The Rascals: "Groovin'" To Some "Good Lovin'" On "A Beautiful Morning"
Written: Aug 13 '04 (Updated Aug 13 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: Top 40 hits:"Groovin',""You Better Run,""Lonely Too Long,""A Beautiful Morning,""How Can I Be Sure"...
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: Contains 10 Hot 100 hits:"How Can I Be Sure,""A Beautiful Morning,""You Better Run,""A Girl Like You,""Groovin',""Good Lovin'" and more.
Don_Krider's Full Review: Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits by The Rasca...
The Rascals (who once billed themselves as The Young Rascals) offered something for everyone among their 18 Billboard Hot 100 Singles between 1965 and 1971 --- pop, soul, rock, rhythm & blues and jazz influences can be heard in the music of a New York band.
They were unique and exciting enough that Sid Bernstein, the man often credited with bringing The Beatles to the U. S., became their manager. According to Dick Clark, in his book "The First Twenty-Five Years Of Rock And Roll," Bernstein announced the arrival of The Rascals on the music scene at The Beatles' August 1965 appearance at Shea Stadium via the stadium's electronic scoreboard with the message, "The Rascals Are Here!" (prompting folks to ask "Who are The Rascals?").
Critics once labelled The Rascals as "the groups' group" because their concerts were as likely to be attended by the hottest musicians in the world as they were by loving fans. People often seen in the audience at their shows included members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals and Beatles' manager Brian Epstein.
People who wondered what "The Rascals Are Here!" message meant soon began buying Rascals singles and albums by the millions.
The Rascals took 13 of their singles into the U. S. Top 40, with three singles making it to # 1 on the charts: "Good Lovin'," "Groovin'" (four weeks in the top spot) and "People Got To Be Free."
They dominated the Top 200 Albums charts in Billboard magazine as well, charting with 10 albums between 1965 and 1972. The album being reviewed here, "Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits," is a steady-seller even today and hit # 1 on the Billboard charts in 1968.
Between 1966 and 1968, four Rascals albums each spent over a year in the Billboard Top 200, with "The Young Rascals" in 1966 logging 84 weeks on the chart (it hit # 15), "Collections" charting for 74 weeks (it peaked at # 14), "Groovin'" tagging up for 59 weeks (peaking at # 5) and "Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits" reaching # 1 during its 58-week chart attack.
Along the way, the band also won Gold Record Awards for three million-selling singles ("Groovin'," "A Beautiful Morning" and "People Got To Be Free") and for five of their albums.
The band's founding members included Felix Cavaliere, Dino Danelli and Eddie Brigati, all veterans of pop success with Joey Dee & His Starlighters (who hit # 1 with "Peppermint Twist - Part 1" in 1961 and scored a # 2 album that same year with "Doin' The Twist At The Peppermint Lounge").
Danelli, one of the most stylish drummers in rock, had also played with Lionel Hampton. When he, Cavaliere and Brigati added Canadian guitarist Gene Cornish to the mix, they became The Young Rascals, and later shortened their band name to just The Rascals.
In more recent years, the band's members have remained active, recording or touring with various artists and being inducted in 1997 into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1996.
At the close of the 1990s, Danelli and Cornish took The New Rascals on tour in the U. S. with guitarist Wally Bryson of The Raspberries sitting in (Danelli, Cornish and Bryson had recorded together in the late '70's as Fotomaker, with Atlantic Records releasing the best of Fotomaker's recordings as "The Fotomaker Collection" in 1995 on CD through Rhino Records).
This CD:
First released in the summer of 1968, "Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits" spent 58 weeks on the Billboard charts beginning July 13, 1968. It peaked at # 1 and was certified as a Gold Record Award winner.
It contains 14 tracks, 10 of which made the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, including the Top 40 hits "Good Lovin'," "You Better Run" (The Rascals hit # 20 with the tune in 1966; Pat Benatar covered the tune in 1980 for a # 42 charting hit), "Lonely Too Long," "Groovin'," "A Girl Like You," "How Can I Be Sure," "It's Wonderful" and "A Beautiful Morning."
The CD booklet is six pages long: two pages of cover art (Dino Danelli helped create the cover art), a photo of the band and a listing of songs (with lead singer info) are included, but no lyrics or band bio.
The tracks:
"I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" (their first hit in 1965, it peaked at # 52), "Good Lovin'," "You Better Run," "Come On Up," "Mustang Sally," "Love Is A Beautiful Thing," "In The Midnight Hour," "Lonely Too Long" and "Groovin'."
