I enjoyed the music of Paul Revere and the Raiders when I was growing up. Their characteristic sound was straightforward mid-’60s rock and roll with great musical hooks and strong vocals by Mark Lindsay. They were one of the first U.S. bands successfully to emulate the British Invasion sound that mixed rockabilly, blues, and pop to create hooky melodies fortified with musical forcefulness and a generally good-timey atmosphere. Later in the 1960s the band mixed in some hippie and psychedelic elements, plus some Christian-themed lyrics, into their music, with some success both aesthetically and commercially.
Among my favorite Revere/Raiders songs are “Just Like Me,” “Action,” “Good Thing,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “Hungry,” “Him or Me (What’s It Gonna Be?),” “Judge GTO Breakaway,” “There She Goes,” “There’s Always Tomorrow,” “Kicks,” “Corvair Baby,” “Indian Reservation,” and “Undecided Man.” That’s a goodly number of songs to rate so highly.
The band’s founder and leader, Paul Revere, died on Sunday at the age of 76, and he should be remembered as the band’s true leader and a spirited, good-natured presence in a critical period of the evolution of rock music.
For more on Paul Revere, read Aaron Goldstein’s eulogy at the American Spectator: http://spectator.org/blog/60568/paul-revere-rip-updated.
Thanks for the note, Joe. You’re right about Where the Action Is, of course. Like Dave Clark, Revere was a born entertainer. As to those early recordings, I too enjoy them. They’re a lot of fun.
Excellent article on Paul Revere & The Raiders, S.T. You did not mention that they probably got the most TV exposure of any 60s rock & roll band, even more than the Monkees, thanks to their daily appearances on Dick Clark’s Where The Action Is, which consolidated their popularity. I picked up a bootleg DVD set a few years ago that contained @ least 2 hrs. of material from Action alone. You can get a glimpse of their beginnings as a party band from the first side of their first album, Here They Come, which was recorded live in the studio & contained versions of such songs as “Money”, “Big Boy Pete” & “Oo, Oo Pa Do”