https://exchange.prx.org/p/584677
There is nothing wrong with your radio. For the next two hours WE control the audio, including the stereo/mono settings. Sit back and enjoy the show, featuring (among other things) an Advanced Psych set from the Rochester/Finger Lakes region of New York State.
Artist: Yardbirds
Title: For Your Love
Source: Mono CD: British Beat (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Graham Gouldman
Label: K-Tel (original label: Epic)
Year: 1965
The last Yardbirds song to feature guitarist Eric Clapton, For Your Love was the group's first US hit, peaking in the #6 slot. The song did even better in the UK, peaking at #3. Following its release, Clapton left the Yardbirds, citing the band's move toward a more commercial sound and this song in particular as reasons for his departure (ironic when you consider songs like his mid-90s hit Change the World or his slowed down lounge lizard version of Layla). For Your Love was written by Graham Gouldman, who would end up as a member of Wayne Fontana's Mindbenders and later 10cc with Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
Artist: Troggs
Title: Gonna Make You
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Pagel/Fletcher
Label: Fontana
Year: 1966
The Troggs hit the British music scene in a big way in 1966, with the international smash Wild Thing. They followed it up with a string of top 10 singles, including the controversial I Can't Control Myself. In the US, the song was released by two competing labels (apparently due to confusion caused by the Troggs switching labels in the UK), Fontana (which had released Wild Thing) and Atco. The B side of the single, Gonna Make You, is a solid example of what the Troggs were all about musically.
Artist: Turtles
Title: Happy Together
Source: CD: 20 Greatest Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Bonner/Gordon
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1967
The Turtles got off to a strong start with their cover of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe, which hit the top 20 in 1965. By early 1967, however, the band had fallen on hard times and was looking for a way to return to the charts. They found that way with Happy Together, a song written by Gary Bonner and Mark Gordon, both members of an east coast band called the Magicians. Happy Together was the Turtles' first international hit, going all the way to the top of the charts in several countries and becoming one of the most recognizable songs in popular music history.
Artist: Odyssey
Title: Little Girl, Little Boy
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jerry Berke
Label: Rhino
Year: 1968
As far as I can tell, the Odyssey, a band of L.A. garage-rockers, only cut one record before disbanding, a tune called Little Girl, Little Boy that appeared on White Whale Records. The record was produced by Howard Kaylan, lead vocalist of White Whale's biggest act, the Turtles.
Artist: Who
Title: Instant Party (Circles)
Source: Mono LP: The Who Sings My Generation
Writer: Pete Townshend
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1966
As was the case with many British bands, the song lineups on the early Who albums were not exactly the same in the US and the UK. In the case of the My Generation album, the only difference was actually due to censorship by Decca Records in the US, who felt that the band's version of Bo Diddley's I'm A Man was too risque for American teenagers. To replace it, Decca chose a song that had not yet been released in either the US or UK called Instant Party (Circles). The song was released in the UK as Instant Party a few months later when the band's original British label, Brunswick, issued it as the B side to A Legal Matter without the band's permission (the Who had changed labels to Reaction/Polydor after the My Generation LP was released). Making it even more confusing was the fact that the Who had released their latest single, Substitute, three days before the Brunswick single, with the song Circles (Instant Party) as the B side.
Artist: Seeds
Title: Tripmaker
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released on LP: A Web Of Sound)
Writer(s): Tybalt/Hooper
Label: Rhino (original label: GNP Crescendo)
Year: 1966
Although the second Seeds album, A Web Of Sound, came out in both stereo and mono versions, there are very few copies of the mono version in existence, let alone in playable condition. Apparently Rhino Records has access to one of them, allowing them to use this mono mix of Tripmaker, showing the advantages of being a record label that started off as a record store.
Artist: Fever Tree
Title: Girl, Oh Girl (Don't Push Me)
Source: Mono British import CD: All Kinds Of Highs (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Scott and Vivian Holtzman
Label: Big Beat (original US label: Mainstream)
Year: 1967
Formed in 1966 in Spring Branch, Texas, the Bostwick Vines were already well-established in the Houston area when they, at the suggestion of their managers, the husband and wife team of Scott and Vivian Holtzman, changed their name to Fever Tree. The Holtzman's were highly influential on the Houston music scene, thanks in part to Scott's popular Nowsounds column inthe Houston Post. When Bob Shad came to town looking to sign local bands to his Mainstream label he naturally contacted the Holtzman's who in turn got Fever Tree signed to the label. Their first single for the label, Hey Mister, was released in February of 1967, with I Can Beat Your Drum on the B side. After their second single, Girl, Oh Girl (Don't Push Me) topped the charts on Houston radio stations the group went national and signed with MCA's Uni label, scoring their only national hit with San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native) in 1968.
