The Rascals

[Please note that this podcast episode was revised in my attempt to correctly pronounce Felix Cavaliere's last name.  My apologies to Felix for mispronouncing his name in the original podcast!] 

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback! I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode I will highlight the career of the New Jersey band known as The Rascals! In his 1997 speech inducting The Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Stevie Van Zandt boldly called the Rascals, (and I quote) "the first rock band in the world" (end quote)! Here is how it all started for the Rascals. 

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Rock On!

Transcript

[Please note that this podcast episode was revised in my attempt to correctly pronounce Felix Cavaliere's last name.  My apologies to Felix for mispronouncing his name in the original podcast!] 

Thank you for that introduction and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback! I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode I will highlight the career of the New Jersey band known as The Rascals! In his 1997 speech inducting The Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Stevie Van Zandt boldly called the Rascals, (and I quote) "the first rock band in the world" (end quote)! Here is how it all started for the Rascals. 

In 1964 Felix Cavaliere joined Joey Dee's backing band, the Starliters, where he met Starliter David Brigati. When the group played the Choo Choo Club in New Jersey Cavaliere met Brigati's younger brother, Eddie, who wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps. The next year, in 1965, Canadian-born guitarist Gene Cornish joined the Starliters. Cavaliere decided to form a new group, persuading Cornish to join him, along with jazz drummer, Dino Danelli. With the addition of Eddie Brigati on vocals, the new group's lineup was in place, however, they had no bass player.  So, in a manner similar to Ray Manzarek of the Doors, the bass parts of the Rascals’ songs would primarily be handled by Felix Cavaliere's organ. 

The foursome initially called themselves “Them”, but when they discovered that there was already a band using that name, they became The Rascals. The band began rehearsing and played engagements at clubs like the Choo Choo in Garfield, New Jersey and on Long Island at the Barge in Westhampton, New York. They also had gigs backing TV star Soupy Sales at live engagements, mostly on college campuses. Their initial musical style was covering R&B and soul tunes. 

In August 1965 their manager, Billy Smith, introduced the band to promoter Sid Bernstein. Bernstein and Smith came up with a publicity stunt of posting the phrase "The Rascals are coming!" on Shea Stadium's scoreboard at the same time that the Beatles were doing the opening of their 1965 North American tour. Beatles manager Brian Epstein ordered the post to be removed before his band arrived on the stage. Nevertheless, this event created enough excitement that the group obtained a contract with Atlantic Records. Sid Bernstein would manage them for the next five years, with Billy Smith as their publicist and promotion advisor. The contract also stipulated that the band could self-produce their records. After signing with Atlantic, a group called the Harmonica Rascals demanded the new group change their name to avoid any confusion, and Bernstein changed their billing to the Young Rascals. 

Eddie Brigati sang lead vocals on the Young Rascals' debut single, "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore". On February 24th, 1966 the song was performed in their first television performance on the program Hullabaloo. The single reached #23 in Canada, but failed to break into the Top 40 of the US charts. From that point onward, Felix Cavaliere would often take on the lead vocals on their subsequent records. On February 1st, 1966 the band recorded a follow-up single, "Good Lovin'", with Felix singing the lead. It was released on February 21st and on March 20th The Young Rascals performed "Good Lovin'" on The Ed Sullivan Show. "Good Lovin'" quickly became a nationwide hit, reaching #1 in the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the spring of 1966. It also reached #1 in Canada. "Good Lovin'" would later be listed as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It would also be ranked #333 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. 

The band’s debut album The Young Rascals was released on March 28th, 1966. The Young Rascals reached #15 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and #10 in Cashbox. The album was eventually certified Gold by the RIAA. From there, the songwriting partnership between Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati took off. The band’s second album, Collections, had four Cavaliere/Brigati songs and two Cornish originals in its eleven tracks. Two singles were released from the album. "You Better Run" reached #20 and "Come On Up" peaked at #43. 

1967 turned out to be a banner year for the Young Rascals. “I've Been Lonely Too Long" was released on January 9th. It reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 in Canada. Then came three singles released from the Groovin' album. The three singles included “A Girl Like You” (which reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100), and "How Can I Be Sure" (which Eddie Brigati sang and which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100). On March 27th, 1967 the band had recorded the song called "Groovin'". It was released as a single on April 10th and on May 20th became their second #1 single in the US. "Groovin'" would end up being their highest charting single in the UK, reaching #8. The Groovin' LP marked the first time that the Young Rascals used outside musicians, bringing some important collaborators like Chuck Rainey, Hubert Laws, and David Brigati to augment their sound. Particularly, David Brigati would also help his brother's band in arranging vocal harmonies and singing background on many Rascals records. The album itself would eventually be certified Gold by the RIAA after selling over 500,000 copies.

