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The cover of this album screams out "Saturday morning tv pop band", but the music inside is very much in tune with the psycadelic late 60's. Paul Revere & the Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay were one of the most successful groups of the era, so much so, hat in 1968, Paul was able to negotiate a new contract with Columbia Records. With the new deal, came unlimited studio time, and Mark Lindsay taking over as producer of their records. The results are evident here - Mark had a great ear for the little details that take a song from being good on a record to great. Listen to this album on headphones and you will hear some of the most creative uses of stereo panning ever. There is not a dull moment on this record - there is always SOMETHING HAPPENING. My favorites are the opening Happening Intro/Too Much Talk, which is nearly twice as long as the single version. It kicks off as an uptempo rocker, before breaking halfway through for an acoustic interlude with acoustic guitar and phased congas, then returning to uptempo rock. Burn Like a Candle and Communication (Part 1 & 2) both feature extended instrumental tags - Joe Correro Jr. really shines on the drums (no surprise there - his background was in jazz). There's also the dreamy psych pop of Observation from Flight 285 (in 3/4 time), "high in the air, you're not there", Free with it's exhortation to "pull out all the plugs in the switchboard of your mind", and the funky Happening '68 theme. Paul, Mark, Joe, Freddy Weller and Charlie Coe were seasoned studio pros by the time of this album, and it shows. Give this album a listen if you think all they ever did was bubblegum pop.

Well, for starters, none of these recordings are from his days as a crewcut teenage singing idol; these are all recordings from his later career as Rick Nelson, not Ricky, so the packaging is very misleading. Those who only want to hear teenybop tunes like "Be Bop Baby" and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" will be very disappointed with this set. The quality of the recordings is all over the place - some are clearly taken from scratchy vinyl records, while others are muffled band bassy. That said, it's a pretty good comp of some rare and unreleased (at the time) Rick Nelson material. Nearly all of it has been released on better sounding CD's since this set came out; the exceptions being three songs from his final 1985 sessions, "One After 909", "Singing the Blues" and "So Long". It's worth having just for those 3 songs. The second disc is an excellent 1985 BBC interview focusing on Rick's early days.

"Youngblood" is a hard rocking album from a man known mostly for sweet, summery sounds. It's not a retro-60s sounding album, it's solidly contemporary for it's time. As on his first solo album, Carl again wrote with his partner Myrna Smith, and they have a strong collection of songs here. Producer Jeff Baxter said "Carl was the best singer who ever walked"; I agree. In the Beach Boys, his role tended to be more laid back. Here, he gets to show all that he can do as a singer. The support includes members of his touring band, along with notables like Burton Cummings and Timothy b. Schmit.

"Carl Wilson" is a funky little album that throws people off because they're expecting a Beach Boys Endless Summer record. "Carl Wilson" is a stripped down affair, focusing on Carl's vocals. All of the background vocals are by Carl and Myrna Smith, who co-wrote all the songs with Carl. I love this album, I'm glad Carl stepped out of the Beach Boys to give us his own personal music.

This is not just a collection of bouncy pop tunes; these songs have a spiritual message. Cliff has had hits mostly with boy/girl love songs, but there's another side to him, too. Here, Cliff's songs look at our relationship with God, with each other. The sound is very 80's - Cliff was never one to get stuck in the past. In fact, there was sort of a mini-trend in pop or rock music for awhile in the 80's - contemporary songs with a spiritual message without getting dogmatic or preachy. Kansas' album from the same year, Vinyl Confessions, is similar in that sense.

Honestly, this is one of the lesser efforts by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Drake Levin, Mike Smith and Phil Volk departed during the recording of this album, which has a much smoother, more polished sound than the records made during that trio's time with the group. With band leader Paul Revere spending less time in the studio, it had become Mark Lindsay and Terry Melcher's project, and they move the group away from the more rocking sound of the Midnight Ride era to more of a pop/rock, bubblegummy sound geared towards the tween audience. If you've heard the singles Him or Me - What's it Gonna Be? and I Had A Dream, you've heard the best songs on the album. Most of the rest kind of blends together - Melcher and Lindsay aren't strong enough as songwriters to compose an entire album; the contributions of Volk, Smith, and especially Levin are sorely missed. Revere himself sings the likeable novelty "Ain't Nobody Who Can Do it Like Leslie Can".

Paul and the Raiders recorded this album in Seattle, and it was sold at Radio Shack stores. Good representation of the band's sound in the 80's, doing remakes of 60's hits. The discography on this site needs updating, though. They had several more albums after this, including Ride to the Wall on Rhino in 2001.

This is a completely overlooked Raiders album that was only available briefly at their concerts in 1983 (unless you managed to find one of the cassette copies that sneaked into Peaches or Tower Records that year). Side one is all new songs written by Raiders bassist Ron Foos and lead singer Michael Bradley - excellent 80's pop/rock with a 60's influence. Side two features remakes of 5 of their 60's hits. Good luck finding a copy!