Albums that time forgot (1).

The Young Rascals/"Groovin'" (1967)

 

 

Issued at the very height of the Summer of Love, it's really absurd that this record isn't generally considered to be among that season's very best.  Obviously though, it's up against some fairly fierce competition ("Sgt. Pepper", "Surrealistic Pillow", "Headquarters", "Are You Experienced", "Younger Than Yesterday", "Forever Changes", etc.).

Nonetheless, it is one of those rare records where nearly every single cut is a classic.  The only song I have the very slightest of beef with here is also the only cover; namely Stevie Wonder's "A Place in the Sun".  Don't get me wrong, it's all very nice'n'smooth, but also so very unnecessary.  Why does a band that can come up with self-penned classics such as "Groovin'", "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure" (covered by everyone from Dusty Springfield to David Cassidy) and "You Better Run", all on the same album, need to cover anyone - even though it's a genius like Stevie Wonder?!  Well, I might be 45 years late, but I'm just asking... 

 

 

Their third and last LP as the YOUNG Rascals, "Groovin'" is also their best - bar none.  In it, all the elements of the unparalleled Rascals sound come together and blend perfectly.  Garage rock meets Pop meets Psychedelia meets Latin, via their ever winsome Blue-eyed Soul which no other band of any era ever bettered.

 

   

 

Unusual for albums made in the late '60s which were more often than not issued both in Stereo and Mono, this is a record clearly made just for Stereo.  One of its highlights, "Find Somebody" is a good example of that.

 



 

Apart from the obvious hits - AND "Find Somebody" - Gene Cornish's "I'm So Happy Now" and "I Don't Love You Anymore" are also eye-openers and prove that he was another songwriting force to be reckoned with within the Rascals' ranks, although Felix Cavaliere's and Eddie Brigati's songs were usually chosen as the singles.

So "A Girl Like You", the album's opener and another Cavaliere/Brigati composition, became one of the record's biggest hits.  And as this following live performance from the Ed Sullivan Show on June 4th, 1967, goes to show - regardless of the screaming girls in the audience - The Rascals were an amazing bunch of musicians.  Their drummer Dino Danelli just might be one of the unsung heroes of '60s Pop.  

 



 

Curiously, "You Better Run" was more than a year old when it appeared on the "Groovin'" album.  Issued as a single in May 1966, it owed a lot more to the (Young) Rascals' Garage rock roots than the rest of the album.  The excellent "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" from the Young Rascals' self-titled debut LP is another good example of that particular side of the Rascals.  

Never mind The Kinks, along with Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Rascals were responsible for bringing Garage rock - a predecessor to Punk - into the American mainstream...and Top 10.

 

 

After "Groovin'", the Rascals certainly continued to make great singles, but, unfortunately, never made another great album.  Good albums - yes, but "Groovin'" remains their sole crowning moment in that area.  



 

tbc.



 

I've just witnessed the demise of Rock & Roll as we know it...

It happened in the unlikeliest of places under the unlikeliest of circumstances.  But that, after all, is how the great ones often go.

Reg Presley, the legendary lead singer of the even more legendary Troggs suffered a stroke a couple of years back.  A massive one by all accounts.  Thankfully, he survived it.  But everyone worried that that was it performance-wise for the man best known for bringing "Wild Thing" to the masses, as well as nearly single-handedly inventing Garage Rock and Punk Rock in the process.  Unintentionally of course.  No mean feat that.

But good old Reg soldiered on.  Insisted on it as a matter of fact.  And the (re)appearence of The Troggs at the "21. Oldie Night Live" festival in Gugahalle, Essen, Germany on Saturday December the 3rd 2011 was supposed to be his big comeback of sorts.  The proof he could still cut it, still roar proudly through '60s classics like "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", "I Can't Control Myself", "Love is All Around" and all the rest.  But that wasn't to be.  Well, not exactly.

