The Rascals - All I Really Need. The Atlantic Recordings (1965-1971) (@320) Japanese Release 6 CD Set.

 

All I Really Need: The Complete Atlantic Recordings, 1965-1971 Review by Thom Jurek.

If ever an American band went through a more startling transformation than the Rascals did during the six years the original band recorded for Atlantic, let them show their colors. Here was a young east group who from the jump had complete creative control over their recordings, publishing, production, and packaging -- something unheard of then -- and issued over 15 Top 40 singles, three Top Ten albums, and two more that cracked the Top 40, most of which were issued without critical acclaim at the time. This six-CD retrospective of the band's entire tenure on Atlantic (there were two more recordings afterwards, issued on Columbia with a splintered version of the band), documents their complete studio output of eight albums over four and a half discs, and devotes a disc and a half to singles, A- and B-sides, alternates, and different versions of hits. For those familiar with the hits, it's difficult to imagine that the Rascals ever rocked as hard as they did on their first two albums, The Young Rascals and Collections. On the debut, tracks like "Slow Down" and "Baby Let's Wait" have an urgency to put the needle in the red right from the jump. On their sophomore effort, with the singles "Come on Up," "Lonely Too Long," and "Love Is a Beautiful Thing," the Rascals were entrenched in the soul and R&B groove, but not enough to leave out screaming rockers such as "Land of a Thousand Dances" and "Mickey's Monkey." With Once Upon a Dream, the textured, layered psychedelic pop and soul continued with "Rainy Day," "Please Love Me," "My Hawaii," and "It's Wonderful," all intercut with random sound effects à la the Beach Boys, but more organic and less removed from the context of the music itself. The band's center of gravity began to shift with Freedom Suite, with its stunning single, "People Got to Be Free," which captured the spirit of the late '60s as well as -- if not better than -- any rock song. Here, placing it at the last half of disc three, after Time Peace, reveals the album as a narrative of hope and innocence without a shred of naïveté. Here was a band striving to integrate its music and politics (right about this time the band refused to perform on bills where there wasn't a perfect division of black and white acts) on songs such as "People Got to Be Free," "A Ray of Hope," "Any Dance'll Do," "Look Around," and others. While the pop hooks were plentiful, so was the experimentation and risk-taking with the mixes and instrumentation, with more making it into the mix -- from accordions to pipe organs to brass bands and Indian instruments. With the issue of See in 1970 and Search and Nearness in 1971, the band was being pulled apart at the seams creatively, financially, and historically. Nonetheless, despite excesses on both albums, their fine, tight rock and pop songs still dominated the proceedings, especially on See, where the band tried to capture their rock & roll roots. The longer tracks on Search and Nearness revealed that at the very end the band was traveling in a direction that took the R&B edge to groove jazz extremes, with circular moves and dense textures running through the middle of repetitive grooves and riffs. This is a long-overdue retrospective for a band who is enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and whose perfect marriage of rock, soul, and R&B has influenced more acts than anybody would ever care to admit. This set is a necessity to be sure for anyone obsessed with the history of rock & roll.

Tracklist:

CD1:

1. The Rascals - Slow Down

2. The Rascals - Baby Let's Wait

3. The Rascals - Just a Little

4. The Rascals - I Believe

5. The Rascals - Do You Feel It

6. The Rascals - Good Lovin'

7. The Rascals - Like a Rolling Stone

8. The Rascals - Mustang Sally

9. The Rascals - I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore

10. The Rascals - In the Midnight Hour

11. The Rascals - What Is the Reason

12. The Rascals - Since I Fell for You

13. The Rascals - Lonely Too Long

14. The Rascals - No Love to Give

15. The Rascals - Mickey's Monkey/Love Nights

16. The Rascals - Come on Up

17. The Rascals - Too Many Fish in the Sea

18. The Rascals - More

19. The Rascals - Nineteen Fifty-Six

20. The Rascals - Love Is a Beautiful Thing

21. The Rascals - Land of 1000 Dances

CD2:

