Anyone who reads this blog knows I love my Paul Revere & The Raiders. Check out the other album comments..
I got them into about fifteen years ago though they were and still are relatively unknown over here in Australia. There were many US acts of the 60s who had incredible domestic popularity in US but limited international popularity (Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Johnny Rivers etc). We were (i Australia), then, largely under the sway of English pop cultural imperialism. Sure there were many popular US acts but every bleep and minor chart success in England seemed to get a release and run over here whereas the same cannot be said of the all the US acts. Or, it seems like that to me after years of scouring op shops for records from the 50s and 60s. All my Paul Revere vinyl are US pressings. In fact, I don t think I have ever seen an Australian pressing of a Paul Revere album.
The last Paul Revere album comment was from 2016.
But things have changed since then.
Specifically, Quentin Tarantino made (the magnificent) “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” which features four Paul Revere & the Raiders songs (from the same era as this album).
Tarantino’s cultural capital and persuasiveness is so that he can elevate or shine a light (which people will follow) on “old” music, obscure music and actors of the past.
I love Tarantino’s films and …. wait, I’m sure he has got in my head. Time and again in music and film he seems to have tapped into what I like. If he hasn’t got into my head I’m not sure what the common environmental, cultural or intellectual links are. Even socialisation doesn’t seem to explain it. Look we are all individuals but I can guarantee you there are a thousand other individuals out there that are very similar to you …. if that makes any sense. But there has to be a commonality in background, experience or temperament (which is a result of background and experience). With Tarantino … we are within a few years of each other in age and both liked the pop cultural and popular culture aspects of American culture, albeit he from within (Los Angeles) and me from without (Brisbane, Australia). Otherwise what does he have in common with a kid of catholic Croatian migrants born in the 1960s in Brisbane who was brought up on Elvis, John Wayne, Jerry Lewis, cowboy movies, Star Trek, American music and TV shows and who spent a lot of time in op shops looking for old movies and music? Or maybe that’ sit? The only divergence seems to be in the martial arts film obsession he has .. mine didn’t extend past loving David Carradine’s Kung Fu (I still have all my bubble gum cards), Bruce Lee films. Being chased by local thugs waving nunchuks at the time probably scarred me. I digress , but it is odd. Quentin, what’s going on?
I love Tarantino’s films and, again, he uses music to good effect to add to the images and narrative.
There are so many scenes of “cool” and Paul Revere and the Raiders are an inspired choice to accompany the narrative. They were around at the time and they were popular despite how history or rock music “writers’ may treat them. It’s a perfect fit without any obviousness about it (though I’m not sure why he didn’t slip in some Elvis who was still Hollywood living and starting to revive his career with some up tempo contemporary sounds).
And it’s not lost on singer Mark Lindsay who says on his website, “Acclaimed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino included four Raider tunes (three of which Mark wrote or co-wrote) in his latest hit movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and even included a vintage video clip from the TV show that Mark co-hosted, Happening. Three of the movie songs are included on the official movie soundtrack”. https://www.marklindsay.com/bio.html
Tarantino has also joined Mark Lindsay on stage for a discussion on his soundtrack. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2019-10-03/quentin-tarantino-once-upon-a-time-hollywood-soundtrack-grammy-museum
The Raiders album “The Spirit of ’67” made the year previously (the country soul-ish “Goin to Memphis” album separates that from this) has two songs “Good Thing” and “Hungry” on the soundtrack. The album after this ” Hard ‘N’ Heavy (With Marshmallow)” from 1969 has “Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon” and the other track is the 1968 B-side “Theme From It’s Happening”.
So this album misses out though it could fit in. I suspect it missed out because the songs used were all (with the exception of the B side …which was a theme to a popular TV show of the band appeared on at the time) big hits (Good Thing” #6, “Hungry” #4, “Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon” #18). They would have been in the air circa 1967 / 1968 / 969.
Tastes were changing (rapidly) and Paul Revere & the Raiders weren’t afraid of changing. I have banged on about this quite a bit in relation to these guys and other acts … I don’t mind change as long as you stay true to yourself. Tweak your sound, add to it but don’t lose your soul. Paul Revere and the Raiders were a fine example of that. They tried many styles of music: country rock, pop, psych, frat rock, big balladry, R&B, white soul, experimental but they never strayed from their garage rock soul, as i said on another comment on this blog about them … “The key to their success was their commitment to upbeat rock ‘n’ roll whilst acknowledging change, and they weren’t precious about it as evidenced by the fact that sometimes they were “influenced” by bands that post dated them. They did, as I have said, keep their original sound, but unlike a slavish imitator or someone just jumping the bandwagon. Also, they did this even through line-up changes though Paul Revere (the keyboardist) and Mark Lindsay (the vocalist) were the nucleus of the group which was lucky as Revere knew where to take the group and Lindsay could sing anything”.
This doesn’t do you any favours with the “credible” rock historians who tend to lump them in with the Monkees (and there is nothing wrong with the Monkees) though the Monkees have more credibility (to them) because they had an genius like Mike Nesmith in their midst.
I suspect much like Bobby Darin, (another greatly underrated talent) who continually threw new sounds into his style, the tastemakers don’t like expansive visions just narrowly focused ones … perhaps it’s easier for them to write about narrow visions?
The Raiders had just released the country soul-ish “Goin to Memphis” which didn’t do that well, so it was time for a change.
The “Summer of Love” was still hot (sic) in 1968 and psychedelia was in the air. The Raiders regular producer , Terry Melcher, was not around (“Goin to Memphis” was produced by Chips Moman) so Mark Lindsay stepped into those shoes. He really starts to assert himself around here … writing all the songs, producing the album and of course singing lead on every track.
