Search - Remains :: Remains

One of the Best of Boston --

JNagarya | Boston, MA | 05/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"and, for those who know sufficient 1960s Boston music scene history, originally from Brookline, they got their start at Boston University, and became the original house band of the Rathskeller (the "Rat") in Kenmore Square. For garage-rock lovers, and those who falsely believe punk began in the 1980s.



They opened for The Beatles for part of their 1966 US tour. And broke up shortly after their LP was released -- as happened with many of the day.



Last I heard, lead singer/guitarist Barry Tashian, and Eric Liljequist, formerly of the best band on Massachusetts's South Shore, The Orphans, after or in addition to years of work as Nashville session musicians, have been backing Emmylou Harris.



This has everything on the earlier release on Epic/Legacy, except in this instance the first ten tracks are LP-order. This has the original LP cover, but it was the wrong photograph: the person second from the right -- David Sherman -- was their fill-in bass player (and a long-time friend from late 1970s through mid-/late-1980s). I got the mono of the LP when it came out in 1966, and Dave gave me his stereo copy. So now I can have the LP-size cover, and at the same time preserve the near-mint vinyls.



Also well worth hearing is the CD release "A Session with The Remains," their audition tape for Capitol Records, an unrehearsed, straight-from-gig run-through of their stage set -- but without club noise. These guys were hot!



Why are you reading this? Buy the CD, put on the headphones, and turn it up!

"

"America's greatest lost band"

Fred Cantor | New York City | 06/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am admittedly biased, since I produced a stage musical about The Remains, "All Good Things," and am in post-production on a documentary about the group, "They Were How You Told A Stranger About Rock'N'Roll"--the title is taken from the famous quote Jon Landau wrote in the January 67 Crawdaddy about The Remains after their breakup.



But don't take my word for how fantastic the music is. Just read the following opening sentences from Mark Kemp's review in the June '07 edition of Paste Magazine. (Mark, by the way, is the former music editor of Rolling Stone and VP of Music Editorial at MTV.)



"Good as Mick and Keith were at reimagining rhythm & blues as hard rock on The Rolling Stones' 1964 debut, they didn't hold a candle to what The Remains would deliver two years later. Had these Boston bad boys stuck it out beyond their 1966 debut, we might today be calling them--and not the Stones--the World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band. As it is, The Remains most certainly are America's greatest lost band.""

The best, Period

BJF | Boston & Florence, Italy | 09/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Growing up in Westport they were Gods. They were our Beatles and if you can listen to Rubber Soul in 2008 and still find it as amazing as you did the first time you will listen to The Remains and be blown away. This is a great Rock & Roll album."