Obscure early-60s rock band continues their comeback

Is it possible that an obscure early-60s garage rock band that broke up after a few regional singles could find their mojo forty-five years later? Last year’s Noisy Boys: The Saxony Sessions proved the answer a definitive ‘yes,’ and this year’s No Place for Pretty shows they have even more hard-driving pre-British Invasion frat stompers to bestow upon the world. Hailing from the Northeast Northfield/Plattsburgh scene, the Ravens early years can be found on the collections Nevermore: Plattsburgh 62 and Beyond and the broader Heart So Cold!: The North Country ‘60s Scene, but unlike just about any sixty-year-olds who’ve set out to recapture their youth, the Ravens actually rock harder and meaner and looser than they did in 1962.

Bassist Brian Lyford and drummer Peter Young lay down primal rhythms that are embellished by the hammering rhythm guitar of Steve Blodgett and decorated with screaming leads from his brother Bo. Mike Brassard’s vocals may not have the range or flexibility of his younger years, but they have just as much passion, and passion is what counts here. The Ravens pump out the dark strain of rock that flourished briefly between the original ‘50s innovation and the ‘60s British Invasion reinvention. It’s got the urgent DIY feel of mid-60s garage rock, but without the reactive counterculture pretensions. This is sledgehammer dance music for frat parties, teen dance clubs, roller rinks and dark, sweat-filled bars.

The band’s originals, written with their producer Will Shade, are the sort of elemental rockers that would sound at home on Wailers, Sonics and Kingsmen records. There are crunchy guitar riffs, Bo Diddley beats, a driving guitar instrumental, and plenty of vocal swagger. The album loses a bit of focus in the second half, with the six-minute practice room jam “Dum Doovi,” a loose instrumental coda on “Broken Boy,” and psychedelic inflections that occasionally drift from the rock fundamentals. The album closes strongly with the bass-riffing, “I’ve Taken All I Can,” reminding listeners that well after the novelty has worn off of sixty-something rockers relocating their mojo, these boys are still making some rock ‘n’ roll noise. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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