The Rascals Biography Part One: 1965 -- 1966
One of the factors that aided The Young Rascals in their speedy climb to the heights is the cooperative arrangement that exists between the members of the group. There is no leader of The Rascals; they are all equal.
Bob Rolontz (The Young Rascals liner notes, March, 1966)
Few music groups inspire such fond memories as The Rascals. During the late 1960s, they were major players in rock-n-roll -- and with good reason. Their blend of raw rock and soul music made them a favorite with all types of audiences. From teenagers to club goers, the Rascals' sound embraced a varied group of listeners.
The Rascals paths crossed several times prior to joining forces as a unit. Felix Cavaliere (vocals and organ), Eddie Brigati (vocals and percussion), Gene Cornish (vocals and guitar) and Dino Danelli (drums), all knew each other from the New York/New Jersey music scene prior to forming. In 1964, while working in Las Vegas with singer Sandu Scott, Felix and Dino promised each other they'd one-day work together in their own group. After returning home to New York some months later, Felix took a job with Joey Dee's band, an updated version of The Starliters, whom he had worked with before leaving for Las Vegas. Also in the Joey's band at the time were Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish.
Not totally happy in Joey's band, Felix, Eddie and Gene often discussed forming their own group. When they finally decided to do so in 1965, Dino teamed up with them and The Rascals were born.
I had been living in Nyack with these two young girls and their mother and father and they were singers; they were my age. They kind of took care of me when I was flat broke and I had nowhere to live. My intention was I've had it with these NY guys; I'm going home to Rochester. They said, "look, we've fed you for a month, we've taken care of you. You go to this rehearsal or we'll never talk to you again. I went to this rehearsal; it was in Felix's basement. He lived on Colonial Avenue in Pelham (NY), directly across from Pelham High School.
We sat down and learned 24, 25 songs the first day, and as we were playing, school was letting out. It wasn't a sound proof building, and the kids were off, and we look up and you know the little basement windows that you have, and there's kids on every end of it, and they just sat there and we started standing up and playing and that added to the magic. There was instant recognition on the situation. I went back after the rehearsal that day and I said to those guys, "I think you just changed my life." I couldn't stop laughing and smiling.
Gene Cornish (Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember radio show)
Their unique stage dress was chosen because the "in" thing for groups at this time was to wear costumes of some sort, or suits. The idea was to grab people?s attention visually. Not wanting to wear suits, the group chose a schoolboy type look complete with knickers, knee socks, caps, butterfly collars and child sized ties. According to Gene, Eddie came in wearing knickers as a joke during a rehearsal and the idea stuck.
Armed with a musical set consisting of soulful covers of popular songs, the group's first show took place at the Choo Choo Club in Garfield, New Jersey on February 15, 1965. The group didn't yet have a name, and for a while they performed under a different name each night. Some of the temporary monikers they used were "The Sardines," "The Crayons" and "Them." According to Eddie, The Rascals eventually chose their name because of Dino's affection for the old TV series, The Little Rascals. It was at first another one of their temporary names, but unlike the others, it stuck.
During their time at the Choo Choo Club, the owner of The Barge, an "in" club located in the Hamptons in (Long Island) New York, saw them and asked them to play at his club. The band accepted. Little did they know that their accepting this offer would lead to their eventual fame.
We came to the Barge in the summer of 1965. The Barge is actually an old house barge on the water off a narrow strip of land along Long Island's Hampton Bays. It had gangplanks running from the sand to the barge. It was actually on the water. It was the most intimate, groovy little club we've ever been in. We'll never forget it. We spent three months there and we kind of ran it, and owned it (make believe).
Eddie Brigati (Inside Pop, 1968, Scholastic Books; and January 20, 1997)
The group's stint at the Barge turned out to be wildly successful. Their name became known to the club crowd in New York, and they were soon considered the hottest unsigned band on the circuit. During the summer of 1965, Sid Bernstein (the promoter who would soon become famous for bringing The Beatles to Shea Stadium) went to The Barge to see The Rascals' show. He was skeptical at first, but was soon convinced that he had found the group he wanted to manage.
I looked at these funny-looking guys. They don't have sex appeal -- who's going to buy those knickers? They looked like Italian kids from a Tremont Avenue poolroom I used to live near.
Forty-five minutes later I felt I had heard the greatest group I ever heard in my life. They were so dynamic. They were beautiful. All of a sudden they had sex appeal.
Sid Bernstein (Rolling Stone, October 1, 1970)
Sid Bernstein and his partner, Walter A. Hyman, signed on as The Rascals' managers after seeing them live at the Barge. Walter, whose background was in theatre, did not remain co-manager for long. He went back to the theatrical part of the entertainment industry after several months with The Rascals. After Walter left, Sid took over sole management responsibilities for the group.
With their new management in place, the Rascals began working at more "hot spot" clubs, including the Phone Booth, Tom Jones, and Steve Paul's The Scene. Their reputation as the hottest live (and unsigned) band in New York remained intact. But it wasn't their reputation that eventually won them their record contract with Atlantic Records -- it was The Beatles!
On August 16, 1965, the Beatles played Shea Stadium in Flushing (Queens), New York. Since Sid Bernstein had been the promoter who signed the Beatles to that concert, he was in a position to control certain backstage elements -- including what appeared on the Shea Stadium scoreboard. Being a sharp promotion man, Sid knew a ripe opportunity when he saw one. He had 1,000 buttons printed up with the message "I'm a Rascals fan" emblazoned on them. These were passed out prior to the Beatles taking the stage. Attendees, many of which were teenagers or pre-teens, were left wondering just who these Rascals were. Suddenly, a message began flashing on the scoreboard:
THE RASCALS ARE COMING!
The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, was none too pleased about Sid's promoting his discovery at what was to be a day of complete Beatles pandemonium, and he demanded the message be taken off the scoreboard. In recent years, Sid has denied that this exchange occurred between he and Mr. Epstein. Sid recalls that Brian was not yet at Shea when the message appeared. Other accounts suggest otherwise, however.
He came over to our manager, Sid Bernstein. He was screaming, "Get that fucking thing off the board now. Get it off!"
Dino Danelli (Mojo, December, 1995; and January 27, 1997)
The exposure gained from the promotion at the Beatles concert was just what was needed to obtain the Rascals' first record contract. Offers poured in from numerous record companies to sign the group, with Columbia Records offering the highest bid. But only one company offered what the band really wanted -- complete control over their production. That company was Atlantic Records. Being savvy, however, Atlantic knew that a band like The Rascals, who were perfection live, would be foreigners to the studio environment. They would need guidance in the studio. Atlantic provided this in the form of Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. The Rascals produced the group?s first two albums "under the supervision of Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin." After that, The Rascals produced their albums "in cooperation with Arif Mardin." Only the group alone produced their third and fourth albums without any outside influence. Throughout the years, the members of The Rascals have often praised Tom and Arif's studio expertise and have said that without these two men, their records wouldn't have been as great as they were.
...having Arif and Tommy around helped us, too. They were smart enough not to direct us too much. I remember times when I thought that I did really stupid things on the drums or made mistakes. Tommy would say to me, "Don't change a thing. It's okay. It's going to work." I remember trying to get my drum sound more clean. But Tommy would say that it might be better with that rough edge. He knew what he was talking about.
Dino Danelli (Modern Drummer, February, 1991)
Mark Ribowsky's Phil Spector biography, He's A Rebel (1989), contains a story on Phil going to see The Rascals at the Barge. According to the book, The Rascals wanted Phil to produce them, but Phil declined. Since Felix has often claimed Phil Spector as a musical inspiration, it might be theorized that Phil's rejection created and strengthened The Rascals' ambition to produce their own music. There are certainly several early Rascals songs that capture the Spector sound, notably What Is The Reason from their Collections album.
When Atlantic signed The Rascals, the group gained the distinction of being the first white act to be signed to the label. Until this point, all Atlantic recording artists were black. The company did have an impressive stable of white performers, but they were relegated to Atlantic's subsidiary label, Atco. The Rascals were an obvious choice for this new thinking at Atlantic; they were a white rock-n-roll group, but were also soulful enough to fit in with Atlantic's R&B acts. The Rascals' sound was labeled blue-eyed soul, and that's how their record company wanted it. In fact, Atlantic didn't include the group's photo on their first two single releases for fear that black audiences would see they were white and stop purchasing them. They needn't have worried, though, as it would soon become obvious that The Rascals had universal appeal.
