Search - Paul Revere & Raiders :: Hard N Heavy

Essential 1960's listening

J. Mark Bickerton | Richmond, VA | 11/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Amazing band, not getting anywhere near the credit they deserve for being an important element of the 1960's American music scene. An innocent victim of a turbulent time in the 60's, this group still managed to produce this gem. Any late 1960's collection is incomplete without this addition. Perhaps with attention to a more mature audience, this band would today rank up there with the Stones. As is, this is nontheless an awesome period piece of a gentler, more optomistic time in this country's long lost past."

Hard 'N' Heavy (With Marshmallow)

Harry Brewer | S'port, La. | 05/22/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Hard 'N' Heavy was the Raiders eighth studio album (I don't count their so-called Christmas album). This particular album only got to #51 on the charts & it's not without good reason. The original 11 songs on this album just has too many weak moments. Keith Allison ( a fellow musician from their tv show Where the Action Is!) had been asked to join as their newest bass player. He would bring some songwriting skills with him. This addition, plus Freddy Weller, the lead guitarist who would add some country music influences, would help Mark Lindsay steer the Raiders into another direction. Hard 'N' Heavy would present two different re-recordings of singles issued in conjunction with this album. The actual singles were "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" which would peak at #18 & "Cinderella Sunshine" which only topped out at #58. The Raiders had gotten into the habit of re-recording some of their singles for the album issue, I can only presume to prove they were cooler than they were being given credit for. This particular version is on the British Repertoire label & differs somewhat from the Sundazed reissue.



Only "Time After Time" can stand beside some of the Raiders better, earlier work. This album even has some of the vaudeville clowning between tracks that Paul Revere himself so adored. These were on the original album but they only serve to date this album & cause the listener to take less seriously what has been presented. "Without You" & "Hard and Heavy Five String Soul Banjo" aren't bad songs but the rest of the album falls off considerably. "Money Can't Buy Me", "Ride on My Shoulder", "Trishalana", "Out on the Road", "Where You Goin' Girl" & "Call on Me" are most definitely filler. There was a time in the Raiders career, most notably when Terry Melcher was at the helm as producer, when most of this stuff would have been considered outtakes.



Repertoire has included eight bonus tracks which is a rather healthy addition. These include the actual singles versions of "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" & "Cinderella Sunshine". Also included is the B-side single version of "Without You". We also get "It's Happening" the instrumental from the show of the same name & "Theme From It's Happening" that includes a vocal track. There's "Judge GTO Breakaway" that was an A-side single (no chart) that was actually done for the car of the same name; don't be surprised if this song's music sounds familiar because they also used it for another song. There's a track included, "Leslie" that was originally on Spirit of '67, why it's included here is beyond my knowledge. The most important bonus track here is "Do Unto Others", a B-side single, which was one of the better non-hit songs that they did."