The history of '60s
rock
is littered with stories of great
classics --
the Savages
' album,
the Thirteenth Floor Elevators
' first two albums, the first two
Chocolate Watch Band
albums -- that should have been better known than they were.
The Young Rascals
is that rare example of a genuinely great album that got heard and played, and sold and sold. Apart from the presence of a hit (
"Good Lovin'"
) to drive sales, every kid (and his girlfriend) in any aspiring white
band on the East Coast in 1966 seemingly owned a copy. And it's easy to see why --
the Rascals
' debut couples a raw
garage
band sound with compelling white
soul
more successfully than just about any record since
the Beatles
'
Please Please Me
. The band had three powerful singers in
Felix Cavaliere
,
Eddie Brigati
, and
Gene Cornish
, and an attack honed in hundreds of hours of playing dance clubs on Long Island and New York City. The result is a record without a weak moment or a false note anywhere in its 35 minutes:
"Do You Feel It"
shows them crossing swords stylistically with
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
;
"Just a Little"
and
"Like a Rolling Stone"
show off their
folk-rock
chops; and
"Slow Down,"
"Good Lovin',"
"Mustang Sally,"
"In the Midnight Hour"
are all '60s
rock & roll
classics in these versions.
"Like a Rolling Stone,"
in particular, now seems all the more compelling, pointing the way toward a future that included
Hendrix
's version of
"All Along the Watchtower."
The CD reissue is one of
Warner Special Products
' better sounding releases, having been remastered by
Rhino
's
Bill Inglot
. The original album was on
Atlantic
, and was one of the label's best-sellers of the mid-'60s. ~ Bruce Eder