I LOVE The Raiders; I dig their hard rockin' garage sound, their self composed psych masterpiece tunes and their string of great albums from this one to Spirit of '67 (y'know, the one with 'Good Thing'/'Hungry' that Margot Robbie plays in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood?). What I DON'T love about the Raiders is the corny image they have been saddled with - partly of their own accord - mostly due to the wearing of American revolutionary garb and also their numerous appearances on TV at the time (including a spot on a Batman episode of all things). Formed in 1960, the group (at the time of this album) consisted of pretty-boy lead singer Mark Lindsay, lead guitarist Drake Levin, bassist Phil Volk, drummer Mike Smith and of course, keyboard player Paul Revere. This is a group who deserved to be remembered as the kick-ass rock unit they were (tacky image and all) and this album - released in '66 - is a great representation of their many talents.
We BLAST onto Side One with 'Steppin Out', an epochal garage classic that stomps and shouts through 2:13 of rock n' roll bliss. Dig that fuzz bass, Dave Clark Five beat and a snarlin' guitar tone from Levin (oh, and obviously Lindsay's bluesy vocal), a group original too. Next up is a funky cover of Marvin Gaye's 'I'll be Doggone' by way of The Searchers '65 version (replete with chiming 12 string and Merseybeat backing vox). These boys have already with these first couple of tracks set up the classic garage rock sound in its two variations; hard and bluesy a la The Stones in '65, and hard and jangly a la The Byrds of the same vintage. Moving on, the guys try out James Brown's 'Out of Sight' in a surprisingly convincing hard R&B style (noticing how many garage bands loved Mr Dynamite's material yet?). Singing this tune is Drake Levin and -for a little bit of trivia - this is one of the few Raiders albums where the band shares vocal duties (later on Lindsay would take over most lead parts). A solid cover of 'Baby Please Don't Go' follows, sped up a little from Them's hit version and with a vocal from Phil Volk. Revere's keys are pushed to the forefront on this one (like with Them) and I cannot stress enough my love for the Vox Continental keyboard, to me it IS the 60's pop sound (see 'I'm A Believer', 'Light My Fire', 'House of The Rising Son' etc.). Probably the only bum track on the LP is next in 'I Know', a joke blues number with drummer 'Smitty' wailing higher and higher with the group egging him on and cracking up as he loses his voice. Nice party atmosphere but a little cheesy (reminds me of The Monkees 'Gonna Buy Me A Dog'). Closing Side One is an old school frat-rock cover of Mr Brown's 'Night Train', harkening back to the group's early days playing for drunk college kids in their home state of Idaho (I miss James' cries of "All Aboard!" though... will have to review his awesome 'Live At The Apollo one day).
Side Two continues in much the same format, with punky garage, 60's R&B and folk-rock tunes colliding together in one package (making this a nicely representative collection of the rock n' roll sounds of the day pre psychedelia). Starting us off is the kinks styled 'Just Like Me', the other big hit from the LP along with 'Steppin Out'. The tune twists and turns through a Louie Louie riff into a mega chorus, Lindsay screaming his heart out before one of THE FIRST double tracked guitar solos from Levin. Yet again, its a classic garage tune, laying out the formula for hundreds of groups around the country. A gorgeous Byrds-alike cover of Donovan's 'Catch The Wind' is next, with producer Terry Melcher replicating the compressed 12 string chime and stoned vocals of the other super-famous 60's rock group he worked with the year previous... THE BYRDS. I really dig Levin's vocal on this one, especially the super reverb fade out that Melcher applies at the end. Next is yet another solid cover of a Brit Invasion group with 'Satisfaction'. This one has grown on me, especially after buying a mono version a while back, the harmony organ adds a lot and stops it from being an exact copy of the original (again, this is the kind of stuff that many U.S garage groups covered live, so its not unappreciated). YET MORE Brit Invasion noise with The Animals' 'I'm Crying', a great little organ-based blaster that Volk injects Burdon-infused punk energy into as the guys jam away in the background, doubling down on the originals' ferocity (dig those well timed backing vox as well!). A groovy take of 'New Orleans' is next, with Revere stepping out from the keys to lay down a lead vocal, nice sax work from Lindsay on this one as well as a surfy beat from Smitty. 'Action' closes the album on a super upbeat, beach boys inflected note (this was also the theme tune to the show in which the guys were the house band at the time, 'Where the Action Is' hosted by Dick Clark). This is such a fun LP that any fans of British Invasion stuff should check out. Its also a nice intro to garage music without throwing you in at the deep end of psych freak outs like The Seeds so give it a listen, you'll be groovin' like its '66 in no time!
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