The first time our record was played on the air, I was with Eddie and we had a little portable radio. We were on Madison Avenue. Well, when he heard the song, he started to jump down the street like a maniac, running through traffic, just yelling and screaming. It was The Cousin Brucie Hour. It was a night show, seven to eleven.
Felix Cavaliere (Inside Pop, 1968, Scholastic Books)
The Rascals' first single, released in November of 1965, was the Laurie Sawyer/Pam Burton composition, I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore. The lead vocal was by Eddie. The team of Sawyer/Burton also wrote The Rascals' Eddie lead song, Baby, Let's Wait, which appeared on their soon to be released debut album (and was later remade by The Royal Guardsmen). "Baby Let's Wait" dealt with living in poverty, and Pam Sawyer kept this theme as a musical topic some years later when she co-wrote Love Child and I'm Livin' In Shame for The Supremes.
The flip side of I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore was The Rascals' take on the Larry Williams classic, Slow Down, with Felix on lead. According to Dino, the group based their version of Slow Down not on the Larry Williams original, but on The Beatles remake of the song.
While the release of their first single was an exciting experience for the group, it was also the source of a shock when they discovered that the word "Young" had been added to their name -- without their knowledge or consent.
Management told the group that legal reasons forced them to add the word "Young" to their name. There was another established group at that time called The Harmonica Rascals, and Atlantic did not want any lawsuits over ownership of name. The newly named Young Rascals were understanding of the reasoning behind the name change, but still unhappy. If an adjective had to be added, they felt they should have been the ones to choose it. To the present day, several members of the band express disdain at the memory of hearing their new title. The word "Young" created an impression, mixed with their costumes, of a teenybopperish group. How would being The "Young" Rascals suit them in a few years when they grew older? And what about the inevitable confusion with The Little Rascals comedy series?
I'll tell you a funny story. When I first moved up to Connecticut, this neighbor came over to my house knocking on the door and said, "you know, you're one of those Rascals, aren't you? Tell me, did that dog really have a circle around its eye?"
Felix Cavaliere (The Howard Stern Radio Show, January, 1987)
The group never felt comfortable about the word "Young" being attached to them, and one subtle indication of this is that the word "Young" was never added to any of Dino's bass drums. The drums simply stated, "Rascals."
The I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore single only went to number 52 nationally. On the east coast, however, it was a much bigger hit. In fact, throughout the Rascals' career, they were always more successful on the east coast (especially the New York City metro area) than they were nationally. The group appeared on several television shows to promote the single, and were doing their best to make their faces known as much as possible outside of their New York home base.
The Rascals still worked the club scene, and during this time they began work on their second single. The group's "specialty" live was cover songs -- or, more specifically, doing covers and rearranging them until they sounded as if they belonged to them and no one else. Some songs were slowed down and drawn out in a dramatic style (which inspired groups such as The Vanilla Fudge and The Vagrants), and some were sped up to a frantic pace that got everyone up and on the dance floor. One such song was Good Lovin', which had been a minor hit for The Olympics in 1965, reaching number 81 on the singles chart.
We used to listen to the radio and find songs and grab them. It was fun. It wasn't work, wasn't a job. I'm talking about hearing songs like Temptation's 'Bout To Get Me, Mustang Sally, or Midnight Hour. I used to go to these black sections of town and sit down and listen to records and buy them with my lunch money! I still have the collection of songs that we found.
Felix Cavaliere (DISCoveries, November, 1991)
The Rascals' second single, Good Lovin', backed with their remake of Sir Mack Rice's Mustang Sally (a slightly different version than would appear on their soon to be released debut album), was released in February of 1966. Felix and Dino "discovered" the songs during their record buying trips to Harlem, where they'd often travel to look for R&B records to cover in their live shows. Although most believe The Rascals' version of Mustang Sally was done after Wilson Pickett had a hit with the song, The Rascals actually released their version of the song almost a full year before Mr. Pickett (who reached number 23 on the pop charts and number 3 on the R&B charts with it in December of 1966). The confusion concerning who recorded this song first may stem from the fact that on their debut album, The Rascals did a remake of Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper's original composition, In The Midnight Hour. At a show at the Bottom Line in September 1993, Sir Mack Rice announced that The Rascals' version of Mustang Sally was his favorite-recorded version of the song.
The Olympics' original version of Good Lovin' was an up-tempo, yet fairly calm song. But The Rascals, with Felix on lead vocals, took the song and turned it into a rock-n-roll explosion. Good Lovin' went to number 1 on the national charts on April 30, 1966. The song remained at number 1 for a week before being bumped to the number 2 spot by the Mamas and the Papas' Monday, Monday.
When Good Lovin' was released, several of the band members weren't happy with the final product and denied that it was their record! But once the song took off and became a hit, their tune regarding just who was singing it changed.
All of a sudden the record comes out and the guys heard it and they hated it. And the first week the record came out on the radio, and it started getting played right away, I remember some of the guys in the band denying it was our record. We were stupid kids.
Gene Cornish (Classic Cuts Radio Show)
Television appearances followed in the wake of Good Lovin? s initial success, including a March 20 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and several appearances on Hullabaloo. With a number one single in the bag, The Rascals were on their way to becoming one of the legendary groups in rock-n-roll history.
In March of 1966, the group's first album was released. Titled simply, The Young Rascals, it contained 10 tracks. Most of the songs on the LP, in keeping tradition with their live shows, were covers. The lead vocal duties were evenly divided between Felix and Eddie, with the exception of two songs lead by Gene. There was only one group penned track on the album, the Felix and Gene composition, Do You Feel It. The Young Rascals album went to number 15 nationally went gold, and remained on the charts for 84 weeks.
Inspired by other groups that wrote their own songs, especially The Beatles, The Rascals' urge to write their own material strengthened. To release albums of cover songs and a few originals was not uncommon in the 1960's. However, most artists outgrew this practice fairly soon into their recorded careers. The Rascals were no exception. For their third single, Felix and Eddie joined forces and began what was to become one of the most prolific songwriting partnerships of the decade. Felix wrote the music, and Eddie took care of the lyrics. Together they created some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s.
I never really felt I was a good lyricist, so I asked Eddie to try and he came through. This is a lot like a fairy tale, a guy who all of a sudden became a lyricist. I would write the choruses and the music and give him the parameters -- and I was pretty strict with the parameters. It was tough, like a crossword puzzle.
Felix Cavaliere (Musician, April, 1985)
We had a little thing that we did. He had a musical piece done and I'd say, "tell me in a word or sentence what you want this piece to say. So I came up with that method 'cause he claims that he's not a lyricist or whatever. I think everybody is, but he said he'd just like to do the music, basically. So I'm the long-winded one...?
Eddie Brigati (American Gold Radio Show)
In hindsight, as a lyricist and singer, I helped create the final melodies as well. In fact, on the copyright registrations in the Library of Congress, we're (Felix and Eddie) both credited for lyrics and music.
Eddie Brigati (January 20, 1997)
The Felix and Eddie penned You Better Run/Love Is A Beautiful Thing single was released in May of 1966. You Better Run was a hard rocking song sung by Felix, with decidedly vengeful lyrics. The hard beat of the song was most likely inspired by the success of Good Lovin', but the single only made it to number 20 on the charts. It was a good chart showing, but disappointing considering it was a follow-up to a number 1 single.
I remember that the rehearsal for You Better Run was great and we came up with the whole arrangement. I believe Felix came in with a straight four movement on piano, but then I changed it to a shuffle and everybody else followed. It really is a bizarre record. I actually made a mistake in the beginning with the bass drum pattern, which is very syncopated, with my foot. Tommy Dowd picked up on it and said, "Hey, man, that's great!" I wanted to change it, but he said to leave it in. So I kept doing it and it turned into a rather catchy shuffle beat.
Dino Danelli (DISCoveries, November, 1991)
From August 19 - 20, the group performed the first of what was to eventually be four bookings at the legendary Fillmore West in San Francisco. They topped the bill, with Quicksilver Messenger Service supporting them.
The Rascals' next single, Come On Up/What Is The Reason, was released in September of 1966. This single fared even worse than the previous one, and only made it to number 43 nationally. Come On Up, written and sung by Felix, was undoubtedly ahead of its time musically. If this song had been released several years later during the guitar-drenched period of the late 60's, it would have been a smash. But this was 1966, and the Rascals' instrumental sound, even at this early stage, was organ drenched.
Come On Up was also a big departure from the pop sound that was the mid-60's norm, and may have gone a bit above the record buying public's head at the time of its release. The flip side, What Is The Reason, was penned and co-sung by Felix and Eddie. In retrospect, this is probably the one that should have been pushed as the A-side. Sounding like it could have come out of Phil Spector ?s production mill, What Is The Reason could have caught the ever-important teenage record buying market by storm.
