Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So this is what is was like, February 27, 2005
I was just entering kindergarten when The Remains broke up (fall '66), but I was fortunate enough to have seen Barry Tashian, Bill Briggs, Vern Miller and Chip Damiani headline at the Nov. 1998 Cavestomp festival in NYC (there's a Kozik poster in my kitchen autographed by them) and the following March at the Paradise in their original stomping grounds, Boston.
Jon Weiss' Cavestomp festivals ('97-01) were incredibly great moments in rock'n'roll history because they brought back as many of the original garage greats of the '60s as possible, but the only thing that was biologically impossible was for the musicians to go back in time and replicate the crease-sharp feel and manic energy of their youth. This is as good as it's gonna get -- a clean, clear, loud tape of what a mid-'60s band was really like in a studio in the mid-'60s.
(Two nitpicky factual errors from previous posts: The Remains opened for The Beatles in '66 at Shea Stadium, not Yankee Stadium; and this "Session" was recorded in New York, after a gig there.)
People who need the historical A-through-Z's need to get the Epic "Barry & the Remains" disc -- but then go back and get this one. To some extent, this is the real, untold, seamy-underbelly story of rock'n'roll come to life -- of a band dragging themselves into a recording studio early in the morning after playing their hearts out for three or four sets till after 2 a.m. for lousy pay at some dark club, auditioning for yet another record label that was going to underplay and underpay them.
This disc really gives a vivid, unfaded snapshot of a '60s band at the top of its game, playing as if their lives depended on it even though they were wiped out from the night before. With all the covers mixed in with the originals, it also gives a solid sense of what their nightclub playlists were like. If you love historical context as much you love as great rock'n'roll, you really do get the best of both worlds here.
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"What's wrong with you man, what's wrong?", March 31, 2005
For more details read the other reviews, but as a quick recap--Boston scorchers The Remains while amidst a long term gig in NYC were offered an "audition" at Capitol Records. Showing up in the AM hours of Friday, May 26th 1966, after a club date the prior evening which most likely ran until the wee hours of the morning, The Remains recorded this set which you are now inquiring about.
I'll be honest, I just came across this CD recently, but I felt compelled to write something here just in hopes of making at least one more person buy this. This "session" is pure attitude! From the first track, the cover of "Hang on Sloopy," a song I've never really been fond of, I knew this band was for real. Seriously, when Tashian gives the "1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4" around the :30 second mark they just explode. Sure the tempo is all over the place but can you really control raw energy? After a little studio banter they then power through the Kinks "All Day and All of the Night." A great Remains original, "Why Do I Cry," follows (the guitar solo on the second version of "Why Do I Cry" on this disc is even more scorching). Even on slower fare like "When I Want To Know" the boys don't lose their raw edge. I won't go through every track but this set is hot. The playful chit chat between songs shows the confidence of 4 guys on the verge of makin' it big. . . Yet an opening slot on The Beatles summer '66 North American tour led to nada--Capitol passed and The Remains disbanded in November of that same year. Was this a throw away session for Capitol? Whatever the case, these four friends, along with their guitar, bass, drums, keys and amps cranked, grouped together in the center of the huge Capitol Sudio A and rocked this set, and luckily not in vain. Mixed down live to a two-track monaural tape machine, the closest thing to a live recording of a "live" band slipped through the cracks and is here for us now in all it's unrestrained glory. Born too late to see these guys howling and destroying Boston bars with pure rock and roll in person, I'll settle for this CD, which isn't settling at all. Buy it.
|
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Legendary 60s Boston band captured live at their peak, March 22, 2000
It's so rare that a new release lives up to the hype put out by its record company, but this issue of The Remains long-lost Capitol Records live-in-the-studio audition delivers everything Sundazed's copywriters promised and more.While I've always loved The Remains studio recordings (cf. the Epic issue "Barry and The Remains" (Epic/Legacy EGK 46926), the power of their finely honed live set was barely hinted at on their formally released records. This new disc showcases 13 tracks, some previously available on import, many never before issued, and the energy and confidence of this set only suggests what a force they must have been in a club setting. Most of the tracks are covers, including The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" (one can only wonder what The McCoys did with this live), The Kinks' "All Day And All of The Night" (with Tashian adding a leering "baaaby" on to the end of several lines, not to mention his own version of Dave Davies' frantic guitar solo), Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man", Rufus Thomas' "Walkin the Dog", plus several of Barry Tashian's originals, including two versions of "Why Do I Cry", "Ain't That Her" (with amazing live harmonies) and "Why Do I Cry". The chatter in between tracks displays an incredible looseness in the band. Considering this was an audition, and they were really hoping to get off Epic, you'd think they'd be a bit more nervous. Also, considering they were in the middle of a club run, playing gigs that lasted until 3 or 4am, and were in the studio at 10 or 11am to record this set, they sound really fresh. Truly a great find for fans of mid-60s garage rock 'n' roll, and especially for fans of The Remains.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Barry & The Remains
~ Barry & The Remains
~ Shadows Of Knight
~ Moby Grape
by Jerry Leiber
by The Remains 
