{"id":260,"date":"2010-07-06T05:58:33","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T10:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=260"},"modified":"2010-07-06T05:58:33","modified_gmt":"2010-07-06T10:58:33","slug":"feature-paul-revere-the-raiders-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/07\/06\/feature-paul-revere-the-raiders-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: Paul Revere & the Raiders (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In connection with the 2010 Collectors\u2019 Choice Music release of the 3CD compilation <\/em>The Complete Columbia Singles [review here<\/a>], I arranged a series of extensive, in-depth interviews with former members of 60s hitmakers Paul Revere and the Raiders. I was fortunate to gain insights from vocalist Mark Lindsay; bassist Phil \u201cFang\u201d Volk; guitarists Jim \u201cHarpo\u201d Valley and Keith Allison; and Raiders manager Roger Hart. In a modest tribute to Raiders guitarist Drake Levin \u2013 he passed away on July 4, 2009 \u2013 I\u2019d like to present PART TWO of this five-part Raiders feature. \u2014 bk<\/em><\/p>\n

The Raiders Take Los Angeles<\/strong>
\nAs one of Columbia Records\u2019 earliest forays into rock music, the Paul Revere and the Raiders <\/strong>weren\u2019t initially shown much attention or respect by label head Mitch Miller<\/strong>. Manager Roger Hart<\/strong> notes that Miller \u201cwas on the Andy Williams<\/strong> \u2013 Barbra Streisand<\/strong> side of things; that\u2019s where his focus was.\u201d Yet in a move somewhat unusual for the era, one side of the Raiders\u2019 major-label debut, Here They Come<\/em>, featured the group in live performance. Produced by Bruce Johnston<\/strong>, Here They Come<\/em> managed to capture the excitement of the Raiders\u2019 onstage set. The second side included studio cuts that maintained that energy level, and those tracks featured new bassist Phil \u201cFang\u201d Volk<\/strong>. By 1965 the most celebrated Raiders lineup was in place.<\/p>\n

Volk\u2019s entrance into the band had as much to do with his dancing prowess as his musical ability. Friends since childhood in Idaho, Volk and guitarist Drake Levin<\/strong> used to \u201ctear up the dance floor,\u201d Volk says. \u201cSo we incorporated that, to excel in the band\u2019s showmanship. We added a lot of sophisticated choreography, while playing in the pocket.\u201d And rather than hiring an outside choreographer, the band relied on Volk and Levin to develop all of their patented moves.<\/p>\n

The group migrated to Los Angeles and began a long and successful association with impresario Dick Clark<\/strong>. Clark launched a new daily TV program called Where the Action Is<\/em>, and the Raiders were the \u201chouse band\u201d for the show. For nearly two years the group would appear on television every weekday, lip-synching and clowning around in the manner of the Beatles<\/strong>\u2019 1964 film A Hard Day\u2019s Night<\/em>. \u201cHollywood put the group farther than anyone intended,\u201d notes Hart. To fans of a certain age, Paul Revere and the Raiders would provide the template of what a rock and roll band should look like, act like, and sound like.<\/p>\n

The Raiders were considered for another TV project, but when that idea was fully developed it became The Monkees.<\/strong><\/em> \u201cThere was a feature that I had written and had given to ABC-TV,\u201d Hart recalls. \u201cIt found its way to the folks that put the Monkees together. ABC wasn\u2019t able to use my treatment \u2013 about five crazy guys \u2013 but the next thing you know, this little treatise called Madness <\/em>became an ad in the Hollywood papers under the title \u2018Madness \u2013 looking for actor-musicians.\u2019\u201d Raiders vocalist Mark Lindsay<\/strong> notes that \u201cthe Monkees and the Raiders and the Beatles all drew from the same well, hearkening back to Marx Brothers<\/strong>-style slapstick comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Lindsay and producer Terry Melcher<\/strong> helming the studio, the group\u2019s sound was pushed in what was then a more pop-rock direction. Lindsay notes that \u201con the Complete Columbia Singles<\/em> set, you can really hear the R&B influence on the early cuts. Then you can hear Terry kind of bending us into commercialism\u201d with tracks like the hit \u201cJust Like Me.\u201d Lindsay observes that \u201cright about that period, we were rocking pretty hard,\u201d and he notes that the song has been cited as an example of protopunk. Hart says, \u201cWe had to make major adjustments from being a really tough band \u2013 more like a Rolling Stones<\/strong> \u2013 to really reach out to an entire nation. And with television, obviously our focus would be the teen fans. We had no great messages other than entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Rolling Stones, the Raiders shared a bill with them a number of times. In markets where the Raiders were more popular \u2013 Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco and other cities \u2013 the Raiders were top-billed. \u201cAnd this was around the time of \u2018(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction,\u2019\u201d Volk emphasizes. \u201cThe Stones were pretty hot then, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there was a formula to the singles \u2013 many written by Lindsay and Melcher, several by outside composers \u2013 it involved a driving arrangement that often used Volk\u2019s bass lines as what he calls \u201cthe hook of a lead instrument.\u201d Placed forward in the mix, the bass parts often provided a strong melodic (or sometimes countermelodic) element. That musical prominence, coupled with Volk\u2019s crowd-pleasing demeanor, made the bassist a focal point of the band. Hart recalls that by 1966, \u201cFang\u201d was getting as much fan mail at 16 Magazine<\/em> as fellow heart-throb Mark Lindsay.
\n
\nPart Three<\/a> will focus on the commercial apex of group\u2019s career, and the subsequent splintering of the classic lineup.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In connection with the 2010 Collectors\u2019 Choice Music release of the 3CD compilation The Complete Columbia Singles [review here], I arranged a series of extensive, in-depth interviews with former members […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}