In late 1966 The Rascals embarked on their first, albeit short, tour of Europe. They traveled to England and taped television appearances on Ready, Steady, Go! and Saturday Club. They also did live shows at clubs such as The Scotch, Blaises and Sybylla's. Musical luminaries such as Paul McCartney, Keith Moon, Bill Wyman and Brian Jones attended the club dates and raved to the press about this new American group. The band then traveled to France for more of the same. But even with this promotion, the Rascals were yet to score any European hits, and would not for close to a year. This wasn't for lack of trying on their part. In late 1966, the group released their remake of The Marvelettes' Too Many Fish In The Sea as a single in England (the song would appear on their forthcoming lp, Collections). This was the only market this 45 was released in, and it was an interesting move in light of the British public's affection for Motown tunes. But the single didn't go anywhere on the charts.
Perhaps The Rascals should have been happy about their non-hit status in Europe, as their success at home created at least one legal headache for them at this time. In 1962, Felix had recorded two singles for Jag Records with his college band, The Escorts. In 1966, these tracks started popping up on various unauthorized compilations both in the USA and possibly abroad -- and were credited as Rascals performances. The Rascals, along with Atlantic Records, obtained an injunction against the manufacturers of these albums on the grounds that the recordings were not by The Rascals and were being falsely represented as such. Today, because the original Jag singles are so rare, collectors often look happily to these bootleg albums for a taste of Felix's first recorded work.
Although a huge success on the east coast and as a live act, Atlantic Records was beginning to get a bit impatient with The Rascals. They had scored big with Good Lovin', but had little success with You Better Run and Come On Up. The band feared that if they did not have another big hit soon, Atlantic would ask them to use outside material for their single releases. As luck would have it, The Rascals' next single was a hit, and Felix attributes this change in luck to his falling in love.
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.
The Rascals Biography Part Two: 1967
In January 1967, The Rascals were a busy bunch. From January 6 - 8, they again performed at the Fillmore West, being joined on the bill by supporting acts Sopwith Camel and The Doors. During this month, the group also released their second LP, Collections, and their fifth single, I've Been Lonely Too Long/If You Knew. Felix often tells interviewers that his falling in love at this time inspired his songwriting and helped to catapult The Rascals towards a string of hits on the singles chart. It certainly can't be denied that the musical content of the next several Rascals singles contained an inner joy that practically exploded off of the vinyl they were placed on. However, the coming period of Rascals' history also greatly illustrates the power of the Brigati/Cavaliere writing team. Felix may have been the one who was in love, but it was Eddie who translated those feelings of love into lyrics.
We started to write, did two or three songs, and had limited success, even though those songs are some of my favorites: Come On Up, You Better Run... Lonely Too Long was the savior, because at this point the record company was saying, "Well that's three you didn't hit top ten with." If we had continued another fourth or fifth, we probably would've never been able to write, but at least we had three shots. I don't think they give kids today that many.
Felix Cavaliere (Musician, April, 1985)
With Felix on lead vocals, I've Been Lonely Too Long went to number 16 on the pop charts, which in light of the group's past and future successes, doesn't sound that much better than their previous chart positions. But after several poorly charting singles, I've Been Lonely Too Long was a godsend for the group -- namely in that it convinced their record company that they could indeed write their own successful singles. The song is also notable for being the first Rascals' song to make the R&B chart, where it landed at number 33.
The Collections album also did very well, making it to number 14 on the charts and going gold. From a historical point of view, this album shows the transition of The Rascals from a cover band to a self-contained one. Containing 11 tracks (6 self-penned, 5 covers), the group's musical energy level was at an all time high. If one album had to be chosen to convey what the Rascals sounded like during their famed live shows, this would be it.
With this album also began the "tradition" of Gene writing and performing two of his own compositions on each record, which he continued to do for the next four LPs. Also notable on this album is that Dino co-wrote one track with Gene, Nineteen Fifty-Six. During the Rascals' recorded career, Dino only wrote or co-wrote 6 songs for the group. It wasn't until later on in his solo career that Dino's compositions began seeing the light of day on albums and singles again (with Fotomaker, Modo and Gary US Bonds).
Around this time, The Rascals made their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan show to promote the Collections album. With a swirling, psychedelic background behind them, they performed Lonely Too Long, Come On Up and Mickey's Monkey/Lovelights.
Another promotion done for Collections at this time was done on The Dating Game. The group was in California and went to the TV studio in hopes that one of them would be chosen for the show so to promote the album. Dino was chosen as a contestant and appeared on the show, but was not the chosen bachelor.
As 1967 carried on and spring began, the "summer of love" feeling was beginning to spread around the country. And in April of 1967, The Rascals contributed a song that was to epitomize that coming summer: Groovin'.
Groovin' to me was based on a Sunday afternoon -- that was our day off. We lived in Hotel 14, which was upstairs from the Copacabana on 60th Street in Manhattan. And it was kind of a day off day. And you go right down the street into the park, and the park was like, you would say like a zoo of people who came out with roller skates and capes -- and you gotta remember the times. They were the flower children, and they were all the park people, and people doing magic and tricks and readings and stuff like that, so it kind of tells it's own story.
Eddie Brigati (American Gold radio show)
Groovin' is notable not only for the huge success it became, but for the radical departure it was from The Rascals' usual sound. Instead of the Hammond organ, guitar, percussion and drums that made up their signature sound, Groovin' consisted of a piano, conga drum, harmonica, and background vocals and bird calls (courtesy of Eddie and his brother, David Brigati). Felix's lead vocal on the song has often been compared to the vocal style of Ray Charles, one of his musical idols. While the Rascals had done many slow songs in the past, this one was different; it wasn't your typical ballad. Groovin' is a hazy type of song, custom made for a daydreaming soundtrack or a sunny day -- take your pick.
Because The Rascals had just regained their chart momentum, Atlantic was apprehensive about Groovin'. The company did not want it released as a single as they felt that it was too radical a departure from the Rascals' usually hard sound. It took the influence of Murray the K, the famed disc jockey, to persuade Atlantic to take a chance with Groovin'.
Murray the K, the disc jockey, happened to come around one day while we were recording the song, and he immediately fell in love with it. He had never heard us play anything like that before... Murray went to Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records' president) and lobbied for us. He told Ahmet that the song would be a big hit and that he couldn't wait to hear it on the radio. Finally, Atlantic gave in. Murray should get a lot of credit for making Groovin' happen. He didn't let up with Atlantic until they said yes.
Dino Danelli (Modern Drummer, February, 1991)
Groovin' (backed with Sueno) entered the singles charts on April 22, 1967 at number 79. By May 20 it was at the number one spot and stayed there for two weeks. Aretha Franklin's Respect booted The Rascals from number one to number two for the next two weeks. But then Groovin' reclaimed the number one position for two more weeks after the reign of Respect ended. Ms. Franklin must have not minded much, though, as she later covered Groovin' on her Lady Soul and Aretha In Paris albums.
The Rascals' claimed their first ever gold single with the enormous success of Groovin' and also had their best R&B chart success with it, hitting number 3 on that chart. Groovin' also gave them their first and biggest British hit, peaking in the UK at number 8.
The Rascals filmed their first promotional video clip around this time for Groovin'. Set in and around Central Park, the video showed the group frolicking on swings, a seesaw, and rowing a boat around a lake, among other things. The clip was mainly a showcase for spotlighting the personalities of the members and had no set storyline or gimmick, other than to be cute.
An "urban myth" about Groovin' that has developed through the years is that it was about either (a) a threesome or (b) contained a reference to Leslie West, a contemporary of The Rascals, and a member of The Vagrants. The lyric in question is "life could be ecstasy, you and me ENDLESSLY." Some have misinterpreted this lyric as, "life could be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie." Felix has joked to interviewers that people thought he had a girlfriend named Leslie because of his misunderstood pronunciation of the word endlessly.
Hot on the heels of Groovin?, A Girl Like You, backed with It's Love (both sung by Felix), was released in June. This single was yet another departure from The Rascals "sound" -- thanks to the orchestral arrangement of Arif Mardin. A Girl Like You had a big bandish feel to it, yet was solid rock-n-roll. In August of 1967 the song hit number 10 on the U.S. singles chart and also hit number 37 on the British singles chart. Unfortunately, this was the last Rascals single to ever chart in the U.K.
