I didn't know they were this cool...

[PWV]

I always associated them with campy cheesy schtick before....  until I saw this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Yb9sZSrK0




 

[PWV]

.... and here they are today:
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ11ineONPk&feature=related

[Dave W]

Paul Revere & the Raiders were a really great band  during that era (1965-67), and much more popular than most people think today.

After Fang, Drake and Smitty left, they weren't so great. But I have to hand it to Paul Revere, still going strong after all these years.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Hungry & Indian Reservation are great ol' songs!! Doncha LOVE youtube?
Who else remembers Shindig & Hollywood a Go Go?? hahaaa
Good fun.

[the mojo hobo]

All their early hits like Kicks, Hungry, Just Like Me, Steppin Out had prominent bass lines. Which is why after Fang left they weren't so great anymore.

Looks like Fang played an Epi Embassy at one point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaYURxmUeGY

[Dave W]

Yeah, there are photos of him with the Embassy. Don't know if it's on any recordings. The story I heard was that in 1967 Terry Melcher wanted to use studio musicians on recordings and that made Fang and Drake unhappy so they left. No idea if it's true.

It wasn't just the absence of the prominent bass lines after Fang. They also softened the music, made it more pop than rock. I didn't like any of the post-Fang era songs except Let Me. I didn't like Mark Lindsey's solo stuff, Arizona and Silver Bird, catchy pop tunes but just so cliched. Same with Indian Reservation. It didn't sound anything like the early songs, and supposedly it was actually a Mark Lindsey solo track that got released as a Raiders tune.

[gweimer]

From Wikipedia:
"Indian Reservation" ("The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian") is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. It was first recorded in in 1959 by Marvin Rainwater, and released as "The Pale Faced Indian". Rainwater's MGM-release stayed unnoticed. The first hit version was a cover of 1968 by Don Fardon, a former member of The Sorrows and it went to #20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the UK Singles Chart [1].

In 1971 Paul Revere & the Raiders released it on the Columbia Records label and it became #1 on the U.S. chart [2]. The RIAA gold certification followed on 30 June 1971, for selling over a million copies.

__________
Google found this:
A well-known story is that when Loudermilk was asked by American Top 40 radio show about the story behind the Raider's hit Indian Reservation, he concocted a tale that he wrote the song after crashing his car in a blizzard and being kidnapped by Cherokee Indians. He claimed that they tortured him for days and only let him go after he promised to write a song about their plight. DJ Casey Kasem ran the story about four times and called it the "one of the most incredible stories we've ever told on AT40"

[sflajimmy]

I really dug the "Raiders" I used to watch a show called "Where The Action Is" and they were the unofficial hosts I think. I read an old review once that referred to them as hard rock LOL but I guess some of those tunes would've been called that back in those days like "Hungry" and "Just Like Me". They were the first band that started me thinking I wanted to be a rockstar....That never happened but I did start noticing the  bass lines. I guess you could say they were my earliest influence. I see my Mark Lindsay hosts a classic rock radio show up in the Northwest and the Raiders still gig.

[gweimer]

I've done "Kicks" in the past, and it's a fun song to do.  It would be fun to be able to do "Good Thing" sometime.

[Barklessdog]

i remember their TV show where they drove a hotrod stagecoach in the beginning

[Dave W]

i remember their TV show where they drove a hotrod stagecoach in the beginning

I think that was Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is". Not really their show, but they were on so often it might as well have been. George Barris (who also designed the Batmobile for TV) made that. His company later put out a scale model version.

[Dave W]

From Wikipedia:
"Indian Reservation" ("The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian") is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. ...

In 1971 Paul Revere & the Raiders released it on the Columbia Records label and it became #1 on the U.S. chart [2]. The RIAA gold certification followed on 30 June 1971, for selling over a million copies...

I'm aware it's a John D. Loudermilk song. Most people have never heard of him, he wrote Tobacco Road and many more, country and pop. He's in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Also first cousin of Charlie and Ira Louvin.

But I've read several times over the years that Indian Reservation was recorded as a Mark Lindsey solo. It was a marketing move to release it as a Raiders tune. Pretty good move.