Grapefruit’s “Heroes and Villains” Collects L.A. Sounds of 1965-1968 From The Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas, Monkees, Zappa, More

Though Heroes and Villains is the title of Grapefruit’s new 3-CD anthology chronicling The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-68, that famous Beach Boys song isn’t among its 90 selections.  Not that Brian Wilson and co. are absent; the compilation instead presents another SMiLE tune, “Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)” as part of its portrait of a place and time in music history when it truly seemed anything was possible.  U.K.-based compiler David Wells persuasively makes the case here that L.A. replaced England as the epicenter of the American pop scene…

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In Memoriam: Keith Allison (1942-2021)

The Second Disc mourns the loss of singer-songwriter-musician-producer Keith Allison, 79, best known for his time as a member of Paul Revere and The Raiders. The Texas-born singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist had already toured with artists including Ray Peterson and The Crickets when he was plucked from the audience at the Whisky A’ Go-Go and groomed for stardom on the weekday music show Where the Action Is.  In a classic case of “right place, right time,” busy session musician Allison was at the Whisky to get Tommy Boyce or Bobby Hart’s signature…

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Now Sounds Reissues Paul Revere and The Raiders’ “Spirit of ’67” In Mono/Stereo Edition

Last year, Now Sounds brought Paul Revere and the Raiders’ 1967 Revolution! to CD in a deluxe, expanded mono/stereo edition. Now, the Cherry Red imprint has turned the clock back to 1966 just in time to deliver a 50th anniversary edition of that album’s immediate predecessor, The Spirit of ’67.  This sparkling remastered reissue does full justice to the LP which marked the final collective work of the classic band line-up of Paul Revere, Mark Lindsay, Phil “Fang” Volk, Drake “The Kid” Levin and Mike “Smitty” Smith. Whereas most of Revolution! was…

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The Legend of Paul Revere: Now Sounds Reissues, Expands The Raiders’ “Revolution!”

You say you want a Revolution!?  Now Sounds is ready to take you on a ride suitable for midnight or any time with its new Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition of Paul Revere and the Raiders’ Revolution!  (CRNOW 53).  Originally released in August 1967, during the Summer of Love, the album blended pop, rock and R&B, West Coast-style, proving just how far the little band from Boise, Idaho had come. Revolution! followed The Spirit of ’67, which had actually been released in late 1966.  That LP turned out to be the swansong for…

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Release Round-Up: Week of April 21

Today’s Release Round-Up features an array of titles including a box set from the one and only Chairman of the Board, a number of vintage albums in surround sound, a classic reissue from a new Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, and more! Frank Sinatra, Ultimate Sinatra (Capitol/UMe) 4-CD Box:  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1-CD Highlights:  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD Target Exclusive: Target.com 2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Standard Edition DD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The 100th birthday of Ol’ Blue Eyes is celebrated with a variety of releases under the Ultimate Sinatra umbrella,…

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Release Round-Up: Week of February 10

Mike + The Mechanics, Living Years: Deluxe Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This Deluxe Edition of Mike + The Mechanics’ 1988 album arrives in the U.S. with a second disc featuring “The Living Years 2014″ and live tracks culled from the band’s 1989 tour.  Read our full coverage here. Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Complete Columbia Singles (Friday Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Friday Music has repackaged Collectors’ Choice Music’s 2010 three-disc collection of the complete Columbia singles output of the legendary band (“Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Just Like Me”)….