There was no guitar and no organ (on A Girl Like You). It was Blood, Sweat and Tears two years early.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
Around the time A Girl Like You was released, The Rascals also released a single in which they tried to capitalize on the immense popularity of Groovin': Spanish and Italian versions of the song. The 45 did not chart, and today is a collector's item. They also recorded the song in German and French, but did not release either version. According to Felix, the German version sounded too rough, and the band's French pronunciation was not to their liking. All foreign language versions of Groovin' were sung phonetically.
During June, The Rascals made their third and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show performing Groovin', A Girl Like You and the forthcoming How Can I Be Sure. They would have certainly been back for more appearances on the Sullivan show if not for policies that were later instated by the group around 1968.
I would say that the Groovin' album was our most creative collectively.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
Every artist experiences a creative peak, and for The Rascals, theirs was the Groovin' album. Released in July of 1967, the album eventually made its way up to number 5 on the charts, and stands as the group's highest charting non-greatest hits package. It also garnered the band their third gold album.
Featuring their previous two singles, plus You Better Run (finally appearing on an album over a year after its release) and 8 other songs, Groovin' presents The Rascals at their peak form -- both as a group and as musical partners. The album also introduced a new voice into The Rascals' mix -- that of David Brigati on background vocals.
David Brigati, Eddie's older brother, had been a member of Joey Dee and the Starliters in the early 1960s. Since he and Eddie are close and had worked together in the past, it seems only obvious that David would've eventually gotten involved with The Rascals, especially since Eddie began an involvement with Joey Dee and the Starliters because of David's membership in that group. With their similar voices and tight harmonies, Eddie and David created a unique vocal blend that added a new dimension to The Rascals' sound from the Groovin' album on.
While The Rascals had been known as a hard rocking, soulful band during the beginning of their career, they were now becoming known for their vocal prowess as well. The difference in the vocal arrangements between their first two albums and their third was astounding. And with each forthcoming album, the harmonies and arrangements became more and more impressive.
This change in background duties did bring about an unfortunate change, however: Gene's disappearance from most background vocals. Gene still sang lead on the songs he wrote for each album, but as far as the other songs The Rascals did, he no longer took part vocally, as David took his place in the studio. During the group's live shows, however, Gene performed David's vocal parts.
The backgrounds for I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore, Good Lovin', You Better Run, (and) Come On Up were Eddie, Felix and me all the way. So I was able to get in on a few of the hits as a back up singer.
On stage I had to do all of David's stuff that he had done in the studio.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, November, 1991)
See, David Brigati (in) later years sang on all of The Rascals records, you see, because even though he was not a royalty group member, he was that beautiful high voice on our songs -- (that) was David. (He) Never got the credit for that.
Felix Cavaliere (Dick Clark's Rock, Roll and Remember Radio Show)
Yet another change in vocal duties for The Rascals began around this time. When The Rascals formed, Eddie was to be the lead singer and front man, with Felix taking the lead occasionally. As they evolved, Felix began dominating the vocals, as his voice was better suited to their harder edged songs. Eddie usually took the ballads. For their first two albums, the lead duties were evenly divided between Eddie and Felix. With Groovin', this changed. Felix was beginning to take the lion?s share of leads. The interesting thing about this change is that while Felix was usually the one singing lead, Eddie was still the focal point, or front man, of the group. The other Rascals have many times labeled Eddie "the heart of The Rascals" for his antics.
He was like the heart of that group. He was The Rascals, regardless of who wrote the songs or who sang the songs. He was the identity of that group.
Felix Cavaliere (Goldmine, May 6, 1988)
Another new implementation around this time dealt with The Rascals' art direction. Dino, in addition to being an extraordinary drummer, was also a talented artist. He began the role of Rascals' art director around the release of the Groovin' album. He came up with the concept of the now classic cartoon Groovin' album cover, and oversaw the art design of the album. From this point on, Dino had a hand in the design of all Rascals' single sleeves and album cover art, as well as their tour books, songbooks, and most other forms of artistic promotion for the group.
From August 18 - 19, The Rascals made their third appearance at the Fillmore West. They also released yet another hit single in August, How Can I Be Sure/I'm So Happy Now. A little over month after its release, it reached number 4 on the pop charts. This single was notable not only for its great success, but because it was the first time Eddie had sung lead on a Rascals single since their debut 45, I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore (not counting the duets Eddie and Felix sung that appeared as B-sides). This was also the first time that one of Gene's self-written and sung compositions had appeared on a Rascals single. Written for a girlfriend he had at the time, I'm So Happy Now is an upbeat favorite of many Rascals fans.
How Can I Be Sure still holds up today melodically and it?s a beautifully written song. Arif Mardin provided a great arrangement with a concertina and strings.
Dino Danelli (DISCoveries, November, 19991)
Although How Can I Be Sure is credited to Felix and Eddie, in reality Felix, Eddie and David Brigati wrote it. Why David has never received proper songwriting credit for the song has been the subject of much speculation. The most plausible reason is that intra group politics lead to David's not receiving due credit. Ironically, while a member of Joey Dee And The Starliters, David co-wrote the number one hit, The Peppermint Twist and did not receive credit for that song, either.
David's role in The Rascals' history seems to unfortunately follow the example of How Can I Be Sure. In viewing the group's history as a whole, it becomes obvious that David was never given the credit that was due him. Whilst he was given credit on the albums for "vocal background effects" (Groovin'), "vocals" (Once Upon A Dream), "added for vocal backgrounds" (Freedom Suite), and "background vocals" (Search And Nearness), he was not mentioned anywhere on either the See or Time Peace LPs. For someone who is considered the unofficial fifth Rascal, who was one of the three voices that created the Rascals' vocal sound, and who helped to create the group's vocal arrangements, the lack of proper acknowledgment for his contributions is staggering.
From 1967 onwards, news blurbs telling of a Rascals movie constantly popped up in the media. For the next few years it was the norm to see news items announcing that the group had begun filming their movie. The group did have a deal with Warner Brothers-7 Arts and Steve Allen to do a musical film entitled Groovin', but nothing was ever produced. Steve Allen's role was to be that of co-writer/director/producer. Apparently a script treatment was written, but the reason why the film was never made remains unclear.
Prior to this film being proposed, The Rascals made a short cartoon starring themselves and featuring Murray the K (though Murray wasn't directly involved in production). It was never released to the public and was for private use only. The group spoke of the cartoon on a January, 1967 appearance on Murray's radio show. According to the interview, it revolves around Eddie's being late for a rehearsal, and the others trying to find a replacement for him. One of the people they auditioned in the cartoon was Murray. It isn't known if this cartoon still exists on film.
In November of 1967, The Rascals took some inspiration from The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album and released a single that through the years has always been described simply as "psychedelic". It's Wonderful, written and co-sung by Felix and Eddie, is a progressive and idealistic song, but it was perhaps a bit too "out there" for the record buying public -- even for 1967. Complete with almost a full minutes worth of sound effects (think New Years Eve) at the end of the single version of the song, it only made it to number 20 on the pop charts by the end of December. The flip side of the record, Of Course, was a straightforward soul song with Felix on lead, and was most likely picked up for airplay on some R&B stations.
In support of It's Wonderful, The Rascals traveled to Puerto Rico and filmed a promo video for the song. Showing them in the recording studio and clowning on the beach, the clip was dimly lit and sharply cut. It was shown only once on television, during a group appearance on The Joey Bishop Show.
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.
The Rascals Biography Part Three: 1968
Close on the heals of It's Wonderful came the Once Upon A Dream LP. Released in February, 1968 as a concept album, it was a hodge podge of different styles and sounds. Spoken intros, sound effects, and a coverance of every style imaginable for the time, Once Upon A Dream offers much to be discovered by way of variety.
The cover art featured sculpted collages created by Dino, and the gatefold opened to reveal a large, pseudo psychedelic photo of the band, a booklet of negative image photos of The Rascals individually, and text from Felix and Dino telling of the meaning and concept of the album. The meaning of the sculptures on the front and back covers was probably lost on most who bought the album, as the only explanation presented was in the booklet that accompanied the album. It simply stated that the sculptures represented the dreams of the band members individually and collectively. However, since the sculptures were done in a symbolic style, it was often hard to understand the meaning of each piece. Despite the "mystery" of the sculptures, Dino won several graphics design awards for the cover, including the Graphis International award for outstanding rock album cover.
Dreams are messages which are sent to us from above. They can occur in all types of shapes and forms from beauty to bizarre. They bring omens and nonsense. The origin of their birth however, is enough to allow the light, which they bring with them to penetrate into our souls. The Dream Of Mankind Is Peace On Earth And Good Will Toward Men. This album is dedicated to that dream.
