Customer Reviews

Just Like Us!

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If "Baby, Please Don't Go" isn't the most energized song you've ever heard, I'll take my black Stetson and make a meal out of it. With fabulous Fang doing the vocal and the driving bass line, and Drake with his incredible pulsating guitar work, this one gives me a rush every time I hear it.

The guys share in the vocals on this CD. "Steppin' Out" is one of my very favorite Raider songs, with Mark's great voice and a lot of humor ("you been steppin' out with the cobbler !"), "Out of Sight" has Drake in fine form, and he also does Donovan's "Catch the Wind" in a "Byrds" style...Smitty does the funny "I Know", and Paul takes his turn with "New Orleans"..."Night Train" is an instrumental featuring Mark on sax.

The bonus tracks are a terrific, previously unissued "Ride Your Pony", an alternate take of "Just Like Me", and best of all, "B.F.D.R.F. Blues"...a sensational track, it sounds like something you might hear in a smoky blues club, with its jazzy sax solo and marvelous vocal by Mark...it's a treat.

This was my first and most treasured Raider L.P., way back then when one day I turned on the T.V. and found the "Where the Action Is" show, and thought: "Who ARE these guys...and who's the one with the LEGS !!!" Listening to this CD again, after a long absence, it sounds better than ever...still so innovative, fresh, full of fun and goodness...and that incredible energy...as Mark says in his liner notes for this reissue, "...There's a raw enthusiasm on "Just Like Us" that's hard to duplicate".

This is truly a 60's Rock album which you just have to love!! It includes their hit singles Steppin Out and Just like Me!! I have always said that the song Just Like Me!! really shows off Mark Lindsay's unbelieveable voice!! The Album also includes the title song from their 1960's tv show Where The Action Is!!!

Every Song on this album is truly a good song to listen to!! This is one of the Raiders top albums!! Tom

If you were one of those kids who ran home from school in order to see "Where the Action Is", then this album is for you! It's Paul Revere and the Raiders just after they first hit it big on the Dick Clark-produced show! You'll recognize their earliest hits along with some great cover songs. (Most people don't realize that many times the guest stars didn't show and when that happened, PRR had to fill in!!) So kick the sand out of your shoes, relax, enjoy the sun and listen to some great rock from the froot-suited guys who really made it fun!

...and it's not fair that a group that produced so much memorable, and just downright fun music, should be forgotten. It's not just that they were about the most popular group in America between '65 and '68, it's that they were so good at it. I don't ever equate popularity with talent but these guys had it all. Whether singing a Mann/Weill or Boyce/Hart chartbuster or one of their own creations, they nailed it. Take their version of Stepping Stone and compare it to the Monkees. No disrespect to the Monkees but the Raiders version simply shreds the Monkees version. And I LIKE the Monkees version.
This, their second LP is where America's love affair with the boys in the continental suits began in earnest. They had been very hot in the northwest for several years but "Just Like Us" was certainly a turning point. If you want garage rock done extremely well, you got it. I put some Raider tunes on a comp I made for my daughter, and a day later she played Steppin' Out and Baby Please Don't Go asking me "Who are these guys, and why have I never heard them before?!? I could tell her who they were, but not why they had been tossed in the dumpbin of pop music history. Now she has most of their discs and is jonesin' for a release of WTAI on DVD.
Look, it doesn't matter if you're 15 or 50, if you like rock and roll, like it raw AND well played, like fantastic tunes (original and covers) with a sense of joy and a wink and a nod, you won't go wrong here. They are worth more than a best of collection and they continued being good long after their popularity faded. At least get this one, "Midnight Ride" and "Spirit of 67" but those are not the only ones worth having, just the first. My very first concert was a WTAI show featuring Tina Mason, Keith Allison and others, topped off by about 40 minutes of Paul Revere and the Raiders. It's still in my top ten of all time which includes Hendrix, Stones, Prince, Ramones, Talking Heads, Pixies, Roxy Music, Cheap Trick, The Who etc. That's some pretty stiff competition, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was even in a band that wore raider boots (no costumes though, thank goodness) and covered three or four of their songs. I don't mean to go on, but these guys truly deserve respect that matches their output both in terms of quality and popularity. It must have been the goofy costumes. I'll admit it-they WERE silly-but were they any sillier than most of the clothes from that period? A dumb reason to miss a great band. Don't fall for it.

Gear up that 1965 Dodge Coronet 500 and cruise past the cool garage in the Pacific Northwest where Paul Revere & the Raiders launched their cool career. This is an excellent collection of classics and cover versions of other classics and 60s hounds will undoubtedly love it.

