The Young Rascals [Stereo/Mono]

Performer: The Young Rascals
Engineer: Tom Dowd; Roy Cicala; Phil Lehle; Arif Mardin; Tom Dowd; Phil Iehle; Roy Cicala
Producer: The Young Rascals
Distributor: Infinity Entertainment Gr

Notes: The Young Rascals: Gene Cornish (guitars); Dino Danelli, Eddie Brigati, Felix Cavaliere. Personnel: Gene Cornish (vocals, guitar); Felix Cavaliere (vocals, organ); Eddie Brigati (vocals, percussion); Dino Danelli (drums). Liner Note Authors: Bob Rolontz; Richie Unterberger. Recording information: A&R Studios, New York, NY; Atlantic Studios. Photographers: Jerry Schatzberg; James J. Kreigsmann. The first album by New Jersey's esteemed Young Rascals is in many ways a standard mid '60s debut: pretty much all covers, from the Beau Brummels' "Just a Little" to Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour," leavened by two hit singles, "I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore" and the immortal blue-eyed soul rave-up "Good Lovin'," one of the classic pop songs of the decade. The difference here is that the Young Rascals--singer Eddie Brigati, keyboardist Felix Cavaliere, guitarist Gene Cornish and jazz drummer Dino Danelli--play these songs with the enthusiasm of a young band at the local roadhouse, making even the most cliched of the covers ("Mustang Sally") sound like brand-new band originals. Hell, they even pull off a smokin' version of "Like a Rolling Stone"! Wisely, Rhino chose to reissue this album in mono instead of using the more common but sub-par fake-stereo mix. The history of '60s rock is littered with stories of great rock classics -- the Savages' album, the Thirteenth Floor Elevators' first two albums, the first two Chocolate Watch Band albums -- that should have been better known than they were. The Young Rascals is that rare example of a genuinely great album that got heard and played, and sold and sold, and sold some more (and that goes double for the New York City area, whence they came). Apart from the presence of a hit ("Good Lovin'") to drive sales, every kid (and his girlfriend) in any aspiring white rock band on the East Coast in 1966 seemingly owned a copy; it seemed like neighborhood and regional pride also helped to drive a few sales -- here was an LP by a group with a hit, on a major label that people had actually heard of, that hailed from where we all lived. Actually, the music's merits were probably enough on their own to justify the popularity of the record -- the Rascals' debut couples a raw garage band sound with compelling white soul more successfully than just about any record since the Beatles' Please Please Me. The band had three powerful singers in Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, and Gene Cornish, and an attack honed in hundreds of hours of playing dance clubs on Long Island and New York City. The result is a record without a weak moment or a false note anywhere in its 35 minutes: "Do You Feel It" shows them crossing swords stylistically with Smokey Robinson & the Miracles; "Just a Little" and "Like a Rolling Stone" show off their folk-rock chops; and "Slow Down," "Good Lovin'," "Mustang Sally," and "In the Midnight Hour" are all '60s rock & roll classics in these versions. "Like a Rolling Stone," in particular, now seems all the more compelling, pointing the way toward a future that included Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower." [The 2007 Collector's Choice CD rates special mention as a reissue for including the mono mix of the album -- this was a four-piece band who sound as though they're working with no overdubs, and mono copies of the album always sounded distinctly better than the stereo edition, the two-channel separation being completely artificial in this instance. True, the producer was Tom Dowd, who undoubtedly did his best with the two-channel mix, so that the stereo version brings out little embellishments in the playing more clearly; but the mono tracks are punchier and crisper, and overall are far more representative of what this group was about -- especially at this stage of their history -- than any stereo mix of this material (drawn, as it was, entirely from their live act) could ever be. What's more, in 1966 this band was aiming for AM radio play, and that meant monaural sound -- FM (which did offer stereo sound) was still unexplored territory for most rock & roll bands and listeners. Anyway you look at it, the stereo mix was inherently secondary in everyone's thinking.] ~ Bruce Eder

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