Felix Cavaliere (The Once Upon A Dream booklet, February, 1968)
The Cover
(Symbolacas II) An assemblage of objects and sculptures that represent our dreams individually and collectively as a group.
For its construction, I have, instead of carving from stone, used an opposite method of building and adding to create many objects, which altogether form an environment. The objects exist not as separate identities, but as symbolic carriers. The impulse and thought they transmit is its spirit, image, and meaning.
Dino Danelli (from the Once Upon A Dream booklet, February, 1968)
Perhaps even more interesting than the artistic changes the group was presenting, was the name change that came with Once Upon A Dream. Released under the group name, The Rascals, rather than The Young Rascals, the group had finally become successful enough in the eyes of their record company and the public to drop the disdained "Young" from their moniker. Apparently, this news was a bit slow in travel, as some of the group's foreign record releases still referred to them by their old name for several more months.
Within a month, Once Upon A Dream climbed to number 9 on the pop charts. Interestingly enough, the success of the album was not enough to earn The Rascals a gold record award at the time of its release. It was their first album not to receive such an honor. It's important to note that since the release of all of The Rascals records, they've mostly all gone gold and/or platinum many times over by now.
David Brigati sang the title track on Once Upon A Dream, and this performance marked David's only lead vocal on a Rascals song. During a Rascals' concert at Madison Square Garden in New York around this time, David made his only stage appearance with the group, performing Once Upon A Dream live.
There were several strong songs on the album, but no additional singles besides the previously issued It's Wonderful were released. A 6-song ep was released in support of the album, however. At the time, eps were strongly distributed for jukebox use, and were a great promotional tool. A set of three intertwining video clips was also filmed in promotion of the album tracks. The Easy Rollin'/I'm Gonna Love You/Please Love Me video clip was filmed in California and featured the group chasing a beach ball down some stairs during the first song, clowning in marching band costumes for the second song, and doing a straight performance for the last track.
A month after the release of Once Upon A Dream, the group released one of their biggest hit singles, A Beautiful Morning, which is often considered a clone or brother song of Groovin' (depending on the critic examining it). The theme of A Beautiful Morning certainly does continue on with the feel of Groovin', but musically does not sound like it -- save for the slow pace and bird calls (again courtesy of Eddie and David Brigati).
We wanted to have all the mystique of the morning, the dawn coming. And a powerful source was Arif Mardin, who as everyone knows, that's Better Midler's producer, and he's had a string of hits. And he was a wonderful, wonderful friend and confidant and supporter and supervisor, and he had much to do with the arrangements.
Eddie Brigati (American Gold radio show)
I used to get letters all the time -- they used to blast this thing in Vietnam for Taps. Instead of using the bugles and the trumpets, they put a record player or phonograph through the PA system over there. And that's how they got up in the jungles, isn't that far out?
Felix Cavaliere (Summer Beach Party radio show, July 4 1991)
A Beautiful Morning, with Rainy Day from the Once Upon A Dream LP on the flipside (Eddie's spoken intro was deleted from the single), reached number 3 on the pop charts and number 36 on the R&B charts, again proving The Rascals' popularity with fans of soul music.
Another thing that A Beautiful Morning has in common with Groovin' is that a foreign language version of the song was recorded. In this case, however, the only language the group attempted (still phonetically) was Italian. Rainy Day (spoken intro again deleted) was also done in this language and it's possible that these two tracks were released in Europe as a single.
As a promotion for Flip magazine, The Rascals filmed a short film extolling the virtues of Flip as compared to other teen magazines of the time. At the beginning of the film was what can only be considered a "lost" video for Lonely Too Long. And at the end of the film was a similar clip for A Beautiful Morning. Both clips showed the group fooling around in the Flip offices, striking poses for the camera, and partaking in an interesting game of poker with a bunch of Flip combs, among other antics.
Flip magazine gave The Rascals the most exposure of any other magazine of the time, with 16 Magazine a close second. For a group known for it's blend of dance, soul, rock and everything in between, the teen zines focused a small bit on their music, and a whole lot more on Dino and Eddie's faces. But, then, what else is the purpose of a teen magazine? It's easy to forget just how popular the group was as "crush" band based on how overlooked they sometimes are in rock history. But for a time during the mid to late 1960's, each month you could be sure there'd be new teen 'zine pinups of the group for their female fans to hang on their walls and admire.
A sure sign of the "death" of an artist in the music business is the release of a greatest hits album. With few exceptions, these albums tie up an artist's hits in a nice little package, giving the impression that that the artist's career is over and ready for historical retrospective. The Rascals seemed to escape this kiss of death, for the time being, with the release of their Time Peace/The Rascals' Greatest Hits album in June of 1968. The album sailed to number 1 on the pop charts for a week and garnered The Rascals yet another gold record award. Another 6-song ep, much like the one released for Once Upon A Dream, was released in support of this album.
Mixing hit singles with popular album tracks, Time Peace/The Rascals' Greatest Hits remained the only widely available domestic greatest hits package on the group for many years. Beyond one or two further small-label hits compilations during the 1970's, it would be 1986 before a more comprehensive compilation, The Ultimate Rascals, was released. Later in the 1980's and 1990's, even more compilations would be released, giving the music buying public a wide choice of Rascals packages to choose from. The album art for Time Peace/The Rascals' Greatest Hits is classic, however, and that alone compels most Rascals fans to have the record in their collections. Based on the "dramatic comic book" art of Roy Linkenstein, The Rascals were presented in comic book form, "speaking" the titles of the songs that appeared on the album.
I'm most proud of People Got To Be Free, no doubt about that, 'cause of the statement that it made.
Felix Cavaliere (Made In America Radio Show, July 3, 1992)
The Rascals' biggest hit, People Got To Be Free was released during July of 1968 -- a month too late for inclusion on their greatest hits album. If not for internal politics between Atlantic and the group concerning the song, it probably would have been released at least a month or more earlier than it was.
Much like the situation concerning the release of the Groovin' 45, Atlantic felt that releasing People Got To Be Free could possibly harm The Rascals' career. Although the lyrics were not overtly political, it was nonetheless a strong statement, if you read between the lines.
The song was based on recent political events the group felt strongly about. On April 4, 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. In reaction to the murder, Eddie wrote a poem entitled Let Freedom Ring. Although he, Gene and Dino (Felix was apparently away at the time) collaborated on setting the poem to music, their efforts were never released on record.
Two months later, on June 6, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Some of the members of The Rascals had been supporters of Kennedy and strongly supported his campaign for U.S. President. The sentiments of what Eddie wrote in Let Freedom Ring were more relevant than ever after the Kennedy assassination, and the group wanted to release something that would make a humanistic statement in the same way that the unreleased Let Freedom Ring did. Out of this came People Got To Be Free, composed by Felix and Eddie. The song was recorded on May 14, 1968, and sat on the shelf until the group could convince Atlantic to release it.
When we finished it, Atlantic said: "You guys aren't black, you haven't suffered. Are you crazy? You're going to turn everyone off."
I remember we all sat there and looked at each other. Felix and Eddie wrote the song, we produced it, and it was our record. We told them, "This isn't just about black and white. What about freedom of speech, what about freedom of religion, what about artistic freedom, what about the freedom to put out this damn record?" They had to put it out because in our contract we had the final say. And you know what? It sold more than Groovin'
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
What is even more interesting is that Atlantic didn't want to release it at first. They apparently felt the political overtones were too strong. It seemed strange that Atlantic had this attitude -- they had such a commitment to rhythm and blues. In retrospect, it was good the group had the intestinal fortitude to stand behind People Got To Be Free as well as Groovin', otherwise they might not have been released.
Dino Danelli (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
When released in July, the song that was considered so potentially dangerous to The Rascals' career ended up becoming their biggest hit, reaching number 1 on the pop charts on August 17 for a 5-week stay. The single also reached number 14 on the R&B charts. On the flip side was the underrated My World from the Once Upon A Dream album.
In recent years, People Got To Be Free has garnered the reputation of a protest song or a patriotic one. The view taken depends on the political ideologies of the listener. In the late 1980's, Felix performed a brief version of People Got To Be Free in a commercial urging people to vote, thus giving some credence to the patriotic view. The original intention of the song, however, doesn't seem to be political, but rather humanistic. Careful examinations of the lyrics don?t reveal either political leanings or protestation, but rather, a call to treat others with compassion and respect.