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In Memoriam: Paul Revere (1938-2014)

The official website of Paul Revere and the Raiders has just confirmed the passing of group leader Paul Revere at the age of 76.  Today, we remember Revere for the timeless music he created with Mark Lindsay,  Phil “Fang” Volk, Mike “Smitty” Smith, Drake “The Kid” Levin, Freddy Weller, Joe Correro, Jr. and Keith Allison – songs like “Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Just Like Me,” “Good Thing” and so many others, all of which reminded listeners besotted with the British Invasion that Americans still knew a thing or two about rock and roll!  Long…

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“Pin Ups” In Reverse: Ace Explores The Roots of Ziggy Stardust With “Bowie Heard Them Here First”

David Bowie did the unthinkable in this media-obsessed age when, on the date of his sixty-sixth birthday (January 8, 2013), he managed to catch the world off-guard to announce his first new album in a decade.  Bowie and his cohorts had kept The Next Day a secret, proving that the iconoclastic artist could still do things his way.  In six decades, from the 1960s through the present, David Bowie has kept his fans guessing what might come next.  And while Bowie’s sound is one of the most distinctive in popular music, it…

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Brotherhood’s “Complete Recordings” Show Another Side of Former Paul Revere and the Raiders Members

Rock’s back pages are littered with “creative differences.”   Such differences split Paul Revere and the Raiders into two warring factions – Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay on one side; Phil “Fang” Volk, Mike “Smitty” Smith and Drake “The Kid” Levin on the other.  The Volk-Smith-Levin triumvirate bristled at the more pop direction that the onetime garage band had been taking, and were none too pleased with the studio musicians being enlisted to beef up the Raiders’ recordings.  In early 1967, the trio departed the band, leading to litigation and acrimony.  But both…

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Action, Action, Action! Real Gone’s April Release Schedule Announced

Second Disc HQ may be surrounded by layers of detestable snow, but a new release schedule from Real Gone Music is as good as any sunshine! (Plus, these titles are due in April, by which everything will have melted…WE HOPE.) You’ve already read about two of the label’s new April releases courtesy of Joe’s post about Doris Day earlier today, but that’s not all they’re offering. A complete singles collection by Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells – featuring the three future members of LaBelle with future Supremes member Cindy Birdsong – is…

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Here They Come! Complete Paul Revere & The Raiders Catalogue Now Available Digitally

Back to work today? Take your mind off the daily grind and enjoy a great soundtrack, with this week’s surprise premiere digital release of the entire Columbia Records discography of Paul Revere & The Raiders. Previously only officially represented through several compilations, including the band’s entry in Legacy Recordings’ Essential series and 2010’s triple-disc Complete Columbia Singles (originally released on the Collector’s Choice label), fans can now stream and download the baker’s dozen of LPs the group cut for Columbia, from 1965’s Here They Come! to 1972’s Country Wine, featuring hits like “Kicks,” “Hungry,” “Him or…

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Of Mamas, Papas, Raiders and Soundtracks: Real Gone’s February Slate Revealed

The announcement of Real Gone Music’s release schedule for February 2014 would be cause for celebration any day of the week. But this particular day is special, as you’re about to find out. In addition to an ironclad lineup that includes A Gathering of Flowers, the long out-of-print 1970 collection from The Mamas & The Papas; The Complete Recordings by Brotherhood, an unfairly obscure psych-rock band comprised of Phil Volk, Drake Levin and Mike “Smitty” Smith of Paul Revere & The Raiders that cut three LPs for RCA; a twofer by Smith (A Band Called Smith/Minus-Plus),…

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Release Round-Up: Week of March 12

Various Artists, Motown the Musical – Originals: The Classic Songs That Inspired the Broadway Show (Motown/UMe) The Sound of Young America is now the sound of The Great White Way, with a new musical entering previews this week. This new compilation presents all the original versions of the songs that feature in the show! 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TV Mania, Bored with Prozac and the Internet? (Tapemodern) Completed by Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes and former band guitarist Warren Cuccurullo in the late ’90s and presumed lost until…

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Kicks Just Keep Gettin’ Easier to Find: Raven Collects Five Paul Revere and the Raiders LPs on Two CDs