Artist: Merrell Fankhauser And (His Trusty) HMS Bounty
Title: A Visit With Ayshia
Source: CD: Things
Writer(s): Merrell Fankhauser
Label: Sundazed (original label: Shamley)
Year: 1968
Merrill Fankhauser first started playing guitar shortly after moving to San Luis Obispo, California in his teens. By 1960 he had become proficient enough to join a local band, the Impacts, as lead guitarist. In 1962 the Impacts got what they thought was a lucky break, but that turned out to be a classic example of people in the music business taking advantage of young, naive musicians. Following a successful gig at a place called the Rose Garden Ballroom they were approached by a guy named Norman Knowles, who played saxophone with a band called the Revels. Knowles convinced the Impacts to record an album's worth of material for Tony Hilder at Hilder's backyard studio in the Hollywood area. The two of them then took the recordings to Bob Keene, who issued them on his own Del-Fi label. It is not known how much money Knowles and Hilder made on the deal, but the Impacts never saw a penny of it, having signed a contract giving the band the grand total of one US dollar. Not long after the incident Fankhauser left the Impacts to move to Lancaster, Calfornia, where he formed a new band, the Exiles, in 1964. The Exiles had some regional success with a song called Can't We Get Along before breaking up, with Fankhauser returning to the coast to form his own band, Merrell and the Xiles. This band had a minor hit with a song called Tomorrow's Girl in 1967, leading to an album issued under the name Fapardokly (a mashup of band members' Fankhauser, Parrish, Dodd and Lee's last names). Fankhauser and Dodd then formed another band called Merrell Fankhauser And (His Trusty) HMS Bounty, which landed a contract with Uni Records (the label that would became MCA), issuing a self-titled album in 1968. This album was even more psychedelic than Fapardokly, as can be heard on A Visit With Ayshia. Fankhauser has been involved with several other projects since then, including a band called Mu in the early 1970s and, more recently the Fankhauser Cassidy band with drummer Ed Cassidy from Spirit. His latest project is an MP3 album called Signals From Malibu, released in 2015.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Turn On Your Love Light
Source: LP: The Big Ball (excerpt of track that was originally released on LP: Live Dead)
Writer(s): Scott/Malone
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1969
After two years' (and three albums) worth of trying to capture their live sound in the studio, the Grateful Dead decided just to cut to the chase and release a live album. The result was the double LP Live Dead, one of the most successful releases in Grateful Dead history. The album itself is one continuous concert, with each side fading out at the end, with a bit of overlap at the beginning of the next side. Most of the material on Live Dead was written by the band itself, the sole exception being a fifteen-minute long rendition of Bobby Bland's 1961 hit Turn On Your Love Light, featuring vocals by organist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. This six and a half minute long excerpt from the album first appeared on the Warner Brothers "Loss Leaders" album The Big Ball, a two-disc sampler album that could only be bought directly from the record company. The same excerpt was later included on the 1972 Grateful Dead compilation album Skeletons From The Closet.
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Title: Earl Grey
Source: LP: Kiln House
Writer(s): Danny Kirwan
Label: Reprise
Year: 1970
Kiln House, as the first Fleetwood Mac album to not include the band's founder, Peter Green, marks the beginning of the group's transition to the soft-rock sound that would make them one of the most popular bands of the 1980s. Nowhere is that more evident than on Danny Kirwan's Ealr Grey, an instrumental which got considerable airplay on FM rock stations in the US in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, bandmate Jeremy Spencer's 50s-style rockers were jarringly different from Kirwan's smoother compositions, making it difficult for the band to establish a coherent identity. Eventually both Spencer and Kirwan would be gone, with first Bob Welch and then the duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks helping create the sound Fleetwood Mac is best known for.