In November, the group released their follow-up to People Got To Be Free, A Ray Of Hope/Any Dance'll Do. Similar in intention to People Got To Be Free, but softer in tone, A Ray Of Hope was written for Senator Edward Kennedy, as an inspirational message for him after the assassination of his brother Robert. Senator Kennedy was made aware of the record and wrote The Rascals a thank you letter for writing the song for him. The flip side of the single, Any Dance'll Do, was a fun song with no message to speak of other than to pay tribute to Eddie's dance style.
The A Ray of Hope single reached number 24 on the pop charts and number 36 on the R&B charts. It was to be the group's last single to make the R&B chart. There are many reasons as to why the song didn't do well on the charts, but the most likely reason is it was just too slow and out of the expected Rascals' musical realm for many listeners to embrace it. Although this was no problem when they released singles like Groovin' and A Beautiful Morning, neither of those songs were message songs; neither of those songs preached in the slight way that A Ray Of Hope did.
Many music fans will tell you that if a song has a good beat, they don't pay attention to the lyrics. Could that be the reason why a message song such as People Got To Be Free was successful, but not a message song such as A Ray Of Hope? What about the fact that popular music was beginning to become very guitar oriented at this time, whereas The Rascals were organ and harmony based? Or, could it be that The Rascals were about to begin their career decline -- something that happens to most groups no matter how popular they once were. In hindsight, it looks as if all theories may be correct.
We never really made that change in style. I think we probably should have changed our style, but that's easy to say in hindsight.
Gene was a rhythm guitar player -- we probably should have added another guitar player since everybody was going for the heavy sound.
Dino Danelli (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
At the same time when Eddie and Felix weren't getting along and the hit songs weren't coming any more, groups like Cream and Jimi Hendrix came out. So what a great reason to blame someone for why we aren't having hit records. For years I was told to keep the guitar down and keep it low because it's just a rhythm instrument. Now they want me to put on spandex pants and get Marshall amps, but still there are no songs.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, November, 1991)
In late 1968 The Rascals announced two new policy statements. The first was that they would no longer do "establishment" television shows. This effectively kept them off of popular shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show. Because of this, they lost a great source of promotion for their records. The second new policy was that they would no longer play live shows unless there was at least one black act sharing the bill. The group also stated that they would not play to segregated audiences. The origin of the policy concerning their appearance on television shows is unclear. The origin of the second policy can be traced back to incidents the group experienced while traveling in the South, however.
In the October 1, 1970 issue of Rolling Stone, Felix recalls an incident that happened in March, 1968 as they were traveling with a Dick Clark revue in the South. He recalls The Rascals being hassled by local rednecks because of their appearance and long hair. In the interview, Felix attributes this incident as the catalyst for the no segregation policy that the band implemented later in 1968. Eddie attributes this policy to something the band witnessed at one of their shows in the south right before the policy was announced.
Once we were playing in Alabama and the police were there with guard dogs pulling black people out of the line. We said we wouldn't play if the audience were segregated, so it got back to the news media. And the next day people came and said, "we heard you don't play unless there's a guaranteed black group playing with you and a black audience is there." So we said, "If you want to put it that way, yes." And they made a big deal out of it. But it was terrifying to watch them pulling human beings out on our line into our performance with dogs.
Eddie Brigati (Goldmine, May 6, 1988)
We caused a lot of trouble on our tours, hurt our attendance because I wanted to have black people come to our shows. I passed an edict that said The Rascals would not work unless there's a black act on the bill. Oh my God... Again, another business blunder! Down south that didn't go over too well. We lost a lot of money -- and did something that I'm proud of.
Felix Cavaliere (Musician, April, 1985)
Dino remembers that The Rascals were powerful enough at this point in their career to demand non-segregated shows. But regardless of how much status the band had, they still lost an amazing amount of money due to cancelled shows in venues across the United States.
The Rascals were not hurting for lack of live shows, though. They did an enormous amount of benefit shows for all sorts of political and humanistic causes throughout their career. They also had planned to do a World Peace Tour, sponsored by the U.S. Government. The tour was supposed to travel to places such as Vietnam and Russia, but never happened for reasons unknown.
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.
The Rascals Biography Part Four: 1969 -- 1970
The Rascals welcomed 1969 with a single release, Heaven/Baby I'm Blue. Very similar musically to A Ray Of Hope, Heaven only climbed to number 39 on the pop charts, which at this point in their career, was the group's third worst chart showing for a single. For a group that had recently had their biggest chart success ever with People Got To Be Free, this dry run single wise must have been a confusing turn of events for both the group and their fans.
Both sides of the Heaven single were written by Felix, marking the first time a solely Cavaliere penned composition was released as a 45 since Come On Up. It also marked the coming of the end of the Cavaliere/Brigati writing team. All future Rascals singles were written by Felix alone (with the exception of three future singles sides -- two by Gene Cornish and one by Buzzy Feiten).
In March came the double Freedom Suite album, The Rascals' most ambitious album ever. The message songs were out in full force (with a few exceptions), and the group seemed to be trying hard to prove just how serious and focused they could be.
Everything about the way Freedom Suite was presented was unique. It was the first time that lyrics had been included with a Rascals album, which were put on one of the colorful dust sleeves that protected the vinyl. The silver front cover had a centered card stock photo of the group that was airbrushed together from individual photos. The cover opened to reveal the LP credits on one side, while on the opposite side was a full sized painting by Dave Brigati that was based on the tarot card, Judgement.
Inside of the album was a plastic bag that opened to reveal three pieces of artwork by Eddie, Gene and Dino. Eddie's piece was a black ink line drawing filled with impressive doodles of people, animals, the outdoors and nature. Gene's piece was a doodly red, blue and black ink drawing of shapes and lines. Dino's contribution was his drawing study of El Greco's Christ. Felix did not contribute a piece of art to the package for reasons unknown.
The original intention of Dino, who had been the group's art director since the Groovin' album, was for the cover to be solid silver with a matching silver envelope glued on front of it. Upon reaching inside the envelope, the owner of the album would find the above three pieces of artwork. Although this was a great idea, Atlantic's art department felt it would be too costly to produce, and thus rejected it.
Musically, the double album had a split personality. The first disc, referred to as Freedom Suite on the gatefold and record label, contained 11 songs. The second disc, referred to as Music Music, contained three instrumentals by the band. The first, Adrian's Birthday was a tribute to one of the group's engineers, Adrian Barber. It was a rollicking instrumental with a variation of Happy Birthday lightly sung over it. The second instrumental, Boom was an extended drum solo by Dino. The third instrumental was something of historical note Rascals wise, a recorded version of Cute. Cute was an instrumental that The Rascals often used to close their live shows with, and is the only song ever credited to all four band members as authors.
Freedom Suite reached number 17 on the pop charts and went gold on the advance orders for the album alone. But it would be the group's last top 40 album.
At the time of release, the active single that appeared on the album was Heaven, which did not do well on it's own. A possible reason for Heaven's poor chart showing could be that consumers bought the album and not the single. Regardless of who bought what, the success of the album showed that the group still had a strong fan base. But it was starting to slip, as evidenced by the band's next several releases.
Although Felix and Eddie co-wrote many of the songs that appeared on Freedom Suite, personal dealings between the two had been strained for a while. The method of songwriting that Eddie and Felix practiced probably wasn't what most fans envisioned. They usually did not write together in the same room. Eddie would write poetry/lyrics on his own and would also write lyrics based on song titles given to him by Felix. Felix would then take Eddie's lyrics and set them to music. Although they didn't have to be in the same room to write this way, they did need to be in synch personally to be able to express and understand what the other was trying to say musically. Freedom Suite contained the last songs to be co-written by Eddie and Felix, save for I'm Blue from their upcoming See album. The two had once been great friends and even shared an apartment for a time. However, the strains of being in the spotlight, and the numerous pressures that go along with it, began to affect both them and the entire group.
The pressures of being in a successful music group were enormous. The members of The Rascals were expected to churn out hits, write and record steadily, release records on a regular basis, do concerts on weekends, do promotions, and financially support the administration that was put in place to support them. In between all of this activity, they had very little time to themselves. Given these circumstances, it seems almost inevitable that both personal and business disagreements would spring up between the members of the band. With this much stress being piled upon the group, they should have taken a rest so to assess the paths their careers and lives were traveling towards. But they didn't; their handlers did not want to break The Rascals' stride.
We would go out and play shows on weekends and then come back to New York to record during the week. It definitely wasn't the way to record an album if you compare it to the way things are done today.
Dino Danelli (Modern Drummer, February, 1991)
There is a tragedy to The Rascals, and it is the business and management. What do you do with a band that has hit after hit after hit? Do you just keep 'em out on the circuit and traveling? All Sid knew how to do was book us. We never got to the next level, the TV specials, the films.
