search and destroy: The Young Rascals

S: Any good hits collection. "Time Peace," the original best-of, is great, but came out just before their biggest hit, "People Got to Be Free." The self-titled debut is good, sometimes better, and the "Groovin'" album is excellent. (Non-single favorite: "Find Somebody.")

Was there a thread on this before?

I notice that the CBS Orchestra plays "A Girl Like You" a lot for visiting actresses.

"Groovin'" is the number 1 Summer jam of all time.

I've loved this group ever since, kings of primo white soul and slick AM radio rock. But they got belatedly "psychedelic" and kinda bad around 1970.
Haha, I just read an interview with Tom Dowd where he said that when the other Atlantic and Stax artists heard The Beatles's studio experiments they said "That's fine for them, they're British" but The Rascals said "We gotta have that on our record!"

Here is the interview.

Just got a 2CD Rhino Anthology of the Rascals (in a charity shop round the corner from Victoria Station, I was meeting a guy who was selling a bass to my brother - a Wal, nice bass - but got there early and was wandering around, then it started raining so I ducked into this charity shop and discovered this and Planxty 1st album and the extended "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" too, glad I went in!) so I'm going to immerse myself in them for a while. One of those American bands that never made any real impression in the UK (one Top 10 + one Top 40 hit and nothing else). Surprised they don't get more love here.

Their three #1s suffer from overplay, but "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" still sounds great to me.

They don't get played here at all!

That would make a difference for sure. Of the three, I like "Groovin'" best.

In fact it was years before I heard "Good Lovin'", I only knew the Residents' version on "Third Reich 'n' Roll"!

"Groovin'" used to get UK radio play a lot when I was a kid but probably not now that everything's shit. Could never overplay it, anyway.

Early incarnation of this band is really good, they're almost like the ultimate Mod band except I doubt any Mods had ever heard of them. Psychedelic influenced stuff I like too but the later band gets a bit wearisome, all that relentlessly upbeat social consciousness stuff, Curtis Mayfield can get away with it but they can't. I suppose the Anthology I talked about upthread gives the game away, first CD is 1965-67 and lasts 70-odd minutes, second is 1968-72 and lasts 50-odd minutes. This is true though:

I'll give the Rascals credit - in the 70's, all the white soul singers of the 60's either turned to rock or country, but the Rascals actually kept up with the changes in black music,

In fact it was years before I heard "Good Lovin'", I only knew the Residents' version on "Third Reich 'n' Roll"!

Which, infuriatingly, keeps going through my head!

I love the Rascals & given their saturation on oldies stations in the USA (at least back in the day, now they play as much soft rock from the 80s as 60s pop) I'm surprised how little critical discussion there is of them (yeah I know, lol @ me for wanting such discussion but w/e). These songs were huge to me growing up, as huge as the Supremes' hits, or CCR, & yet the Rascals are hardly ever talked about anymore (whereas the Supremes & CCR obv still get attention). What's the score?

"People Got to Free" I heard with fresh ears the other day. Great stuff.

Their biggest problem is overexposure over the years on oldies radio and being used for scenes in all sorts of boomer-geared comedies and commercials in the 80s and 90s.

"Beautiful Morning" is an all-time classic too -- but there's the boomer thing again: it soundtracks a memorable scene in "Kingpin," also.

just sent a song to a friend, his response.

"I am never around my computer anymore, but I do love Kingpin."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrpLpbqBYsw

I've really enjoyed the later jazzier lps but do like their soully garage or garagey blue-eyed soul earlier stuff too.

Pretty exciting band...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mlj8nuJbNQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBDLxmOxWjA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs5r7pGZRGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWqTfIHTLfM
RIP, Dino.

One of the few things I hold against Tom Dowd is that he dissed The Rascals.

Dino's fun to watch in this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNJbVFW5Pw

Just got ambushed by "Good Lovin'" on satellite radio oldies--I've heard it a million times, but really struck now by how hard it goes for an across-the-board smash in early '66.

oh yeah, if this song had come out 20 years later, you'd see videos of people destroying furniture to it.

hell this was them going hard at the Tonys in 2013!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7qSos2-D5M