Despite the smiling faces on the album cover, darkness permeates much of Brotherhood, too.  One rocking track pleads to “Close the Door” (“before they find us…”), and the specter of Vietnam looms over the tense, slow and lysergic “Doin’ the Right Thing (The Way),” featuring Levin on sitar.  (Volk’s brother Capt. George Francis Volk of the U.S. Army was killed in Vietnam in 1967.)  “Love for Free” begins on an ominous note before ceding to harmony-psychedelia.  The band indulged its baroque, impressionistic sensibilities on “Seasons” (with a guest cello spot) and the lyrically-cryptic “Ice Cream.”  Brotherhood was an album in search of a single, as the band was aware.  They settled on “Jump Out the Window,” with the LP’s most straightforward and enjoyable pop-rock melody.  The lyric urges the title act as a kind of liberation, and most of it is innocuous enough:  “I’m a hip Mary Poppins/I fly so naturally/I go where the wind blows/And the wind knows I’m free…”  But the plea to jump out the window likely didn’t help it climb the pop charts.  Bill Kopp’s comprehensive liner notes find Phil Volk confessing that he found the song’s message “irresponsible.”  By the time of the album’s finale, the hypnotic, Moog-splashed “Forever” as sung by Levin, it was still difficult to discern what kind of band Brotherhood was, and wanted to be.

Where did the band head next?  Hit the jump!

Action, Action, Action! Real Gone’s April Release Schedule Announced

Second Disc HQ may be surrounded by layers of detestable snow, but a new release schedule from Real Gone Music is as good as any sunshine! (Plus, these titles are due in April, by which everything will have melted…WE HOPE.)

You’ve already read about two of the label’s new April releases courtesy of Joe’s post about Doris Day earlier today, but that’s not all they’re offering. A complete singles collection by Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells – featuring the three future members of LaBelle with future Supremes member Cindy Birdsong – is forthcoming, as are chronicles of The Ohio Express on Cameo Records, Vicki Lawrence (“The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”) on Bell, and a tempting reissue of Eddie Kendricks’ 1981 final solo LP, his only for Atlantic Records.

But we have to confess we’re a little excited about In Action: The Complete Columbia Sides and More, a new collection devoted to Keith Allison, an underrated rock legend who sat in with The Monkees on some of their best albums, and whose Columbia works were produced by Gary Usher, featuring songs written by Boyce & Hart (the iconic theme to TV series Where the Action Is), Neil Diamond and Mark Lindsay, who’d later recruit him into Paul Revere & The Raiders. In addition to being an airtight, rarity-packed set, we once again can reveal a Real Gone Music release has liner notes penned by our own Joe Marchese, featuring excerpts from a new interview with Keith himself!

So what are you waiting for? Full specs on all titles, including Jacksonville band Cowboy (a favorite of Duane Allman’s) and another Grateful Dead Dick’s Picks title, are after the jump, and all of them are released on April 1 (no foolin’!).

Here They Come! Complete Paul Revere & The Raiders Catalogue Now Available Digitally

Back to work today? Take your mind off the daily grind and enjoy a great soundtrack, with this week’s surprise premiere digital release of the entire Columbia Records discography of Paul Revere & The Raiders.

Previously only officially represented through several compilations, including the band’s entry in Legacy Recordings’ Essential series and 2010’s triple-disc Complete Columbia Singles (originally released on the Collector’s Choice label), fans can now stream and download the baker’s dozen of LPs the group cut for Columbia, from 1965’s Here They Come! to 1972’s Country Wine, featuring hits like “Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Him or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” and “Indian Reservation.”

As an added bonus, several of the discs feature bonus cuts – notably Country Wine…Plus, the band’s final Columbia album expanded with a host of non-LP material and released on the Raven label in 2011 – and the group’s double-disc rarities compilation Mojo Workout, released in 2000 on Sundazed Records, also makes its digital debut. With this much killer ’60s garage rock, it would be fairly accurate to say that kicks are not nearly as hard to find as they previously were.

We’ve had some intermittent trouble tracking down links for every title, but below we’ve collated all that we can gather of these albums on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify for your listening pleasure!