Now the intelligent thing to do at that point would've been for someone to say, "Hey, hold it! You guys are about to break up and ruin everything. Let's take a six-month hiatus. Don't anybody come around or see each other, and at the end of that we'll see if we've still got a family or whether we should get a divorce. Of course, that didn't happen and events were allowed to take their course.
Felix Cavaliere (Musician, April, 1985)
Well, basically we had a hectic schedule; a lot of things were done. We recorded during the week. Everything was kind of by ear, there was no real itinerary ahead of time, it was kind of made up as you go along.
So we had to record during the week and move out on weekends and stuff like that, and I couldn't really keep up to switching the creativity on and off. And then you're a traveler the next day, then you're a performer the next day, then you're a recorder the next day, and in the interim you're a writer. We were writing that material while we were supposed to be flying across the face of the earth.
Eddie Brigati (American Gold radio show)
We were all very young and very famous. That can get to you. Every band member has their own circle of friends. They say to you, "you're the best, you're better than the other guys in the band." Your girlfriend says, "you don't have to take that from them." Your best friend says, "Why do you put up with Eddie? Or Gene? Or Dino?" Every band has these little special interest groups who are for the individual but not for the band.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
Relations between various members were being stretched to the limit, and while these personal problems could be covered up in the press and in public for appearances sake, the casualty of Cavaliere/Brigati writing team was the first overt, non-hidable clue that there was trouble in paradise. Although the reason given publicly for this sudden turn of events was that Eddie was "not satisfied" with his songwriting, the truth was that Felix and Eddie were simply not satisfied with each other anymore.
In May, 1969 The Rascals released their most ambitious single, See, with Gene's hiply progressive and self-sung Away Away on the flip side. Felix's ultra psychedelic lyrics were the highlight of See, which at 4:34, ran much longer than the usual single did in the late 60's. The forthcoming album version of the song ran even longer, clocking in at 5:01. One review of the song said it sounded like "the new old Rascals," referring to the fact that although the sound of the song was heavy, musically it felt reminiscent of the energy of their earlier hits. Regardless of how early Rascals-like the song did or didn't sound, it only made it to number 27 on the pop charts by June.
The next single, released in August, was Carry Me Back, backed with Real Thing. Carry Me Back was a clichéd pseudo-country rocker written by Felix and sung by Eddie. The flip side was the first Rascals song to have outside vocalists besides David Brigati appear on it, employing the use of the Sweet Inspirations on backgrounds. The single went to number 26 on the charts in September, and was the group's last top 40 single. The other notable fact about the release is that the picture sleeve featured a photo of a house taken by Gene. It was the first and only time that a Rascal member's photography was used for one of their record releases.
Although the group had not scored any hits in the UK since A Girl Like You, Dionne Warwick was experiencing a hit over there around this time with her remake of People Got To Be Free. In the June 14, 1969 issue of DISC, one of England's more famous music weeklies, two different columnists expressed their unhappiness with the fact that Dionne? s version, and not The Rascals', had become the hit. During the course of their career, The Rascals garnered a surprising amount of press in the British music weeklies. At the beginning of their career, they were heralded as the next big thing. But after it became apparent that the band was a British two-hit wonder, the weeklies consistently published articles bemoaning The Rascals' lack of success in England and wondering why their music was not being picked up on by the British public.
The Rascals themselves seemed to feel that their lack of touring in England and Europe, plus the difficulty they were constantly dogged with concerning obtaining British working permits, is what held back their success in Europe.
The album that would bear the See singles name appeared in December of 1969. The SEE album was a radical departure from the previous sound of The Rascals. It had a heavy, progressive sound to it that was dominated by Felix's visually descriptive and fairly psychedelic lyrics.
All tracks on the album were written by Felix, with the exception of Away Away and Remember Me from Gene, and I'm Blue by Felix and Eddie. I'm Blue was the last Cavaliere/Brigati composition ever to appear on a Rascals album.
Gene has revealed in recent years that he wrote Remember Me about the withering relationship he had with Felix. Listening to the songs lyrics reveals just how much their once good friendship had deteriorated over time.
The relationship went from very good to very bitter.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
For the cover design, Dino chose René Magritte's painting, La Grande Famile. The painting was one of Dino's favorites, and he felt that the visual fit the mood of the album. A European style of lamination was used for the album cover, giving it a unique look and feel. The back cover featured four individual shots of the members with stars sprinkled about them. It had no overt meaning except to play on the theme of the word "see" by presenting a strong interplanetary visual. The albums lyrics were included as an insert on high quality, foldout bond paper.
The See album made it as high as number 45 on the charts. It's interesting that while the band's sound on See was heavier than usual, they only scored two modest hits from it. The style of popular music was becoming heavier and guitar drenched at this time, as groups such as Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin were becoming all the rage. Although The Rascals seemed to be trying to flow with the times and change their sound to a more guitar based one, and were fairly successful at it when taking the See album into consideration, they were nevertheless victims of the fickle, ever changing taste of the music buying public.
In recent years there has been much speculation among the former members as to whether or not they should have added a second guitar player so to achieve a heavier sound. Although it may have changed their image slightly, it's doubtful that a second guitar player would have helped. It also seems a bit revisionist, as the next three albums released under The Rascals' name did not seem to be presented with an overt concern for what was popular musically.
Upon hearing each of the LPs that followed See, the listener is struck by how independent from then current popular musical styles The Rascals were as they dove into gospel and jazz tinged music. The Edwin Hawkins Singers' Oh, Happy Day aside, neither gospel nor jazz was de rigeur on the pop charts during the late 60's. However, this is where The Rascals were beginning to travel musically. If their chart momentum was beginning to slip, one only had to look at their new musical paths to see why. Their music, plain and simply, was beginning to go over their fans' heads as well as away from the mainstream.
The Rascals ended the 60s with the release of I Believe/Hold On in December 1969. With the release of this record, there was some uncertainty as to which side was going to be the proper A side. Although the picture sleeve lists I Believe as the A side, a promotional single was released with Hold On listed as "plug" side. Sheet music was produced for the song as well. In Europe and South America, Hold On was consistently listed as the A side of the single. The Rascals also promoted the song on an appearance on The Tom Jones Show during this time. Marketing both sides of a single to see which side was preferred by the public was not uncommon during the 1960s, but the danger to this type of promotion was the possibility that neither side would receive a heavier percentage of airplay, thus the single would stall midway up the charts. This is what may have happened with I Believe/Hold On.
I Believe/Hold On went to number 51 on the charts. I Believe was a gospel tinged song written and performed by Felix. Besides Eddie and David on backgrounds, Cissy Houston and Tasha Thomas of The Sweet Inspirations also joined in to fill out the chorus. Hold On was from the just released See album, and was a funky, very R&B cut. Since this single and the See album came out at the same time, Atlantic's intention for pushing both sides of the 45 could have been to promote both See and the single at the same time.
It wasn't until July of 1970 that The Rascals released their next 45. The record was Glory Glory, sung by Felix, backed with You Don't Know, sung by Eddie and written by Gene. It fared about the same as the previous single had, going to number 58 on the charts. The Sweet Inspirations once again joined The Rascals on backgrounds on Glory Glory to fill out the gospel-tinged chorus.
Glory Glory not only sounded gospelish, it was also religiously themed. Since 1968, Felix had been studying under the Swami Satchidananda. The Swami became a sort of guru to him, comparable to the relationship The Beatles had with the Marharishi. This new religious awakening of Felix's is no doubt what inspired him to start writing religious themed songs. For the rest of his time with The Rascals, Felix continued to write and perform several spiritual songs on each album.
Swami Satchidananda ?s teachings are based on all the great religions of the world. The purpose of all religions is to give yourself to God. When you are in that state, the strangest things occur -- you say things, you do things, you feel things that are so unique. Playing an instrument in that consciousness causes you to express feelings that people just don't normally know about.
Felix Cavaliere (Crawdaddy, November 7, 1971)
Gene was supposed to have been the original lead singer on You Don't Know, but asked Eddie to take over vocal duties either for reasons of "laziness" (to paraphrase Gene) or because of insecurity about his voice (another reason given by Gene in interviews). However, the unreleased demo version of the song as sung by Gene reveals neither laziness nor a poor vocal performance. You Don't Know was the last lead vocal on a Rascals single to be performed by Eddie.
In retrospect, You Don't Know was the much stronger song of the two, and should have been the A side, rather than the overtly religious Glory Glory, which may have put certain listeners off. You Don't Know would have fit in well with other contemporary songs of the time, and could have been a hit if promoted.
