Customer Reviews

The Robbs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can only agree with the other reviewers who wrote about this CD. Almost every cut is a fantastic encapsulation of the whole feeling of the era, and especially being young during that era. (I can still remember being on a family vacation in Wisconsin with my parents, and the exact stretch of country road we were driving on while "Race with the Wind" was on the AM car radio.) And talk about variety... although there is a consistent Robbs sound throughout the CD, each song offers something a little different - a new rhythm, surprising instrumentation, cool harmonies. "Race with the Wind" is one of THE finest overlooked classic '60's songs. This CD will only get better the more you play it. HOWEVER, let it be known that although the original LP was issued in stereo, this CD reissue is in MONO. As the stereo mixes did offer a little more clarity to the different instruments, this is unfortunate, but still should not deter you from getting this great CD.

I was extremely pleased to see this CD finally available. I grew up with a lot of these songs living in Wisconsin. Hard to believe they never broke out nationally because the bulk of these songs are as good as a lot of what their contemporaries like the Grass Roots were putting out at the same time. Might be more a reflection on the poor marketing often times associated with Mercury records (i.e., see Graham Parker). As other reviewers have pointed out, "Race With the Wind" is an outright masterpiece. Other excellent songs include Violets of Dawn, Rapid Transit, Cynthia Loves It and of course, Bittersweet which I believe was the closest The Robbs ever got to a national hit. Interestingly, when I first heard Rapid Transit way back when, I thought it was Roger McGuinn and The Byrds. The final song, Jolly Miller is quite a departure from their sunny pop style, but is also quite good. Sound quality is overall decent though nothing exceptional. Just a really nice little nugget from the late 60's of well crafted pop music that somehow never found its way to the top of the charts. Now if we could get an official cd release from the post-Robbs band Cherokee which was made up of most of the same musicians and features the lost classic song "Girl I've Got News For You".

The blitz of reissues wrought by the CD revolution leaves one to wonder if there really are undiscovered gems still in the vaults. The reissue of this mid-West folk-rock-psych-pop-bubblegum band's one and only LP emphatically proves the answer to be Yes! Though their singles, first for an assortment of indies, later for Mercury, Atlantic, Dunhill and ABC barely scraped the bubbling-under section of Billboard's charts, they left behind a legacy of outstanding pop music that neatly fuses folk-rock, psychedelic/garage and bubblegum.

Originally formed in Wisconsin, the Robbs landed a spot as Dick Clark's house band for "Where the Action Is" and a contract with Mercury. Their singles added up to this 1967 album, supplemented by a pair of non-single tracks, and touched #200 on the Billboard LP chart for but a single week. The release then disappeared (except, perhaps, for baby-boomers who had the pleasure to dance to The Robbs at Midwest shows) until Collectors' Choice thankfully rescued it from its undeserved obscurity.

Though the band created a few superb covers, including the sunshine-harmony of Eric Anderson's "Violets of Dawn," the polished garage pop of Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan's "Bittersweet," and a Byrds-styled rock arrangement of the chilling folk standard "Jolly Miller," their seven originals are perhaps even better. The rolling drums of "Cynthia Loves" bring to mind Tommy Roe, with a melody and sunshine harmonies that are just waiting for Rooney to take a dip. "Rapid Transit" borrows the vocal stutter from The Five Americans' "Western Union" to fine effect, and a Revolver-era backwards guitar permeates "Next Time You See Me." Whether or not The Robbs created these innovations, they played them out for all they were worth.

It's truly unfortunate that Mercury was never able to translate the band's regional success into a national breakthrough. Doubly surprising given their exposure on "Where the Action Is" and in teen magazines. This is an all-too-short audio diary of a band who deserved greater exposure in their time. Now where's the collection of their pre-Mercury singles?

Its been a long time coming. Never did I think I would see "The Robbs" on CD. This is good music that has all but believed lost in the Milwaukee area. These guys were one of the hottest bands around town back in the late 60's.
These guys use to sell out high school dances and were the talk of the town back when life was just a little bit simplier for all of us.
There were times when I would turn on my transistor radio and hope that {Race With The Wind}or {Bittersweet} would be the next song I would hear on the old top 40 radio station; WOKY. And now , all I have to do is pull up {Cynthia Loves It} or {Rapid Transit} any time I want to on my computer and relive some of the more pleasurable times in my life.
For me, this CD rates a 5+. The songs are simple and so well produced. I always felt that "The Robbs" should have gotten more national recognition just based on this album alone. Life don't get much better than this.