Here They Come! (Columbia CS 9107, 1965) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Just Like Us! (Columbia CS 9251, 1966) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Midnight Ride (Columbia CS 9308, 1966) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

The Spirit of ’67 (Columbia CS 9395, 1966) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Revolution! (Columbia CS 9521, 1967) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

A Christmas Present…and Past (Columbia CS 9555, 1967) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Goin’ to Memphis (Columbia CS 9605, 1968) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Something Happening (Columbia CS 9665, 1968) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Hard ‘N’ Heavy (with Marshmallow) (Columbia CS 9753, 1969) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Alias Pink Puzz (Columbia CS 9905, 1969) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Collage (Columbia CS 9964, 1970) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Indian Reservation (Columbia C 30768, 1971) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Country Wine…Plus (Columbia KC 31196, 1972) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Mojo Workout (SMSP 11097, 2000) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)

Of Mamas, Papas, Raiders and Soundtracks: Real Gone’s February Slate Revealed

The announcement of Real Gone Music’s release schedule for February 2014 would be cause for celebration any day of the week. But this particular day is special, as you’re about to find out.

In addition to an ironclad lineup that includes A Gathering of Flowers, the long out-of-print 1970 collection from The Mamas & The Papas; The Complete Recordings by Brotherhood, an unfairly obscure psych-rock band comprised of Phil Volk, Drake Levin and Mike “Smitty” Smith of Paul Revere & The Raiders that cut three LPs for RCA; a twofer by Smith (A Band Called Smith/Minus-Plus), the L.A. soul band which had a Top 5 hit in a cover of “Baby, It’s You” (arranged by Del Shannon, who discovered the band) and a pair of 1976 Grateful Dead shows for the 20th volume of Dick’s Picks,  two intriguing, long out-of-print film soundtracks make their domestic CD debuts: Together? – a Burt Bacharach-led pop feast featuring lyrics from Paul Anka and vocals from Jackie DeShannon and Michael McDonald – and Toomorrow, a 1970 sci-fi movie musical assembled by Harry Saltzman and Don Kirshner with vocals from a very unknown Australian actor-chanteuse named Olivia Newton-John.

And what makes those two soundtrack releases so exciting? The Second Disc is extremely proud to report that our own Joe Marchese is writing the liner notes to these releases! Joe’s insight that served readers so well on a previous post about the Together? soundtrack will now guide fans through the first ever Stateside releases of this and Toomorrow. We’ve rarely been more thrilled for you to read some Second Disc-style work without even needing to open your laptop!

All titles are set for a February 4 release. For the full release schedule, which also includes releases by Canadian trio Troyka and country-gospel crooner Jim Reeves, hit the jump!

Release Round-Up: Week of March 12

Various Artists, Motown the Musical – Originals: The Classic Songs That Inspired the Broadway Show (Motown/UMe)

The Sound of Young America is now the sound of The Great White Way, with a new musical entering previews this week. This new compilation presents all the original versions of the songs that feature in the show!

1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

TV Mania, Bored with Prozac and the Internet? (Tapemodern)

Completed by Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes and former band guitarist Warren Cuccurullo in the late ’90s and presumed lost until recently, this experimental concept disc offered some surprisingly trenchant social commentary on an increasingly wacky media culture. (MP3: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Jellyfish, Stack-a-Tracks (Omnivore)

Released last year as a Record Store Day/Black Friday exclusive, this 2CD set, featuring original, lead vocal-free mixes of the power pop legends’ Bellybutton and Spilt Milk, is now available for all audiences to enjoy. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Jamiroquai, Emergency on Planet Earth / Return of the Space Cowboy / Travelling Without Moving: Deluxe Editions (Sony Music U.K.)

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the U.K. dance group’s first album, the first three Jamiroquai LPs have been remastered and expanded.

Emergency 2CD: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. :: 2LP: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. (no pre-order link available at present)
Cowboy 2CD:  Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. :: 2LP: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Travelling 2CD:  Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S. :: 2LP: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

Paul Revere and the Raiders, Evolution to Revolution: 5 Classic Albums 1965-1967 (Raven)

Five of The Raiders’ classic Columbia LPs are put on two discs for the value-savvy collector. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Andrews Sisters, Greatest Hits in Stereo/Great Golden Hits / Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, Provocative Percussion 3 & 4 / Ethel Merman, Her Greatest / Various Artists, Stars for a Summer Night (Sepia Recordings)

The latest vintage hits compilations from Sepia include some classic compilations from The Andrews Sisters and Ethel Merman and a great set of easy listening classics for summertime!