Artist: Santana
Title: Soul Sacrifice
Source: European import CD:Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Woodstock)
Writer(s): Brown/Malone/Rolie/Santana
Label: Sony Music (original label: Cotillion)
Year: 1969
The producers of the original Woodstock movie soundtrack album were less concerned with presenting faithful renditions of the various live performances seen in the movie than they were with making the best sounding album possible. Accordingly, they edited some of the performances and, in some cases, subsitituted other non-Woodstock versions of songs heard in the movie. One of the edits that actually worked pretty well was cross-fading the crowd singing a wordless refrain that has come to be known as the Crowd Rain Chant into Santana's Soul Sacrifice, the instrumental piece that lifted Santana into the upper echelon of rock royalty. What many don't realize is that nearly five minutes of Santana's actual performance is edited out of the track entirely. I usually play the full eleven and a half minute version of the performance, but, just for a change of pace, here is the track as initially released on the Woodstock soundtrack album, rain chant and all.
Artist: Them
Title: I'm Your Witch Doctor
Source: Mono LP: Now and Them
Writer: John Mayall
Label: Tower
Year: 1968
Here's an oddity for you: a pyschedelicized version of a John Mayall song by Van Morrison's old band with a new vocalist (Kenny McDowell). Just to make it even odder we have sound effects at the beginning of the song that were obviously added after the fact by the producer (and not done particularly well at that). But then, what else would you expect from the label that put out an LP by a band that didn't even participate in the recording of half the tracks on the album (Chocolate Watchband's No Way Out), a song about a city that none of the band members had ever been to (the Standells' Dirty Water), and soundtrack albums to teensploitation films like Wild In the Streets, Riot On Sunset Strip and The Love In? Let's hear it for Tower Records!
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: The Lantern
Source: CD: Singles Collection-The London Years (originally released on LP: Their Satanic Majesties Request and as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer: Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1967
The Rolling Stones hit a bit of a commercial slump in 1967. It seemed at the time that the old Beatles vs. Stones rivalry (a rivalry mostly created by US fans of the bands rather than the bands themselves) had been finally decided in favor of the Beatles with the chart dominance of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that summer. The Stones' answer to Sgt. Pepper's came late in the year, and was, by all accounts, their most psychedelic album ever. Sporting a cover that included a 5X5" hologram of the band dressed in wizard's robes, the album was percieved as a bit of a Sgt. Pepper's ripoff, possibly due to the similarity of the band members' poses in the holo. Musically Majesties was the most adventurous album the group ever made in their long history, amply demonstrated by songs like The Lantern. The Stones' next LP, Beggar's Banquet, was celebrated as a return to the band's roots.
Artist: Blues Magoos
Title: Love Seems Doomed
Source: LP: Psychedelic Lollipop
Writer(s): Gilbert/Scala/Esposito
Label: Mercury
Year: 1966
Unlike most of the tracks on the Blues Magoos' 1966 Debut LP, Psychedelic Lollipop, Love Seems Doomed is a slow, moody piece with a message. Along with the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit Kicks from earlier that year, Love Seems Doomed is one of the first songs by a rock band to carry a decidedly anti-drug message. While Kicks warned of the addictive qualities of drugs (particularly the phenomenon of the need larger doses of a drug to achieve the same effect over time), Love Seems Doomed focused more on how addiction affects the user's relationships, particularly those of a romantic nature. Love Seems Doomed is also a more subtle song than Kicks, which tends to hit the listener over the head with its message.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Chauffeur Blues
Source: LP: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Writer(s): Lester Melrose (disputed, likely to actually have been written by Lizzie Douglas, aka Memphis Minnie)
Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1966
The Jefferson Airplane's original female vocalist was Signe Toly Anderson. Unlike Grace Slick, who basically shared lead vocals with founder Marty Balin, Anderson mostly functioned as a backup singer. The only Airplane recording to feature Anderson as a lead vocalist was Chauffeur Blues, a cover of an old Memphis Minnie tune that was included on the 1966 LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. The song was credited on the album's label to Lester Melrose, who produced the original Memphis Minnie version of the song. However, the original 1941 78 RPM label gives the songwriting credit to "Lawler", which is thought to be a misspelled reference to Minnie's husband, Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars. It is now believed that Memphis Minnie, whose given name was Lizzie Douglas, was the actual writer of Chaffeur Blues, but that it was easier to get the song published under her husband's name.
Artist: Doors
Title: Break On Through (To The Other Side)
Source: 45 RPM Single
Writer(s): The Doors
Label: Elektra
Year: 1967
The first Doors song to be released as a single was not, as usually assumed, Light My Fire. Rather, it was Break On Through (To The Other Side), the opening track from the band's debut LP, that was chosen to do introduce the band to top 40 radio. Although the single was not an immediate hit, it did eventually catch on with progressive FM radio listeners and still is heard on classic rock stations from time to time.