This album is an absolute trip back in time, when music from one of the best bands out of Milwaukee rose to the top! My brother Dick introduced me to them when I was about 11 years old. He was the bass player in another Milwaukee band called "Rob, Roy and the Rest". Together with The Robbs, they traveled the Milwaukee-Madison-Chicago circuit with the likes of the Ricochettes, the Skunks, and about 25 other local bands. This is music when things like girls, heartbreak, cars and the early exploration of the anti-war sentiment came out of the garages of the Midwest through music that was simple but able to be played live in ways today's artists could only dream of. This is music without synthesizers, before we lost the innocence of Viet Nam, when piling your friends in the back seat of your 65 Impala and heading to the drive-in was cool.

Race with the Wind is an airwave dream heard in a thousand high schools and local pavilions. An absolutely superb 60's song. Cynthia Loves Me may be classified as bubble gum, but you have to remember that this was when times were much simpler and music didn't have to be filled with obscenities and screams.

Get this album and regain your innocence!

A long lost, but (apparently) not completely forgotten 1967 AM pop treasure. Speaking of which, I'm sure that I vaguely remember this band. The Robbs were discovered by none other than Dick Clark. Tunes here that showed some promise were "Race With The Wind", the memorable "Cynthia Loves", the Association-like "Bittersweet", "In A Fun Sort Of Way" and "Jolly Miller". Line-up: Dee Robb and Joe Robb - guitar & vocals, Bruce Robb - keyboards & vocals and Craig Krampf - drums. Only downside of this ten track CD is it's duration of 26:48. Should definitely appeal to fans of the Turtles, Monkees, Paul Revere & The Raiders, the Hollies and Left Banke.

Ahh, The Robbs. My favorite pop song in the Spring/Summer of 1966 was "Race With The Wind". I was overjoyed to discover this anthology of Robbs tunes available on CD some 41 years after the fact (again - thanks, Amazon!). Having bought the original "Race" 45 (which I still have), I was also familiar with the flip-side offering: "In a Funny Sort of Way"; not the greatest composition, but a cute mid-'60s Irish/Celtic[?]-sounding ditty about a typical anti-establishment "hippie"-type fellow. Then in '67 came the final Robbs song I ever heard: "Rapid Transit" - a takeoff on the 5 American's "Western Union".

Come to find out that, not only did this band produce way more songs than I was aware of, they are also quite the professional musicians/songwriters/producers (check them out on Google/Wikepedia, etc. The results will be quite surprising).

Another aspect I find delightful: the variety of song types. I don't know if there are two songs on this disc that sound similar let alone the same (unlike many bands that have their own recognizable "signature" sound). The imagination/creativity of these guys is something I find very appealing. Besides "Race" (which sounds great on this CD - especially compared to the original 45), my favorite tracks are:

1) "Next Time You See Me" - I'll describe it as a break-up song with a happy ending for its protagonist (its scoring includes an odd, synthesized-sounding string-instrument accompaniment that, from what I understand, is actually a guitar played by noneother than Leon Russell - with the recorded track played backwards to boot [apparently Leon was inspired by the reverse track-playing at the end of the Beatles' "Rain"]). The song has beautiful harmonies (these guys have great-sounding voices) and a unique, almost bolero-like drum rhythm/tempo - essentially the same as that of the Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown".

2) "Cyntia Loves" - another unique - this time quick-tempo (the opening drum part is very similar to that of the famous song "Wipeout") composition with an interesting Japanese-sounding instrument playing during the song's "B" section (I don't know if it's a string instrument or an organ/synthesizer; I think it may be the latter). A kind of happy-sad song with some beautiful harmonies that describes one of man's most feared adversaries: a girl who seems to delight in breaking guys' hearts.

3) A piece of esoteric, almost "psychedelic" mid-late 1960s style and sound - and one done quite well, thank you - is "Violets at Dawn". It's a mono recording but still has great sound. It's a love song (quick-tempo, not a ballad) that to me suggests that wonderful "Fresh New Dawn/New Horizon" mindset that I found so appealing back during my (unfortunately naive yet utterly idealistic/optimistic) late teens. Again, the singing and playing are first rate: very tight and well balanced (though on this mono track some of the lyrics are a bit difficult for me to make out).

All in all I find this a most delightful compilation of '60s-era tunes; very colorful, much variety, and first-rate performances - both sonically and skill/talent-wise. Only quibble is that some of the remastered/remixed sound is a bit harsh (something I find to be the case with many re-issued classic pop-music CDs). The Robbs deserve more credit than they ever received. Hopefully this disc will help amend the situation, although very belatedly.

Very happy with my CD. Didn't think I could ever find it. Thanks for your prompt service.

i guess i like this music because i grew up in that era ialso like the robbs be cause they are from my home state and they sound like so many of the groups around that time ithought all the songs were fine