Revere, Paul & The Raiders Indian Reservation/Collage CD

Raven's 2009 two-fer pairs 1970's Collage and 1971's Indian Reservation, the two records released under the Raiders appellation after Mark Lindsay dropped the "Paul Revere" from the band's name. Raven flips the chronological order of the albums so Indian Reservation can kick the disc off with the hit single, then adds two cuts from the 1972 LP Country Wine as bonus tracks ("Country Wine," "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen"). Neither of these albums are very reminiscent of the kicking rock & roll band of the '60s: they're lush '70s AM pop artifacts. Indian Reservation has a decidedly soulful streak, present in the gospelfied "Heaven Help Us All," popularized by Stevie Wonder, and the punching horns of "Just Remember You're My Sunshine," even in the rousing version of Leon Russell's "Prince of Peace." This is balanced by a songwritery sunshine pop bent on the rest of the record, with the Raiders covering Terry Melcher's "Take Me Home," the John D. Loudermilk cover of the title track, the latter-day soft psychedelia of Vanda & Young's "Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia" and a version of Joe South's "Birds of a Feather" that's much mushier than the songwriter's original. Indian Reservation kinda collapses as it closes with Lindsay's lark of "The Turkey" -- sung like Sonny Bono, jamming like hippies -- but it never was the steadiest record anyway: there's not much direction, but there is much to enjoy here. In comparison, Collage is a more cohesive album, fueled by Mark Lindsay pushing the Raiders toward a harder rock, part way between the fuzz guitars of Grand Funk and horns of Chicago, accentuated by lingering affection for country-rock and soul. All these styles do amount to something of a pop collage, but they're all run through an AM pop filter, turning this is into a bright blast of bubblegum. Of course, this bubblegum bent tends to dilute the impact of the Raiders two attempts at social consciousness -- Laura Nyro's "Save the Country" and the closer "We Gotta All Get Together" -- but as a piece of colorful candy, these two cuts are as effective lite pop as Lindsay's two spacy co-writes with Terry Melcher and all his detours into harder rock. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

First time on CD, two original, classic albums by the Raiders; ‘Collage’ (1970) and ‘Indian Reservation’ (1971). Throughout the 1960s Paul Revere & the Raiders were one of the most popular and successful American groups, with 14 Top 40 US hit singles and hundreds of TV appearances. Their hits between 1965 and 1967 were bold, unpretentious slices of ‘60s rock & roll with a defiant, edge. By 1970 they’d progressed musically, adopting a more mature, contemporary approach exemplified by the brilliant ‘Collage’ album. In 1971 they scored their biggest hit, the #1 ‘Indian Reservation’. Includes two bonus tracks, the band’s final hits, ‘Country Wine’ and the crunching ‘Powder Blue Mercedes Queen’

Liner Note Authors: Ian McFarlane; Roger Hart.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Kevin Mueller; Ian McFarlane; Peter Shillito.

Arrangers: John d'Andrea; Mark Lindsay.

Personnel: Mark Lindsay (vocals); Freddy Weller, Keith Allison (guitar); Paul Revere (keyboards); Joe Correro, Mike Smith (drums).

Audio Mixer: Warren Barnett.