As soon as The Troggs took to the stage just after 9 pm on that fateful Saturday night, in between German '60s act The Rattles and an odd yet presentable version of T.Rex, it became painfully clear that all was not well.  Reg seemed exhausted and, honestly, in over his head from the get-go.  Every now and then he even needed to sit down for a rest, which made some of the ill-informed audience (needless to say, the promoter should have made the situation clear beforehand) jump to the conclusion that he was either drunk or drugged - if not both.  But according to long-serving Troggs bassist Pete Lucas, "Reg has never done drugs and he's not a boozer.  He wouldn't even know what to do with a line of coke".
And although Reg certainly tried to explain the situation, due to the inevitable language-barrier that explanation somehow got lost in the translation and a portion of the punters just booed!  It was such a sad spectable it beggars belief.

Nonetheless, under these, the most dire of circumstances, the band bravely trawled through some of of their best known songs, such as "Give it to Me", "Anyway That You Want Me" and "Love is All Around", as well as a cover or two ("Walking the Dog"). 
Reg just barely managed to deliver the ever touching epitaph contained in arguably The Troggs' best-loved song (covered by everyone from R.E.M. to Wet Wet Wet), "Love is All Around"; "It's written on the wind, it's everywhere I go.  So if you really love me come on and let it show".  But merely a small fraction of the audience saw fit to do just that.  Fucking shameful!
As Bay City Roller Eric Faulkner commented later on in his band's set: "I hope you realise how priviliged you've been to see Reg Presley perform".  Well, I for one felt privilidged.

But the worst was yet to come.  As the band was - prematurely in Reg's obvious opinion - going to wrap things up quickly with the obligatory "Wild Thing", Reg stopped them in their tracks by shouting "No, no, no!" and instead preceded to introduce their sole no.1 U.K. hit "With a Girl Like You" - a Reg Presley compostion no less.  But then the clueless emcee, probably sent in by the promoter to "salvage" the situation, cut Reg off mid-sentence by announcing a short break until the next act would be on.  What have they done to my song, Ma, indeed!? 

Sadly, Reg just sat there stunned and motionless for a few moments until he, like his bandmates had done before him, staggered off the stage, beaten and humiliated. 

Reg Presley, one of the most distinctive voices in Rock, had been silenced with a dismissive shrug!  Meanwhile, the shrilling "Oh, no!" scream which opens "I Can't Control Myself" (covered by both The Ramones and Joan Jett) is one of the defining moments in Rock history.  People should just try to keep a fucking perspective!

       

After the show, at the local Holiday Inn bar, I was lucky enough to run into 3/4 of The Troggs (Regrettfully, Reg had gone to bed), who were all just gutted.  "It was a great show", I tried to lie to Pete Lucas.  "No it wasn't", he replied.  "But thank you for saying so".  

Pete admitted tearfully though, that this was probably Reg's last show with the band, and that they will most likely continue as a three-piece from now on.  It took a minute or two to sink in: Reg Presley, one of the last great front men of one of the last great Rock bands, has probably performed his last not-so-great-show.

Furthermore, T.Rex drummer Paul Fenton (he played with Marc Bolan for chrissakes!) delivered a speech in honour of Reg which left no one in attendance untouched and brought a somber - if not altogether sober - conclusion to the precedings.

The clean-living, often odd UFO enthusiast can hopefully now bow-out gracefully, safe in the knowledge that he, much like his namesake from Memphis, TN., has given Rock and Roll his all. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Reg Presley has left the building...

Reg Presley in Essen Dec. 3rd 2011.

PS: If this sounds too much like an eulogy I do apolgise.  Reg is still very much among the living and this is merely my meager tribute to him.  

I  would like to thank Pete Lucas - a true gentleman - for sharing with me his time and thoughts.  I do hope he will not be cross with me for quoting him here without permission, but at the time of our conversation I had not planned to write about it.  Afterwards, however, I felt COMPELLED to do so.

A very special thanks also to "Wizzo", an avid Troggs fan from Sweden, who set me straight on a couple of things.  Tack!

This writer (left) with Reg Presley (right) in October 2008.

What excactly is that thing above Reg's head there?  Cue The Twilight Zone intro...

 

 

Reg Presley obituary (February 2013)