Artist: Mumphries
Title: Woman Drivin' Me Crazy
Source: CD: Thank You, Bonzo
Writer(s): Stephen R Webb
Label: WayWard
Year: 1989
Sometimes a song can be personal, but not directly so. Such is the case with Woman Drivin' Me Crazy by the Albuquerque, NM band the Mumphries. Written and sung by guitarist Stephen R Webb, the song actually describes, in the first person, a situation being experienced at the time by bassist Quincy Adams. The woman in question was Clara Gardello, the bass player from another Albuquerque band, A Murder Of Crows. Sadly, neither Clara or Quincy are with us anymore, so all we can do is hope they get it together the next time around.
Artist: Infrared Light Orchestra
Title: Until The Next Time
Source: CD: 9 Great Rock 'N' Roll Dance Hits
Writer(s): Kim Draheim
Label: Jargon
Year: 2009
Originally a three-piece consisting of guitarist/vocalist Kim Draheim, Drummer Paul Nolan and bassist Richard Terry, the Infrared Radiation Orchestra released their first album, 9 Great Rock 'N' Roll Dance Hits, in 2009. The band has evolved considerably over the years, with Draheim as the only original member still with the group. Until The Next Time is a Draheim composition from that first CD.
Artist: Chesterfield Kings
Title: Ain't No Use
Source: LP: Don't Open Til Doomsday
Writer(s): Babiuk//Prevost/O'Brien/Cona/Meech
Label: Mirror
Year: 1987
Formed in the late 1970s in Rochester, NY, the Chesterfield Kings (named for an old brand of unfiltered cigarettes that my grandfather used to smoke) were instrumental in setting off the garage band revival of the 1980s. Their earliest records were basically a recreation of the mid-60s garage sound, although by the time their 1987 album, Don't Open Til Doomsday, was released they had gone through some personnel changes that resulted in a harder-edged sound on tracks like Ain't No Use.
Artist: Action
Title: Brain
Source: British import CD: Think I'm Going Weird
Writer(s): Alan & Reg King
Label: Grapefruit
Year: 1968
The Action was one of the more popular bands on the London scene during the heydey of the Mods, but by 1967 they found themselves caught up in the various changes going on. The addition of keyboardist Ian Whiteman moved the band in a more progressive direction, as he took over most of the songwriting duties for the group. There were exceptions, however, such as Brain, a tune penned by rhythm guitarist Alan "Bam" King, with spontaneous lyrics provided by his brother, lead vocalist Reg King.
Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: Dino's Song
Source: CD: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Writer(s): Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti
Label: RockBeat (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1968
A few years back I picked up the DVD collector's edition of the telefilm that DA Pennebacker made of the Monterey International Pop Festival. In addition to the film itself there were two discs of bonus material, including a song by Quicksilver Messenger Service that was listed under the title All I Ever Wanted To Do (Was Love You). I spent some time trying to figure out which album the song had originally appeared on, but came up empty until I got a copy of the first Quicksilver album and discovered it was actually called Dino's Song. I suspect the confusion in song titles is connected to the origins of the band itself, which was the brainchild of Dino Valenti and John Cipollina (and possibly Gary Duncan). The day after their first practice session Valenti got busted and spent the next few years in jail for marijuana possession. My theory is that this was an untitled song that Valenti showed Cippolina at that first practice. Since it probably still didn't have a title when the group performed the song at Monterey, the filmmakers used the most repeated line from the song itself, All I Ever Wanted To Do (Was Love You). When the band recorded their first LP in 1968 they just called it Dino's Song.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: My Sunday Feeling
Source: LP: This Was
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
For years my only copy of Jethro Tull's first LP, This Was, was a cassette copy I had made myself. In fact, the two sides of the album were actually on two different tapes (don't ask why). When I labelled the tapes I neglected to specify which tape had which side of the album; as a result I was under the impression that My Sunday Feeling was the opening track on the album. It turns out it was actually the first track on side two, but I still tend to think of it as the "first" Jethro Tull song, despite the fact that the band had actually released a single, Sunshine Day, the previous year for a different label (who got the band's name wrong, billing them as Jethro Toe).
