The remains of the Remains are more glorious than those of anyone
who didn’t leave any or even most who did. They are, were, and remain,
even now after 40 plus years. A slightly earlier new CD and now this: The
Remains reissued with 10 added cuts. Once called Barry and The Remains,
whose original 10-song album was, until now, one of the holiest of the holy
grail of rare records. Maybe my former brother-in-law, who’s a lawyer in Chicago
and a record collector, may have had, found, or still lusted after it to place
between Renaissance and The Ramones in his huge record collection.
As for me, I heard of them, probably even heard their music, but you know how
it is. Too many Ted Nugent concerts later, I’ve got this Remains extended CD
with all 10 cuts from the band that opened for Der Beatles fra
Hamburg on their last tour, which ended in a deafening roar of “Ringo,
Paul, George and John — we love you yeah, yeah, yeah!” in San Francisco
at the last Beatles concert ever. Did anyone even hear the Remains on that tour?
They can hear them now on “Don’t Look Back,” “Diddy Wah Diddy,”
“Lonely Weekend,” and “Why Do I Cry?” from that first sonic
blast on to the 20th one. These boys were from Beantown; they were nothing like
Ultimate Spinach and those other “Bosstown Sound” bands, all of whom
got reissued before this CD did. But it doesn’t end there.
You get 10 more cuts, released singles, even never-before-released singles,
and these aftermath “afterthoughts” rival the Stones and the Fab Four
and praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, the Flamin’ Groovies. Listening
to this is like having a dream in which the Groovies have reformed and both
Mike Wilhelm and Roy Loney are back with Cyril and the rest of those San Francisco
treats, the number four band of all time in SF according to the often otherwise
misguided critics at the SF Chronicle in their own 2000 critic’s poll. Right
after the Grateful Dead and a whole lot of legendary in their own minds and
some other self-proclaimed guitar heroes. Why if The Remains were a Mayor Press
Release band, they’d have been and rightly so near the very top of that list
too.
This is rock ‘n’ roll when it still rocked and rolled…and 40 years later
too. The Golden Gate Bridge of 60s rock. The Boston Beatles blood brothers to
the Jewish Beatles of Danny Kalb, Al Kooper, Roy Blumenfeld, Andy Kulberg and
Lou Reed’s old producer, Steve Katz. Wow! Double wow! There is not a substandard
cut here from Petula Clark’s “Heart” to “Lonely Weekend”
to the other Stones of America other than Patti Smith that is on “My Babe,”
“I’m Talking About You” and “But I Ain’t Got You.” There’re
like Dick Taylor who left the original Stones to start the Pretty Things, and
produced some of the greatest largely unheard albums ever including S.F.
Sorrow, the first concept LP. And says he never looked back, which
The Remains never do either.
“Baby, I Believe In You,” I never look back like Mr. D taught me
not to, and I just want to know when I want to know: Is “All Good Things”
this good? It’s Them Again and Van is cooking tonight on the
same label as Sir Tom Jones. Hell, I wish women threw all those panties at me,
Sir Tom, wanna let us in on your secret?
It all ends like this. John Landau was right though I hate to admit to that
as Mr. Landau never responded to my query letter from so long ago.
“Dear Mr. Landau: Some of the Boss’s overzealous bodyguards beat up our
female photographer and put her in the hospital. I expected that from Jake Riveria
and another female photographer got it too. From you, Sir, I expect an apology
and for you to pay her medical bills. As well as a nice note from the Boss and
a tip of Kentucky Colonel Clarence’s saxophone.”
No response, ever.
But Mr. Landau I will give you this as you were prescient about the Remains
way back then: “They were how you told a stranger about rock ‘n’ roll.”
The Remains rocked the rafters from Remains night at the Rathskeller in Beantown
to the Cow Palace where the Beatles and the Remains too left their hearts right
next to Tony Bennett’s. Now, The Remains (2007 edition) is
bringing that heart back home where it always belonged. Better get yourselves
a piece of it.
Do two drummers make them an east coast Grateful Dead too? I don’t know but
they sure must have put the fear of the Lord into the Kinks’ Davies brothers
too. Now,
Mr. Landau, about that overdue apology…
~ Gary Peterson
