From sweet and smooth classics, to new names, to old names with new music...the focus here, is to shine a little light on some damn fine music.

I'll find it. You can listen, review, or tell me I wouldn't know good music if it kicked me in the ass. I personally don't give a shit.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Hungry For Some Good Music? It's Just Like Me to Give You a Good Thing

Sometimes a band is ahead of its time, where even though they have commercial success, you can't really appreciate just how inventive they actually were. Add in the fact that they dressed in Revolutionary War costumes, and the tendency was to dismiss them for not being serious musicians.

That's why it's my job to make you listen to the music.

Paul Revere and the Raiders were an Oregon based band popular in the mid-late 60's and into the 70's. Led by Paul Revere Dick, they had a string of great songs, many of which dealt with topics not usually written about in song at the time. "Kicks," was written by the famous songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and was a cautionary tale about trying to find the magic of life through drugs. "Just Like Me" would later be covered by Joan Jett and Pat Benatar. "Hungry, about wanting all the good things in life, would be covered by Sammy Hagar. They sang about the plight of the American Indian in "Indian Reservation." In 1967, there was an strike of the major airlines, the Raiders had a hit song about it.

Back in the 60's Dick Clark had an afternoon TV show called Where the Action Is, and Paul Revere and the Raiders were regulars on it. Later they also were part of another couple of video heavy shows called Happening '68 and It's Happening. While the group changed members over the years, the front man for their heyday was Mark Lindsey, a pony-tailed hearthrob back in the day, who along with many of the members of the group, was well respected in his field.

Paul Revere turns 75 today and is still going strong...band and all.

Listen to some great stuff.

"Hungry"  ...I can almost taste it now
"Just Like Me" ...change the arrangement and this could be a hit in any decade
"Kicks" ...complete with the dancing girls
"Midnite Ride" ...a very tongue-in-cheek story of Paul Revere
"Good Thing" ...one of the sexiest starts to a record, ever.
"The Great Airplane Strike" ...just fun

Happy Birthday Paul...still getting a kick out of your music after all these years.

.



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8 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 7, 2013 at 12:48 PM

    Believe it or not...that album cover does look familiar to me. But I'm not as familiar w/ their music. Pretty cool, Kat.

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  2. Kat's TheoryJanuary 7, 2013 at 12:58 PM

    Give it a listen...could be any garage band you've ever heard. Just fun stuff.

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  3. tJanuary 7, 2013 at 1:56 PM

    I have loved "Kicks" since I was a wee little one listening to it play on my moms single speaker transistor "kitchen radio," and it even made it to my "autobiographical mix tape" CD (Vol. 3) =)

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  4. Kat's TheoryJanuary 7, 2013 at 4:54 PM

    how very interesting...we have this weird kindred spirit thing in odd music don't you think?

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  5. LanceJanuary 7, 2013 at 6:08 PM

    My dad introduced me to PR & Raiders when I was little I've Kicks on my blog. They are underrated. I think they graduated from garage band rock and actually were a solid pop rock act in the late 1960s. I just wrote something for Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique for another friend's site. They used Paul Revere and the Raiders samples several times.

    I wonder had they not dressed up and had a less kitschy name, would the Rolling Stone mag crowd have helped them more.

    good post.

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    Replies
    1. Kat's TheoryJanuary 7, 2013 at 6:18 PM

      I grew up watching them and it was also the time of the Monkees, so the gimmick thing was ripe. The name and dress got them noticed and they are still playing today, so I guess it worked for them.

      But their stuff was just damn good.It would have been nice to see it stand on its own.

      As always, thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  6. Teen LJanuary 7, 2013 at 6:14 PM



    Get your go-go boots ready kat...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kat's TheoryJanuary 7, 2013 at 6:19 PM

      you know they're always polished and ready to rock.

      Delete

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