{"id":436,"date":"2011-01-31T05:59:48","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T10:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=436"},"modified":"2011-01-31T05:59:48","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T10:59:48","slug":"album-review-the-mixtures-stompin-at-the-rainbow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/01\/31\/album-review-the-mixtures-stompin-at-the-rainbow\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Mixtures – Stompin\u2019 at the Rainbow"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s long been a school of thought that pushed the notion that rock nearly died in the late fifties. The argument goes something like this: Buddy Holly<\/strong> died in the plane crash, Elvis<\/strong> went into the army, Little Richard<\/strong> found Jesus, Jerry Lee Lewis<\/strong> discredited himself with the whole child-bride episode, Chuck Berry<\/strong> got busted, and a bunch of the other guys went country. The musical landscape was soon repopulated with insipid, assembly-line pop idols put forth by a music industry that had (almost) lost control of the whole shebang when those early rockers exploded on the scene. Acts like Bobby Vinton<\/strong> and Frankie Avalon<\/strong> were the cigar-chewing bigwigs\u2019 way of getting the market back under their thumb. Only the Beatles<\/strong>, this argument insists, saved rock and roll from total death.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a compelling argument, and one not without some historical merit. Those pre-Beatles pop stars were pretty goddamn lame, most of \u2018em. People like Pat Boone<\/strong> certainly did sand off the rough edges of rock and roll, making musical pabulum that was safe for middle America. But this argument conveniently sidesteps the existence of many fine R&B inflected groups working dances and clubs in those years. Some remarkable, exciting music got made, performed and (occasionally) recorded before John, Paul George<\/strong> and Ringo<\/strong> came to our shores to save us all in early 1964.<\/p>\n

The Mixtures<\/strong> were one of the bands making this exciting music. The band chose a name that reflected the racial diversity of their lineup: the group was (as the liner notes point out) \u201cat different times comprised of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Caucasians and a Native American.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Not to make too big a deal of it, but in 1960 this was <\/em>a big deal. This was some years before the Rising Sons<\/strong> (with Taj Mahal<\/strong> and Ry Cooder<\/strong>) or Love<\/strong> (featuring Arthur Lee<\/strong> and Bryan MacLean<\/strong>. Notably, both those groups and The Mixtures plied their trade in the (relatively) socially progressive region of southern California.<\/p>\n

But focusing on the racial makeup of the band is to give short shrift to the music they made. And the fact is that if The Mixtures were merely an integrated band, they would merit little more than a footnote. As it happens, the group released a live album in 1962. Stompin\u2019 at the Rainbow<\/em> is a preserved example of the six-piece\u2019s live set from that era. It\u2019s a varied set that shows the band\u2019s party instincts as a major influence in crafting the set list. After Bob Eubanks<\/strong> (in those days a concert promoter; in later years he\u2019d gain notoriety as host of The Newlywed Game<\/em>) introduces the band, they launch into their high energy set.<\/p>\n

Long on covers (\u201cPeter Gunn\u201d theme, the Mar-Keys\u2019<\/strong> \u201cOne Degree North\u201d), the set is designed to extract maximum dancing from the crowd. And form the sound of things, it worked. While the band was adept at honking instrumental numbers, they were equally skilled at delivering the goods on vocal-led numbers. A rock\u2019n\u2019roll medley is the centerpiece of the carefully-sequenced live set; it\u2019s essentially a Little Richard mini-tribute, complete will trilling piano and lockstep horn chart.<\/p>\n

With Wally Heider<\/strong> \u2013 already an established force \u2013 running the recording equipment, the goods were smartly committed to tape. Equipped with multiple vocalists capable of taking the lead, The Mixtures could effectively cover any number of styles. The Rainbow set would be notable if only for documenting a good night onstage; it does that, but also serves as a showcase for a band that could travel from one to another style with ease. At the close of the instrumental \u201cSurfers Stomp\u201d the crowd responds with stomps of their own.<\/p>\n

Despite the tight playing, there\u2019s nonetheless a welcome looseness to the performances. On \u201cPeppermint Twist\u201d the banking vocalists occasionally get the words a bit wrong; this only adds to the charm. The band \u2013 clearly sensitive to pacing \u2013calms the corwd down after a series of raucous and upbeat numbers, making time for a slow dance or three. They close the show to an emotional reading of \u201cThat\u2019s All I Ask.\u201d With a quick \u201cthank you,\u201d the record fades on crowd applause.<\/p>\n

The new archival release of Stompin\u2019 at the Rainbow<\/em> includes a dozen bonus tracks; with the exception of a two-sided single release of\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThe Rainbow Stomp,\u201d \u00a0<\/span>all of these songs have previously appeared only on 45rpm singles. They\u2019re all studio recordings dating from 1962 through 1964, and like the live set consist mostly (but not exclusively) of instrumental party numbers. When the last of these \u2013 Linda Records #115, \u201cThe Last Minute\u201d b\/w \u201cSen-Sa-Shun\u201d \u2013 was released, it had been less than five months since the conclusion of the Beatles\u2019 three-consecutive-weeks run on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em>. Things really did change then, but party music in the wide-ranging, good-timing style of The Mixtures would enjoy a few more years of popularity in dancehalls.<\/p>\n

One quick aside: Fans of the Pacific Northwest strain of early 60s rock (see also: Revere<\/strong>, Paul<\/strong>) will hear some sonic similarities to that style in the Mixtures\u2019 arrangements. Where Revere used a piano (this was long before the Raiders<\/strong>\u2019 Vox organ era), the Mixtures used the Wurlitzer Electric Piano, then a mainstay of R&B music, and largely popularized by Ray Charles<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

As a key exhibit against the argument outlined at this review\u2019s start, Stompin\u2019 at the Rainbow<\/em> is a worthwhile piece of plastic. It also happens to be a pretty fine party record in that post-early rock \/ pre-Beatles style.<\/p>\n

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\"I<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s long been a school of thought that pushed the notion that rock nearly died in the late fifties. The argument goes something like this: Buddy Holly died in the […]<\/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":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436","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=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}