THE YOUNG RASCALS

1966: The Young Rascals. 1967: Groovin' * Collections. 1968: Time-Peace (greatest hits) * Once Upon a Dream * Freedom Suite. 1969: See. 1971: Search and Nearness * Peaceful World. 1972: The Island of Real. 1992: The Rascals Anthology.

Initially the Young Rascals inspired goodwill everywhere with their combination of the crispy bounce of r&b and the driving, high spirits of rock and roll. To round out their sound, the Rascals had access to Atlantic's crack session men, as well as the taste and guidance of producer Arif Mardin. They were a white band with their own version of Stax/Volt soul power, thanks to the verve of Dino Danelli's drumming weeded to the bass talents of great session players like Chuck Rainey and Ron Carter. The ethnic strangeness that kept many seminal rhythm and blues tunes from crossing over onto pop radio stations, was polished up and smoothed over by the Rascals.

Keyboardist Felix Cavaliere was the Rascals' main songwriter and he gave a nod to rock and roll here and there, but never totally succumbed. To some music critics, the band suggested a pop apotheosis that might exist outside of the burgeoning, and increasingly boundless, drug culture. Collections proved it was possible to put together a genuinely ecstatic album from radio friendly material, and many pre-hippie sensibilities seemed to swoon. The Rascals' inevitable slide into peace, love and understanding (on Once Upon a Dream and Freedom Suite) was a happenstance that few pure pop bands pulled out of successfully, so it may be that See was a major accomplishment as they managed to leave behind the extended drums solos and cosmic lyrics and pull off their hardest rocking album yet. But the Zeitgeist had an irresistable gravitational pull. As early as Groovin', the band showed a guileless attraction to bland love ballads and uninspired jazz/lounge instrumentation. Cavaliere's arrangements relaxed into nothingness as an increasingly zonked form of "philosophy" started creeping into his lyrics. As bad albums go, Freedom Suite and Peaceful World push the envelope: double albums that should have been singles. The Rascals Anthology is great.

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