The Raiders' heyday of 1965-1967 ran alongside that of other cool garage bands that made it big such as the Sonics with their runaway train, "Have Love Will Travel." Their Pacific Northwestern Peers, the Sonics and the Raiders will certainly have you wanting to jump into your very cool 1965 Dodge Coronet with your satellite set to the Cool Oldies. You will love Drake's incredible guitar style; the folk influence in songs such as "Catch the Wind" and the high powered rock that was a staple in 60s garage band music. You will probably start to dance when you hear "Just Like Me," a 1965 gem that is well loved to this day.

Yes, you do want this collection of timeless classics and you will certainly be glad you have it. Now get that Coronet ready with your cool dial set to songs like this! I just love this collection!

Paul Revere and The Raiders...What can I say. These guys still rock. I saw Paul about 2 years ago in Shreveport and Mark Lindsay just this year (2002). Still rockin'. Just Like Us is the most energetic, fun classic party rock album I have ever heard. This is the best!

I loved this album in the 60's and I love the CD now. Not as polished as their later recordings but much more energetic! This band's best!

Paul Revere and The Raiders, again what can I say these guys are the best. Besides being one of the best albums of all time so is the album cover!!!

Paul Revere and the raiders were a great band but this is when they were at their best because all the original members were allowed to participate. These were talented guys and some of them like mike smith have passed away sadly. However imo pr and r's were on par with the best bands out there at this period and through 1967. This one hasn't a bad song and it has two top ten hits as well. The covers are well done and raiderized into their own. Their version of satisfaction which sounds better in stereo by the way is just awesome. It's too bad the original guys weren't allowed to stick it out and put their input in. As much as I enjoy all that came after 1967 , I can't say that I like it as much as when these guys were a real band pumping out tunes or playing live with energy that few bands have ever matched. So be 'just like us' and grab this one! it's garage band done with real playing ability.

Really, I only know and love Paul Revere and the Raiders from their classic/killer/pop all-time nugget "Kicks" and their runner-up nuggets "Hungry" and "Good Thing" but hearing "Just Like Me" a couple times and liking it I plunked down the cash for this Sundazed re-issue.
What was waiting for me when I spun this disc were the opening back to back gems "Steppin' Out" and "I'll be doggone".
It was now that I fully realized the place Mark Lindsay holds in the pantheon of rock music's hallowed halls.
Listening to him twist and turn around the english language especially on Steppin' Out is a joy.
Steppin' Out is a tour de force and is now one of my favorite Paul Revere songs.
On I'll be doggone, the moment the vox organ comes in, it immediately reminded me of The Lyres circa 1980 as well as Paula Pierce's group the Pandora's. Paul Revere were without question the trademark sound that these two groups emulated.
That organ sound rides through these two pop bonbon's laying down a solid foundation for the icing on the cake, the vocals of Mark Lindsay.
These two tracks kicking off the album left me puzzled why they then diverted to a different formula on the next two songs "Out of Sight" and "Baby Please Don't Go" inserting band mates Drake Levin and Phil Volk in the lead vocal spot.
I admit they do a very good job replicating the growl of Mark Lindsay but they don't come with his full repetoire.
And on track 5 "I Know" even drummer Smitty has a go at the mic with the rest of the band doubling over in laughter as he strains to reach the high notes.
An okay instrumental "Night Train" then follows before we are returned to the winning formula and hit "Just Like Me".
On Just Like Me, listen to Mark S H R E D his tonsils on the chorus when he sings "it's just like you to say goodbye and leave me all alone to cryyyyyyy".
It's also the breathy way he sings during the verses that mesmerizes me.
Following Just Like Me comes something WAYYY out of synch when Levin sings Donovans' "Catch The Wind". Out of place, unnecessary, curious and of no redeeming value.
Really liked Mark's reading of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" where he doesn't try to imitate Mick Jagger and Paul Revere's Farfisa picks an alternate chord to coast on for the main riff.
"I'm Crying" by the Animals is next, sung by Phil Volk and he nails Eric Burdon's vocal perfectly. The Raiders really sound JUST like The Animals on this. It's quite something! One of the non-Lindsay tracks on this disc I really dug.
The previously un-issued "Ride Your Pony" is a slinky Lindsay-sung treasure. cool.
I want to cite the Amazon editorial review product description above when they write
"the entire platter screams with attitude, snarl and snort to spare!", because this is a false statement. Tracks 5,6,8,11 and 12 do not scream with attitude, snarl and snort to spare.