Also, "A Girl Like You," "How Can I Be Sure," "It's Wonderful," "Easy Rollin'" and "A Beautiful Morning."
Recommendation:
Nice, inexpensive introduction to the music of one of the best music groups of the 1960's.
Note: A more expensive, comprehensive collection is "Anthology: 1965-72" (which I reviewed at http://www.epinions.com/musc-review-4AF2-1078CBBC-38BB6791-prod5) and you might want to seek that out in the future if "Time Peace: The Rascals Greatest Hits" excites you. "Anthology" has 39 tracks and a 52-page CD booklet.
The best songs:
"Good Lovin'":
The Rascals second single went straight to # 1 in early 1966, with the band's trademark "blue-eyed soul" sound, Dino Danelli's wild drumming, Cornish's wild guitar slashing (I'm still wondering why he switched to bass guitar years later in Fotomaker) and Cavaliere's throaty vocal:
"(Good love, good love, good love) / I was feelin' so bad / I asked my family doctor just what I had / I said, 'Doctor (doctor), Mr. M.D. (doctor) / Now, can you tell me, what's ailin' me?' (doctor) / He said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah' (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) / With me, all I really need is good love (good love) / Now give me that good, good lovin'..."
Just try to sit still when "Good Lovin'" is playing! Good-timey, uptempo pop 'n' soul.
"You Better Run":
Written by band members Cavaliere and Brigati, "You Better Run" is slightly menacing rock 'n' roll, a very different sound on Top 40 radio in 1966:
"...whatcha' tryin' to do to my heart? / you go around tellin' lies, you're fooling around with other guys / whatcha' tryin' to do to my heart? / you better run, you better hide, you better leave from my sight..."
"How Can I Be Sure":
An absolutely gorgeous, cabaret-inspired pop ballad, filled with lush orchestration. I adore this tune and Eddie Brigati's wonderous lead vocal.
Written by Brigati and Cavaliere, "How Can I Be Sure" is a pop masterpiece, sophisticated beyond the years of the lead singer and a song that captures your heart in its sweetness. The tune peaked at # 4 in 1967:
"How can I be sure in a world that's constantly changing / how can I be sure where I stand with you? / whenever I, whenever I'm away from you / I wanna die, because you know I wanna stay with you / how do I know, maybe you're trying to use me / flying too high can confuse me, touch me but don't take me down..."
"It's Wonderful":
Written by Cavaliere and Brigati, who share a vocal duet here, "It's Wonderul" is a forgotten classic that peaked at # 20 in 1967-68. Kind of Manfred Mann meets the Left Banke and The Choir, it's a gorgeous little pop tune in which the pride of New York sounds more British than American:
"...all of my glory made me much more aware of the problem we share / if we unite it'll turn out right / it's wonderful, you can feel it, believe me / it's wonderful, everything'll turn out right / it's wonderful, I'm gonna take you with me..."
"Lonely Too Long":
The song is actually "I've Been Lonely Too Long," but on this CD they list it (three times) as "Lonely Too Long," so that's how I'll refer to it here.
Written and sung by Felix Cavaliere, "Lonely Too Long" peaked at # 16 in 1967 during a 14-week chart run. Very Motown-ish in its rock 'n' soul vibe, the tune still gets massive airplay on Classic Rock stations nearly four decades later:
"...as I look back / I can see me lost and searching / now I find I that can choose, I'm free, oh yeah / so funny, I just have to laugh / all my troubles have been torn in half / I've been lonely too long (he's been lonely too long) / lonely too long (he's been lonely)..."
"A Beautiful Morning":
Written by Cavaliere and Brigati, "A Beautiful Morning" sold a million copies as a single in 1968, peaking at # 3 during a 13-week chart run.
Lead singer Felix Cavaliere is a delight here, so soulful and playful with the lyrics as he sings this bright, uptempo, horn-driven ballad (Danelli's skillful drumming should be noted, too --- never over-powering and just right-on-the-mark for the tune's tempo):
"It's a beautiful mornin', ahhh / I think I'll go outside for a while / an' just smile / just take in some clean fresh air, boy / ain't no sense in stayin' inside / if the weather's fine an' you got the time / it's your chance to wake up and plan another brand new day / either way, it's a beautiful mornin', ahhh..."
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