Artist: Cream
Title: Sitting On Top Of The World
Source: CD: Wheels Of Fire
Writer: Vinson/Chatmon (original) Chester Burnett (modern version)
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
Throughout their existence British blues supergroup Cream recorded covers of blues classics. One of the best of these is Sitting On Top Of The World from the album Wheels Of Fire, which in its earliest form was written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon and recorded by the Mississippi Shieks in 1930. Cream's version uses the lyrics from the 1957 rewrite of the song by Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf.
Artist: Deep Six
Title: Rising Sun
Source: LP: Nuggets vol. 10- Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Dave Gray
Label: Rhino (original label: Liberty
Year: 1965
Despite the name, the Deep Six originally only had three members, although by the time they found their way into a recording studio they had added enough to become a full folk-rock band. Their best known tune, Rising Sun, was released (at least in promo form) by Saw-Man Records in late summer of 1965, and was issued commercially on the Liberty label in October of that year. It became a minor hit in Southern California, leading to a self-titled album in early 1966 that didn't do much of anything; nor did a handful of followup singles, and by 1967 Deep Six had been, er, deep sixed.
Artist: Bob Dylan
Title: Just Like A Woman
Source: Mono LP: Blonde On Blonde
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
By late 1966 the shock of Bob Dylan's going electric had long since worn off and Dylan was enjoying a string of top 40 hits in the wake of the success of Like A Rolling Stone. One of the last hits of the streak was Just Like A Woman, a track taken from his Blonde On Blonde album. This was actually the first Bob Dylan song I heard on top 40 radio. As a 13-year-old kid I didn't know quite what to make of it.
Artist: Left Banke
Title: Shadows Breaking Over My Head
Source: LP: Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina
Writer(s): Brown/Martin
Label: Smash/Sundazed
Year: 1967
Shadows Breaking Over My Head is one of many examples of what has come to be called Baroque Pop as defined by the Left Banke on their 1967 album Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina. Written by lead vocalist Steve Martin and keyboardist Michael Brown, the track utilizes studio musicians extensively, with Brown's keyboard work featured prominently.
Artist: Nocturnes
Title: Carpet Man
Source: Mono British import CD: Psychedelia At Abbey Road (originally released in UK as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Jimmy Webb
Label: EMI (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1968
Not every artist who recorded at London's famed Abbey Road Studios became famous. Like all studios, Abbey Road had its share of artists who cut maybe one single and then faded off into obscurity. Among the most obscure bands to record at Abbey Road was the Nocturnes, whose sole shot at fame was a cover of the Fifth Dimension's Carpet Man, recorded and released in 1968.
Artist: Nite Watchmen
Title: Mimic Jester
Source: Mono CD: A Deadly Dose Of Wylde Psych (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Turner/Brown
Label: Arf! Arf! (original label: Now!)
Year: 1969
Findlay, Ohio, is home to the Marathon Oil and Cooper Tire companies. Sitting on the Blanchard River, Findlay was a stop on the underground railroad in the mid 1800s and the inspiration for the song Down By The Old Mill Stream in 1910. In the late 1960s Findlay was the home of the Nite Watchmen, a garage-punk band that released three singles on (at least) three different local labels. The second (and best) of these was Mimic Jester, which appeared on the Now! label (based in nearby Fremont, Ohio) in March of 1969.
Artist: Gypsy
Title: Gypsy Queen
Source: LP: Gypsy
Writer(s): Enrico Rosenbaum
Label: Gypsy
Year: 1970
In the mid-1960s it was common, especially in the larger cities in the US, for a local band to go into a local recording studio and make a record that would be released on a local label and get played on a local radio station or two. Sometimes these songs would become local, or even regional hits. In a few cases these songs even became national hits, and in rare cases would lead to an entire run of hits. By 1970, however, this path to success had all but disappeared, due to a number of factors. Most local radio stations were tightening their playlists to include only nationally charted hits. Locally-owned record labels had all but disappeared, with the more successful ones being bought out by their larger competitors. Bands looking for national success were forced to relocate, usually to New York or Los Angeles. One such band was Gypsy. Formed in Minnesota as the Underbeats, the band moved to L.A. in 1969, renaming themselves Gypsy and becoming the house band at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood. It was during their tenure at the Whisky that they released their self-titled double LP debut album containing their biggest hit, Gypsy Queen-Part 1. The band released several more albums over a period of over 40 years, both as Gypsy and as the James Walsh Gypsy Band. They played their final show on November 4, 2017 in St. Louis.
