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March 28, 2024


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Paul Revere & The Raiders
The Essential Ride '63-'67 (Columbia Legacy -- 550 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022-3211)

By: Gary Pig Gold

In a world where even a Monkees fan can now rise and proclaim his or her loyalties without fear of too much recrimination, how can it be that such a fiery, rock-happy crew like the Raiders is still so universally poo-pooh'd, or, worse still, ignored completely? Let's see: it can't just be those dumb colonial uniforms the band persisted on wearing almost until Altamont, and it certainly can't be their statistic-boggling string of Top Ten hits (which, coincidentally, not only inspired producer Terry Melcher to dump The Byrds, but literally kept Columbia Records afloat in those years before "Bridge Over Troubled whatever"). And didja know lead Raider Mark Lindsay was for years shacked up atop the beach blanket bimbo who became Murphy Brown, and in the very same house Charlie's Family soon afterwards went starlet hunting in? And on the subject of hip credentials: The Essential Ride's previously-unreleased exercise in gastro-chemical erotica, "Crisco Party", wouldn't even make it onto a Prince album in this big p-c age! All in all, the Raiders were one of the toughest, most hard-working and, yes, most inanely attired bands America has yet to produce, and if they are never inducted into any Halls of Fame, weep not. This here's one band who don't need a R'n'R Museum, because hell, somewhere out in Vegas this very night, Paul Revere's latest batch of Raiders are about to tear into their "Where the Action Is" medley, and damned if there won't be a dry ear in the house.
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