Though Paul Revere and the Raiders was a quintessentially American band, it’s the Australian label Raven Records that’s bringing the first Raiders-related release of 2013.  The group’s first five Columbia Records albums, originally released between 1965 and 1967, are being compiled on two discs as Evolution to Revolution: 5 Classic Albums 1965-1967.  Available on March 12, Evolution contains the entirety of Here They Come! (1965), Just like Us! (1965), Midnight Ride (1966), The Spirit of ‘67 (1966) and Revolution! (1967). Led by Paul Revere (born Paul Revere Dick) on piano and organ,…

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Bowie, McCartney, Joplin, Springsteen, Clash, Davis, Small Faces, More Lead Record Store Day Pack

We’re just three weeks away from Record Store Day on April 21, and following individual announcements from fantastic labels like Omnivore Recordings, Concord Records, Sundazed Music and Rhino/Warner Bros., we can finally reveal the full line-up of RSD-related goodies! These limited editions, available at independent music retailers across the U.S. and even internationally, are primarily vinyl releases in various formats (7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch, etc.) and range from replicas of classic albums to EPs and singles premiering exclusive content.  Some of our favorite artists here at TSD HQ are represented, including David Bowie, James…

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A Whole Lot Better: Sundazed Announces Singles Slate for Record Store Day

Sundazed Records, one of our favorite independent catalogue labels, has announced their exclusive titles for Record Store Day. This year, the label has prepped some killer cuts from some of the best ’60s folk and garage-rock ensembles – including a few rare tracks making vinyl debuts and even some unreleased treasures. The late, great Gene Clark is the standout artist in the batch, with a three appearances on Record Store Day – one with Doug Dillard (in which two non-LP A-sides are released on one vinyl platter) and two with The Byrds…

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Review: Mark Lindsay, “The Complete Columbia Singles”

There’ll be joy and there’ll be laughter/Something big is what I’m after now… As frontman, songwriter and saxophonist of Paul Revere and the Raiders, Mark Lindsay had experienced his fair share of joy and laughter, but as 1969 rolled around, the band behind such garage-pop anthems as “Kicks,” “Just like Me” and “Hungry” was beginning to fracture.  Jack Gold, head of A&R at Columbia Records, however, saw something big in Mark Lindsay’s future.  According to the singer, Gold had stumbled on him in the studio goofing around with Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are”…

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Rick Nelson, Mark Lindsay, McGough and McGear (with Hendrix and McCartney!) Are Real Gone In February

With another month comes another slate of rare music on both CD and vinyl from one of the real up-and-comers in the reissue biz, Real Gone Music!  The label’s February centerpieces just might be Rick Nelson’s The Complete Epic Recordings and Mark Lindsay’s The Complete Columbia Singles, but those two releases are being joined by titles from Sean (T.S.) Bonniwell, McGough and McGear, Eddie Hazel and the girls of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s Red Bird label on CD, plus Hank Thompson on vinyl!  The titles will arrive in two waves, on…

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New Paul Revere & The Raiders Comp Has a Track List

If you’ve been around Amazon lately, you might have known that the previously mentioned entry for Paul Revere & The Raiders in Legacy’s Essential series has a track list. The two-disc set is due out in two weeks, but fans have certainly been wondering what this set will have that others before it (namely Collector’s Choice Music’s three-disc Complete Columbia Singles) did not. The first blurb Legacy released about the product promised promo-only tracks and some mono single mixes, all curated by Bob Irwin of Sundazed Music. Of course, Amazon’s track listing isn’t going…

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Short Takes: Legacy’s New Essentials, Concord’s New Jazz Reissues and a Catalogue Score from Perserverance

Legacy’s latest release schedule update promises three new titles in the Essential series: Paul Revere & The Raiders, Django Reinhardt and Eartha Kitt. All are going to be double disc sets, and specifically, the Raiders set (compiled by Bob Irwin of Sundazed Music) will feature some promo-only tracks and some mono single mixes. All are due on March 15. Concord has four new reissues of classic jazz titles also planned for March 15. They are Monk’s Music (1958) by Thelonious Monk, Cal Tjader/Stan Getz Sextet (1958), Ugetsu (1963) by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers,…

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