Ranking the Rascals' albums from best to "worst".

Yes, like Lou Christie and Tommy Roe, and Gene Pitney.

 

Terrific thread! This bronxboy will always have a special place in his heart for the Rascals. Since no one's mentioned him yet, I'm gonna give a shout out to their amazing guitarist; Buzz Feiten! He was white hot during his time with the Rascals, truth is, he truly dwarfed Gene who was never an a-list talent. Is there ANY Rascals fan who can't instantaneously hear the opening to Jungle Walk!? From the amazing rhythm guitar work to the stunning soloing, It's a primer on funk guitar playing!

I've got a solo CD of Felix's somewhere that sadly, has to be one of the worst recordings I own. He should've had a HUGE solo career but.....

 

The Escorts were actually from the 70's and were a black R&B vocal group (I have a few of their 45's) so I don't think the tracks on the Coronet LP are by them. Seems to me it's definitely a white guy singing both tracks. With so many of these dubious albums with pre-stardom songs by these artists, there's no telling who is really doing the songs.

 

Buzz Feiten's guitar work is amazing indeed. I feel that Gene was a little underrated, though (especially by Felix). He wrote a handful of songs that were quite good ,including his scathing country flavored "Remember Me" which lyrically cut the domineering Felix to ribbons("When I get the nerve I'm gonna split on you and you won't ever get to me at all") and Felix just thought it was a song about a love gone bad. As the only guitarist in the band (although Felix played a pretty good guitar solo on the Groovin' album), Gene had to play both rhythm and lead. Although he was primarily a rhythm player, he tossed off a really good bluesy solo on "Singin' the Blues Too Long."

 

I like most of Gene's songwriting efforts and think he's a good guitarist in a sort of Steve Cropper style. He's a good onstage performer, too, so even if he and Eddie were marginalized on record, I think that their efforts out front while Felix was behind the Hammond added a lot to the live set.

 

Gene was underrated and fit well into the Rascals framework. Buzzy's playing on the "Island of Real" album is a large part of why I thought the funk aspects of the record worked so well, along with Pops Popwell's bass.

 

Bob: No, I'm talking about a different Escorts, an East Coast Doo Wop group. But, I think youre probably right in your accessment. This would be a great question to ask Felix if I ever get the chance.

 

I like Gene Cornish a lot. Around 1987 or so, I got to see him play almost every Thursday night at a bar called.....of course....Rascals!!

 

Sorry, my mistake. It's certainly possible that it was your Escorts that ended up on that record.

 

I have Felix's recording of "Saved" (credited to the Young Rascals) on a Pickwick album called Today's Scene. It also has "Annabelle" recorded by Simon and Garfunkel when they were known as Tom and Jerry (but it's credited on this album to Simon and Garfunkel), plus other vintage hits and misses. The most unusual thing about it is that it has 15 songs; unusually generous for Pickwick which usually only gave us 9 songs on an album.

 

After the Rascals' breakup, Gene (playing bass instead of guitar) and Dino were in a band called Fotomaker with Wally Bryson, formerly of the Raspberries. They made at least 2 albums. I once had the one called Vis-à-Vis, but it didn't do much for me so I traded it off.

 

I'll use this to give a quick recommendation of one of my all time favorite MOB books!
Peppermint Twist - The Mob, the Music, and the most famous nightclub of the '60's - the blurb on the cover reads "The Sopranos meets American Bandstand!" I picked it up but wasn't expecting much and was totally surprised how good it was. And it's a true story! Great reading!

 

Sounds interesting. I was just wondering why there's apparently no biography of the Rascals.

 

1. Groovin'
2. Freedom Suite
3. See
4. Once Upon A Dream
5. Collections
6. Search & Nearness
7. Peaceful World
8. Island of Real
9. The Young Rascals

 

S'funny, although the Rascals aren't mentioned in the book, there's an undeniable Italian 'thing' to them. Danelli, Cavaliere, Brigatti. reminds me of a scene from the Sopranos when Adrianna, referring to the Ramones, started spouting about Italian pride! Ya gotta believe the Rascals had to be the pride and joy of a certain segment in NYC, especially with their roots in the Peppermint Lounge!

 

I think Felix mentioned working on an autobiography in some recent interview. Dino mentioned writing a book quite some time ago but nothing seems to have come of it.

 

Yes, I have that book as well. Excellent information, and some sordid "behind the scenes stuff" also.

 

Yes, Long Island. Circa 1966-1968, The Rascals were the "Pride of The Island". Dino, in his interview with Maxie Weinberg, remembers summer 1966 playing The Barge out in the Hamptons, and how they had "rich beautiful girls all over the place...it was like paradise". Knowing The Hamptons well, I just bet it was....especially in 1966. Wow...

 

Hey, You Got a Problem Wit Dat?

 

You know, thats a great question. If it was done right, and didnt sugar coat the problems the problems the band has seemed to have for 50 years, it could be a GREAT book.

 

I'd bet it has 15 tracks because they didnt worry too much about paying royalties to the labels those 45s appeared on, most of them were probably defunct anyway.

 

Fuhgedaboudit!!!

 

The first Fotomaker album (self-titled) had some good things on it but I like "Vis-a-Vis" better. Terrible cover, though. The third one, "Transfer Station" did nothing at all for me. After that, Dino and Gene went on to form Bulldog. Two albums (I think) and not all that great. A few really good songs but more miss than hit.

 

The only song that sticks in my memory is "Make It Look Like An Accident." Did Gene play guitar or bass in Bulldog?

 

Ahhh......Fotomaker. I remember when Gene and Dino did that. They had a nice 60ish sound, as I remember.

I also seem to remember Gene and Dino producing an act in Canada called "April Wine".