This was psychedelia with some hard edges and enough pop to keep the fans happy.
It is not dissimilar to the Monkees (around “Head”) but has enough in common with The Beach Boys (and the Nazz) also.
For a pop album by a popular band there is a lot of left of centre things going on. Maybe not quite as good as the Beach Boys in there post- Pet Sounds albums (which are great) this is still ambitious stuff. Where any fault lies is that whereas the Beach Boys create a mood across an album as a whole here we have a number of stylistic jumps that hold together but not together as well. It’s a small complaint when there is so much going on and most of it is good.
The only thing that let’s them down is the cover art which is just too “straight’ for the contents of this album. Sometimes (rightly or wrongly) the “cover art” sells an album more the contents.
For background on the band check out my other comments on them in this blog.
Tracks (best in italics)
Side One
- Happening Intro / Too Much Talk – the intro is pure television and “Too Much Talk” is, thematically, a protest-like song and musically of it’s time .But, what a time. The song changes tempo a couple of times and introduces pop, garage, and experimental elements throughout its running time. Excellent. This version of “Too Much Talk” is a re-recording of the single
- Happens Every Day – a bit of harpsichord or harpsichord sounding organ in here (as was popular at the time) with a fluffy big sound, not dissimilar to the Monkees and some English stuff like the Hollies.
- Burn Like A Candle – a drug warning song of sorts (odd for 1968 – this is not “White Rabbit”, “Magic Carpet Ride” or “Break on Through”) … so , spiritually, it is, perhaps, a psych updating of their earlier “Kicks” song. This is great pop with a non-commercial exit..
- Observation From Flight 285 (in 3/4 Time) – Very evocative and melancholy is this quiet and haunting view of planet Earth from eight miles high (not dissimilar to The Kinks (magnificent) 1970 song “This Time Tomorrow”)
- Get Out Of My Mind – it starts with a car on a road and ends with title repeated over and over. A punk statement to be sure.
Side Two
- Don’t Take It So Hard – pop rock, Much like the Monkees and much like some of the raiders earlier work. Catchy fun.
- Communication (Part 1 & 2) – a hard rocker with fuzz guitar and a strident bass line like a (future) mix of disco and Grand Funk Railroad. Wonderful.
- Love Makes The World Go Round (Don’t You Let It Stop) – subversive pop with a faux calypso beat (as if sung by Donovan)!. What the hell is going on? I don’t know but it doesn’t matter this is entertaining in its weirdness.
- Free – rock with psychedelic fuzz overtones.
- The Good Times – Strings arranged by Glen D. Hardin who later arranged and played piano for Elvis. Pure gentle psychedelia, of the east coast variety. Not dissimilar to the Left Banke but also very much like Davy Jones of the Monkees. The song is about Mark and his future wife growing old together.
- Happening ’68 – The theme to the TV show and a hoot (it, like the intro opener, is pure TV). This track was recorded in Memphis (a left over from their previous album sessions it seems)
And …
By 1968 it was clear the Raiders were not a garage band anymore. They haven’t lost their soul but they are going somewhere else and they are willing to lose their audience with their quirkiness. This is wonderful stuff. A great and yes (another) underrated Raiders album … I’m keeping it.
Chart Action
US
Singles
1968 “Too Much Talk” #19
1968 “Don’t Take It So Hard” #27
Album
1968 #122
England
nothing
Sounds
Happening Intro / Too Much Talk
video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViQ9FjZs1dA
mp3 attached
Love Makes The World Go Round (Don’t You Let It Stop)
video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNqHIff5Qac
Free
Video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujvcucN9amg
Others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lohb-4Gc-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5C-DXhBsrE
an episode of “Happening” from 1969 with Freddy Weller and David Soul (as a judge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAX2Pw7d26I
Review
https://www.allmusic.com/album/something-happening-mw0000649032
Bio
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:h9fuxqugld6e~T1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere_And_The_Raiders
an album round-up post Tarantino
https://rockandrollglobe.com/pop/the-everlasting-endurance-of-paul-revere-the-raiders/
Website
http://www.paulrevereandtheraiders.com/main.html
http://www.myspace.com/paulrevereraiders
Trivia
- With Mark as producer/songwriter/singer, Paul Revere on organ, Joe Correro Jr on drums, Freddy Weller on guitar, Charlie Coe on bass, and Tommy Smothers on the liner notes.
- According to the liner notes by Mark Lindsay, “All cuts in this album were recorded at Columbia Studios , Hollywood except for “Happening 68” which was recorded in Memphis. Tennessee. The automobile heard at the beginning of “Get Out of My Mind” is a Ferrari 275 GTB. Thanks again to Glen D. Hardin who conducted with such verve all the string things, and special thanks to “Dashing” Dave Diller who was first engineer from start to finish on this album. And thanks to you for listening”.
- Glen D Hardin – later played piano for Elvis
- The album title: In the mid-60s the Raiders were regulars on the music TV show “Where The Action Is”. After it was cancelled Revere and Lindsay returned to television as hosts of a new weekly Dick Clark-produced show, , Happening ’68 (later shortened to Happening) in which the Raiders made several appearances. It was popular enough for a spin-off. From July to September that year (1968) a Clark-produced daily series It’s Happening, also hosted by Revere and Lindsay also aired.
RIP
Johnny Nash (1940 – 2020)
Mac Davis (1942 – 2020)