Artist: Paul Revere and the Raiders
Title: There's Always Tomorrow
Source: Mono LP: Midnight Ride
Writer: Levin/Smith
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
Paul Revere and the Raiders was one of the many bands of the early 1960s that helped lay the groundwork for the temporary democratization of American popular music later in the decade (for more on that head over to hermitradio.com and click the link to "The Psychedelic Era"). After honing their craft for years in the clubs of the Pacific Northwest the Raiders caught the attention of Dick Clark, who called them the most versatile rock band he had ever seen. Clark introduced the band to Terry Melcher, which in turn led to Paul Revere and the Raiders being the first rock band ever signed to industry giant Columbia Records, at that time the second largest record company in the country. In addition to organist Revere the band featured Mark Lindsay on lead vocals and saxophone, Phil "Fang" Volker on bass, Drake Levin on lead guitar and Mike "Smitty" Smith on drums. Occassionally someone other than Lindsay would get the opportunity to sing a lead vocal part, as Smitty does on There's Always Tomorrow, a song he co-wrote with Levin shortly before the guitarist quit to join the National Guard. Seriously, the guy who played the double-tracked lead guitars on Just Like Me quit the hottest band in the US at the peak of their popularity to voluntarily join the military. I'd say there was a good chance he was not one of the guys burning their draft cards that year.
Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title: Just Like Me
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets vol. 8-The Northwest (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Dey/Brown
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1965
Just Like Me was the first top 10 single from Paul Revere And The Raiders, a band that deserves much more credit than they are generally given. The group started in the early part of the decade in Boise, Idaho, when Revere (his real name) hooked up with saxophonist Mark Lindsay. Like most bands at the time, the Raiders' repertoire consisted mostly of instrumentals, as PA systems were a luxury that required more space than was generally allotted to a small town band. It wasn't long before the Raiders relocated to Portland, Oregon, where they became a popular attraction at various clubs. After a hiatus caused by Revere's stint in the military, the band resumed its place as one of the founding bands of the Portland music scene. They soon made their first visit to a recording studio, recording Richard Berry's Louie Louie at around the same time as another popular Portland band, the Kingsmen. The Kingsmen's version ended up being a huge national hit while the popularity of the Raiders' version was mostly restricted to the West Coast, thanks in large part to the active lack of support from Columbia Records, whose head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R), Mitch Miller, was an outspoken critic of rock 'n' roll. Undeterred, the band continued to grow in popularity, recording another single in 1964 (Like Long Hair) and going on tour. It was while playing in Hawaii that the band was noticed by none other than Dick Clark, who hired them to be the house band on his new afternoon TV show, Where The Action Is. Under the leadership of Mitch Miller Columbia Records had done their best to ignore the existence of rock 'n' roll (an effort that was somewhat undermined by one of their most popular artists, Bob Dylan, in 1965, when he went electric). Columbia had, however, a more open-minded West Coast division that included producer Terry Melcher, son of singer Doris Day and co-producer of the Rip Chords' hot rod hit Hey Little Cobra. With the Raiders now being seen daily on a national TV show, the label assigned Melcher to produce the band's records. It was a partnership that would lead to a string of hits, starting with Steppin' Out in 1965. The next record, Just Like Me, was the first of a string of top 10 singles that would last until early 1967, when rapidly changing public tastes made the band seem antiquated compared to up and coming groups like Jefferson Airplane. Just Like Me, which was actually a cover of a song first recorded by another Pacific Northwest band, the Wilde Knights, still holds up well after all these years. Much of the credit for that has to go to Drake Levin, whose innovative double-tracked guitar solo rocked out harder than anything else on top 40 radio at the time (with the possible exception of a couple of well-known Kinks songs).
Artist: Paul Revere And The Raiders
Title: Get It On
Source: Mono LP: Midnight Ride
Writer(s): Volk/Levin
Label: Columbia
Year: 1966
The first four LPs by Paul Revere and the Raiders were, like most albums in the early 1960s, made up primarily of cover songs. 1965's Just Like Us, for instance, had only one song written by band members (Steppin' Out, by Revere and vocalist Mark Lindsay). That all changed with the release of Midnight Ride in 1966. Of the album's nine songs, all but two were written by band members; in fact, it is the only Raiders album to include compositions from every member of the group. Three of the songs were written or co-written by lead guitarist Drake Levin, the band's youngest member. Those three songs included Get It On, which features lead vocals by co-writer and bassist Phil "Fang" Volk.
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