Andrews: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Enoch: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Ethel: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Stars: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Kicks Just Keep Gettin’ Easier to Find: Raven Collects Five Paul Revere and the Raiders LPs on Two CDs

Though Paul Revere and the Raiders was a quintessentially American band, it’s the Australian label Raven Records that’s bringing the first Raiders-related release of 2013.  The group’s first five Columbia Records albums, originally released between 1965 and 1967, are being compiled on two discs as Evolution to Revolution: 5 Classic Albums 1965-1967.  Available on March 12, Evolution contains the entirety of Here They Come! (1965), Just like Us! (1965), Midnight Ride (1966), The Spirit of ‘67 (1966) and Revolution! (1967).

Led by Paul Revere (born Paul Revere Dick) on piano and organ, and Mark Lindsay on vocals and saxophone, The Raiders were doubtless one of the most successful bands to come out of the fertile Pacific Northwest music scene.  It was a bumpy start; the group first rose to prominence in 1963 on the strength of their rendition of Richard Berry’s controversial rocker “Louie, Louie.”  But The Kingsmen got to it around the same time, recording it in the very same Portland, Oregon studio as Revere’s band.  It’s lost to time as to which version was released first, but one fact is clear: The Kingsmen’s version reached No. 2 on the charts, while The Raiders’ version stalled at No. 103. You can’t keep a good band down, though, and 1965’s “Steppin’ Out,” co-written by Revere and Lindsay and produced by Terry Melcher, set the wheels in motion for the group’s biggest successes.  The Raiders were selected by Dick Clark to appear on his ABC after-school program, Where the Action Is!, bringing to television as well as records their blend of proto-punk garage rock, strong R&B roots, and irresistible pop sensibility.

After the jump: much more on The Raiders including the full track listing and pre-order link for the new set!

Bowie, McCartney, Joplin, Springsteen, Clash, Davis, Small Faces, More Lead Record Store Day Pack

We’re just three weeks away from Record Store Day on April 21, and following individual announcements from fantastic labels like Omnivore Recordings, Concord Records, Sundazed Music and Rhino/Warner Bros., we can finally reveal the full line-up of RSD-related goodies!

These limited editions, available at independent music retailers across the U.S. and even internationally, are primarily vinyl releases in various formats (7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch, etc.) and range from replicas of classic albums to EPs and singles premiering exclusive content.  Some of our favorite artists here at TSD HQ are represented, including David Bowie, James Brown, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Lee Hazlewood, Janis Joplin, Buck Owens, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Bruce Springsteen, and even the “odd couple” pairing of Neil Young and Rick James as members of Motown’s The Mynah Birds!  All told, there’s plenty for fans of rock, pop and jazz on offer this year!

Without further ado, hit the jump for our exhaustive list of RSD releases related to the catalogue artists we celebrate each and every day here at The Second Disc.  For those in need of a checklist, you can find a downloadable PDF here of the complete list, and this official Record Store Day list also includes all of the releases of a more recent vintage.  Sound off below on which title you are most eagerly awaiting, and thanks for supporting your local independent record retailer!

A Whole Lot Better: Sundazed Announces Singles Slate for Record Store Day

Sundazed Records, one of our favorite independent catalogue labels, has announced their exclusive titles for Record Store Day.

This year, the label has prepped some killer cuts from some of the best ’60s folk and garage-rock ensembles – including a few rare tracks making vinyl debuts and even some unreleased treasures.

The late, great Gene Clark is the standout artist in the batch, with a three appearances on Record Store Day – one with Doug Dillard (in which two non-LP A-sides are released on one vinyl platter) and two with The Byrds (a single with two alternate takes from the Mr. Tambourine Man sessions, and one, credited as a solo single, featuring two tracks cut with the band in 1970 before the band officially reunited three years later.)

Elsewhere, outtakes and rarities from Paul Revere & The Raiders, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Blues Magoos, Chocolate Watch Band and The Blues Project make appearances on vinyl singles.

In true collectible fashion, each single features a period-accurate label (from A&M, Verve Folkways, Tower and Columbia Records). Additionally, the Byrds and Raiders singles will be colored vinyl releases.

Hit the jump to check out the Sundazed slate, and as always, keep it here for more Record Store Day news!