I didn’t know Paul Revere & The Raiders were allowed to be seen in public in anything but those stupid Revolutionary War outfits they’re known for wearing. Those things always bummed me out, even when I was a kid who couldn’t get enough of The Band‘s practically Civil War get-up. To this day, when I hear the music of Paul Revere & The Raiders I bob my head and think, These guys were good! These guys were underrated! As soon as I see them in costume, however, I discount their musical achievements.
Townsman diskojoe passed along this YouTube clip, two thirds of which is a 1969 televised lip-syncing performance from Where the Action Is. For the first time ever I get to see the band in groovy civilian clothing, and their music is so much more enjoyable to not only hear but watch. Better yet, as diskojoe pointed out, midway through “Out on the Road” (3:07 mark), Dan Ackroyd‘s Tom Snyder, Catherine O’Hara‘s Lola Heatherton, and an unidentified third go-go dancer storm the stage as if they were beamed in from that space hippie planet from Star Trek.
Watch this clip carefully and you won’t be disappointed in its wealth of intra-band knowing glances and grins. Those of you who know Townsman sethro, my close personal friend, longtime drummer, AND dentist, will recognize his patriotic father banging the skins!
+1 for the dancers, and… man, does the bass player look like Paul McCartney or what? Other than that, (yawn).
Dancer #3: a young Vicki Lawrence?
You don’t appreciate the guitarist’s “What am I doing with my life?” eye rolls around 45 seconds in?
You don’t appreciate the first big appearance by Sethro’s dad, at 1:03?
The keyboardist’s “Shoot, I just hit a bad unamplified chord!” expression at 1:17?
Well, excuse me! I know it’s not on par the greatest live performance ever captured on film, the lip-synced “Join Together,” but I’m surprised at your dismissal.
1969 is too late to have been from Where the Action Is. I think that may have been the show called It’s Happening. Btw that bass player is Keith Allison, a solo artist on Where the Action Is who replaced one of the earlier Raiders at some point. Here is some Waddy-related background:
http://waddywachtelinfo.com/keithallison.html
I liked this, but I never had a problem with The Raiders, no matter what their garb. They had some really great songs and they rocked.
This clip is not from either Where The Action Is or It’s Happening. It comes from a Merv Griffin-type talk show of the era. I have this on a bootleg DVD of Raiders TV appearances that I got from my local used record store. There were 3 other DVDs full of Raider stuff, including one w/nothing but Where The Action Is footage, which gets pretty surreal at times (the Raiders walking around a zoo dressed as cavemen while their version of “My Generation” is playing for example)
I think the rockin’ Paul Revere and the Raiders” were a much underrated group. They were fortunate enough to survive the British invasion. Being that the clip is from 1969.
I gotta say, they are just about as doofus-y in their groovy duds as in their silly-ass Revolutionary War outfits. But I think they are a totally underrated band and, averting ones eyes, I really recommend the collection “Hungry For Kicks: Singles and Choice Cuts, 1965-1969.” Almost all great stuff.