 The band decided to depart from their "singles act" label to be more like an "albums act". The result was the 1968 album Once Upon a Dream. It became the first Rascals album designed from conception as an album, rather than as a vehicle to package their singles. Once Upon a Dream also incorporated Indian music in its sound by adding Eastern instruments. The psychedelic "It's Wonderful" was released before the album, but the single only reached #20. Interestingly, the album's song "My Hawaii" became a top of the charts hit in Hawaii. Also, significantly the band would bill themselves as The Young Rascals for the last time with the single release of "It's Wonderful". From that point on they were known as simply 'The Rascals'. 

/Their first official single release as "the Rascals" was 1968's "A Beautiful Morning", which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. By 1968 the band had proved to be much more popular in Canada than in the UK. In Canada three singles - "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure?" and "A Beautiful Morning" - all reached #1. The LP Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits was released in mid-1968. It reached #1 on the U.S. album chart and became the group's best-selling album. In fact, Jumpin’ John bought a copy of it!  That same year, "People Got to Be Free” became their third and final U.S. #1 single, and their sixth and final Canadian #1. "People Got to Be Free” was also their final U.S. Top Ten hit, although they remained a Canadian top ten act for the next few years. I

n 1969, The Rascals released the double album Freedom Suite.  Freedom Suite would be their last Top 40 album, peaking at #17. Four follow-up singles - "A Ray of Hope", "Heaven", "See", and "Carry Me Back"- were all modest U.S. hits for the band during the late 1968 and 1969 time period. They each entered the top 40, but none climbed higher than #24. In Canada, however, the Rascals were still major stars. All four follow-up singles made it to the Canadian top ten, completing a run of 11 straight Canadian top ten hits for The Rascals from 1967 to 1969. December 1969's "Hold On" broke the run of top 40 US singles for The Rascals, only reaching #51, as well as the run of Canadian top tens, peaking at #22 in Canada. 

Brigati left The Rascals in 1970 and Cornish left in 1971. The last Rascals album with Brigati and Cornish was Search and Nearness. Neither the album nor the only single release, titled "Glory, Glory", sold very well.  After Search and Nearness Cavaliere and Danelli took the Rascals to Columbia Records in mid-1971, but their subsequent albums did not sell as well as their earlier work. After 1971 none of their singles reached higher than #95 on the U.S. charts. 

After appearing at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Celebration on May 14, 1988, Cavaliere, Cornish, and Danelli reunited for a brief reunion tour in 1988. After that reunion tour the original band members pursued individual efforts, along with various incarnations of the band using different band names. 

As mentioned at the beginning of this podcast, the Rascals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 6th, 1997. All four original members appeared together to perform "Good Lovin'", "Groovin'", "How Can I Be Sure?", and "People Got to Be Free". 

Here is a partial listing of other accolades that the Rascals have received: 

•In 1999 "Groovin'" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

•In 2005, The Rascals were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. 

•On June 18th, 2009, Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 

•The Rascals were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2010. 

•On April 24, 2010, all four members of The Rascals reunited for the Kristen Ann Carr benefit, which was held at New York's Tribeca Grill. Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Van Zandt joined the band for a closing "Good Lovin'". 

•Then in December 2012 Stevie Van Zandt and his wife Maureen produced and directed a combination event with the four original Rascals members. It was called The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream. The performance included a montage of a concert experience, the history of The Rascals, interviews with the four Rascals, and news footage of the band. The show eventually ran on Broadway in the Spring of 2013 and was taken on the road in various cities on the US East coast for a six-month tour from May through November 2013. 

This episode of Rock and Roll Flashback has featured a brief overview of The Rascals!  This New Jersey act became one of the best known examples of the blue-eyed soul genre. Between 1966 and 1968 the Rascals reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with nine singles. This included the #1 hits "Good Lovin'", "Groovin'", and "People Got to Be Free", as well as the popular "How Can I Be Sure?", "A Beautiful Morning", and "A Girl Like You”. I’m Jumpin’ John McDermott, and until next time…Rock On!