1. The Rascals - Girl Like You

2. The Rascals - Find Somebody

3. The Rascals - I'm So Happy Now

4. The Rascals - Sueno

5. The Rascals - How Can I Be Sure

6. The Rascals - Groovin'

7. The Rascals - If You Knew

8. The Rascals - I Don't Love You Anymore

9. The Rascals - You Better Run

10. The Rascals - Place in the Sun

11. The Rascals - It's Love

12. The Rascals - Into/Easy Rollin'

13. The Rascals - Rainy Day

14. The Rascals - Please Love Me

15. The Rascals - Sound Effect/It's Wonderful

16. The Rascals - I'm Gonna Love You/Dave and Eddie

17. The Rascals - My Hawaii

18. The Rascals - My World

19. The Rascals - Silly Girl

20. The Rascals - Singin' the Blues Too Long

21. The Rascals - Bells/Sattva

22. The Rascals - Finale: Once Upon a Dream

23. The Rascals - [Untitled Track]

CD3:

1. The Rascals - I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore

2. The Rascals - Good Lovin'

3. The Rascals - You Better Run

4. The Rascals - Come on Up

5. The Rascals - Mustang Sally

6. The Rascals - Love Is a Beautiful Thing

7. The Rascals - In the Midnight Hour

8. The Rascals - I've Been Lonely Too Long

9. The Rascals - Groovin'

10. The Rascals - Girl Like You

11. The Rascals - How Can I Be Sure

12. The Rascals - It's Wonderful

13. The Rascals - Easy Rollin'

14. The Rascals - Beautiful Morning

15. The Rascals - America the Beautiful

16. The Rascals - Me and My Friends

17. The Rascals - Any Dance'll Do!

18. The Rascals - Look Around

19. The Rascals - Ray of Hope

20. The Rascals - Island of Love

21. The Rascals - Of Course

22. The Rascals - Love Was So Easy to Give

23. The Rascals - People Got to Be Free

24. The Rascals - Baby I'm Blue

25. The Rascals – Heaven

CD4:

1. The Rascals - Adrian's Birthday

2. The Rascals - Boom

3. The Rascals - Cute

4. The Rascals - See

5. The Rascals - I'd Like to Take You Home

6. The Rascals - Remember Me

7. The Rascals - I'm Blue

8. The Rascals - Stop and Think

9. The Rascals - Temptation's 'Bout to Get Me

10. The Rascals - Nubia

11. The Rascals - Carry Me Back

12. The Rascals - Away Away

13. The Rascals - Real Thing

14. The Rascals - Death's Reply

15. The Rascals - Hold On

CD5:

1. The Rascals - Right On

2. The Rascals - I Believe

3. The Rascals - Thank You Baby

4. The Rascals - You Don't Know

5. The Rascals - Nama

6. The Rascals - Almost Home

7. The Rascals - Letter

8. The Rascals - Ready for Love

9. The Rascals - Fortunes

10. The Rascals - Glory Glory

11. The Rascals - I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore

12. The Rascals - Slow Down

13. The Rascals - Good Lovin'

14. The Rascals - Mustang Sally

15. The Rascals - You Better Run

16. The Rascals - Love Is a Beautiful Thing

17. The Rascals - Come on Up

18. The Rascals - What Is the Reason

19. The Rascals - I've Been Lonely Too Long

20. The Rascals - If You Knew

21. The Rascals - Groovin'

22. The Rascals - Sueno

23. The Rascals - Girl Like You

24. The Rascals - It’s Love

CD6:

1. The Rascals - Groovin'

2. The Rascals - Groovin'

3. The Rascals - How Can I Be Sure

4. The Rascals - I'm So Happy Now

5. The Rascals - It's Wonderful

6. The Rascals - Of Course

7. The Rascals - Beautiful Morning

8. The Rascals - Rainy Day

9. The Rascals - People Got to Be Free

10. The Rascals - My World

11. The Rascals - Ray of Hope

12. The Rascals - Any Dance'll Do!

13. The Rascals - Heaven

14. The Rascals - Baby I'm Blue

15. The Rascals - See

16. The Rascals - Away Away

17. The Rascals - Carry Me Back

18. The Rascals - Real Thing

19. The Rascals - I Believe

20. The Rascals - Hold On

21. The Rascals - Glory Glory

22. The Rascals - You Don't Know

23. The Rascals - Right On

24. The Rascals - Almost Home

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