On August 6, 1970, The Rascals performed their last ever concert as a foursome at Shea Stadium in New York. Ironically, it was the same venue at which Sid Bernstein had flashed the "The Rascals are coming!" message on the scoreboard during The Beatles show 5 years earlier on August 16, 1965.
In November, The Rascals released what has to be the campiest single of their career, though it's doubtful that it was meant to be regarded as such. It would also be the last single released by the original members of the group, and their last single released on Atlantic records. The 45, Right On/Almost Home, embodied another case of Atlantic not knowing which side to promote, thus two promos were released for it: one for Right On and one for Almost Home. In the end it didn't matter which song was pushed as the proper single, as the record failed to chart at all -- the first time a Rascals 45 hadn't charted since the Italian and Spanish versions of Groovin' had been released in 1967.
Almost Home wins the prize for campier of the two songs on the single. Lyrically, it comes across as a stalker's version of Tony Orlando and Dawn's Tie A Yellow Ribbon. Right On is more open to interpretation as to what the story in the song is truly about, which makes for interesting analysis of the lyrics by listeners.
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.
The Rascals Biography Part Five: 1971
The Rascals' contract with Atlantic records was nearing expiration and they chose not to renew it. Offers poured in from competing record companies, despite the group's recent stalemates on the charts. The Rascals' name and reputation was a valuable commodity, especially since they were still considered one of the hottest live bands around. Columbia Records offered what the group felt to be the best deal (one million plus dollars), and they were to sign with them in early 1971.
The personal situation within the band had not improved in recent months -- it had actually inflamed. An explosion was going to happen soon, and surprisingly, it happened the day the group signed with Columbia.
We did five years. Do you wanna sign up for another five years in an inequitable situation with at best poor management?
Eddie Brigati (The Howard Stern Radio Show, February 21, 1991)
The story of what happened during the contract signing varies according to who is asked about it. Each member remembers it differently. There are a few complementary memories of the event, however, and from those a bare bones idea of what happened can be extracted.
On the day that the signing was to take place, The Rascals met in an executive meeting with their own representatives to discuss the deal. During this meeting, an altercation between Eddie and Felix began. Felix or Eddie gave their view of how things should be run. They argued about their (now ex) songwriting partnership, the duties of each member, and the equality of the band members in accordance with each other, as well as David's not being given proper credits artistically or financially by the group. This had long been a thorn in Eddie's side, and his personal feelings on this added to the fuel to the equality issue. Felix had also incorrectly been labeled the group's leader in interviews and articles. This had been a bone of contention with the other members, as they did not consider The Rascals to be led by any single one of them.
Most groups had one standout fella, but we believed that each guy had his own thing. We were four equal partners.
Felix Cavaliere (Newsweek, October, 1968)
One of the factors that aided The Young Rascals in their speedy climb to the heights is the cooperative arrangement that exists between the members of the group. There is no leader of The Rascals; they are all equal.
Bob Rolontz (The Young Rascals liner notes, March, 1966)
Divide and conquer.
When management decided to make Felix their operative "leader," that partiality stifled the creativity, and the separatism was the death knell to a cooperative environment.
From that point on, Felix had become, in typical management/industries fashion, their rubber stamp, in effect destroying the essence of The Rascals phenomenon.
Eddie Brigati (April 7, 1997)
The argument, which apparently was very brief, ended with Eddie quitting the band on the spot. Eddie had probably been the unhappiest about the direction the band had taken, both professionally and personally. Since David Brigati was not an "official" member of the band, and was not intended to sign to Columbia with the others (though his continued vocal support would have been expected), he "left" The Rascals along with Eddie. The remaining three members signed the Columbia contract, intentionally omitting Eddie and David's major contributions to the successful era of The Rascals.
We thought Eddie was going to come back in a couple of days and discuss it. We didn't want him to walk out, yet we couldn't stop it.
Gene Cornish (DISCoveries, December, 1991)
The Rascals had been near completion of their last album for Atlantic before Eddie left. Because they owed Atlantic one more album, Felix, Gene and Dino finished the album without Eddie or David's input. The remaining work to be done on the forthcoming album mainly dealt with instrumentation, and was the beginning of the group's departure from their formula for hits.
This album is dedicated to Jerry Wexler, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, Eddie Brigati, Arif Mardin and the entire staff of Atlantic Records, in fond remembrance of a beautiful 5 years.
Search and Nearness Album Dedication (March, 1971)
In March of 1971, Search And Nearness, The Rascals final album for Atlantic, was released. No new singles were released in support of the album. It only made it to number 198 on the album charts, and the lack of a new single probably had much to do with this. Without a single on the radio, or proper promotion to let the public know an album is available, it will just sit in the racks at the record store, rather than sell.
Musically, Search And Nearness had more of The Rascals "old" sound than See did. Whereas See was progressive, Search And Nearness was more R&B-ish. The gospel sound that so fascinated Felix was also evident on several songs on the album, including the lyrics to a composition by Dino entitled Fortunes.
The music dictated where I went for our visual.
Dino Danelli (September, 1996)
The album cover featured yet another painting that Dino admired, Wolfgang Hutter's 1966 piece, Ballspielendes Mädchen. Dino felt the painting to be introspective and searching, and felt it fit the musical content of the album. The back cover of the album featured another Hutter painting, Mittag from 1968.
The foldout cover opened to reveal a humorous photograph of Dino, Gene and Felix on a rooftop with Gene "hugging" the missing Eddie -- represented by a pair of sneakers the guys found hanging on a phone line on the street. A photo of Eddie was inserted into an empty window across the rooftop to humorously represent his absence from the photo shoot (which took place right after he left the band). According to Dino, the insertion of Eddie's photo into the empty window wasn't planned; the window was spotted after the fact, and the picture of Eddie was placed in the window on a lark.
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.
The Rascals Biography Part Six: 1971 -- 1972
The Rascals, now a threesome, immediately began working on their first Columbia album after Search and Nearness was completed. Quite a few outside musicians were brought in to fill out their sound for the Columbia sessions, and Felix's vision of a jazzy, gospel tinged R&B sound for the group was stronger than ever. While Dino had no problem with this musical direction, Gene did. Gene had not particularly cared for this new musical direction and was not shy in letting his opinion be known. And since Gene and Felix's relationship has been strained for quite a few years, personal dealings between the two were literally on their last legs.
According to Gene, he decided to leave The Rascals at this time because of his and Felix's personal problems, as well as the musical direction the band was taking. However, according to Felix, either he or he and Dino combined asked Gene to leave. But Dino recalls that Gene was not thrown out of the group, but chose to leave on his own free will. Eddie remembers Gene's departure this way as well.
Dino feels the problems the band had around the time that Eddie and Gene left were a result of each member feeling that they personally "knew best," and that this helped to drive the band apart. He also remembers Felix as having a problem with Gene's guitar style, as it differed from the new direction he envisioned for The Rascals' sound. Eddie attributes much of the personal dissention that sprung up within the group to their management and handlers' ineptitude and interference in their personal and professional lives.
The Rascals were now a twosome. They had two ways they could go regarding this: they could have exclusively used outside musicians to fill out their sound, or they could have added new Rascals to the group in an attempt to reform. They chose the latter. Since work on their first Columbia album was almost complete and they had used numerous session musicians already, it was a bit too late to name all of the permanent new Rascals at the time. There were several artists who stood out on the album to the point where it was obvious that they were "in," however. These musicians were Buzzy Feiten, Robert Popwell, Ann Sutton and Molly Holt. They were officially announced as new members of The Rascals around the time of the albums release.
Buzzy Feiten had was a guitarist who had previously worked with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and had also done much session work. His role in The Rascals seemed to be that of Felix's progeny. Buzzy wrote and performed two songs on The Rascals' first Columbia album, Peaceful World, and Felix specifically asked Columbia to include one of Buzzy? s Rascals songs, Icy Water, on a Columbia promo sampler after Peaceful World was released (Icy Water was never released as a single). Robert Popwell was a well-known studio guitarist and bassist. Vocalists Ann Sutton and Molly Holt also had experience in the music business with various groups prior to joining The Rascals.
The Rascals' first Columbia releases came in the form of the album Peaceful World, and the single Love Me/Happy Song in May of 1971. Peaceful World was a double LP that featured numerous guest musicians interpreting Felix's jazzy and gospelish new direction for the band. The title track was a 21:23 minute musical odyssey that was the embodiment of the sound of the new Rascals. The album cover featured the painting Tahitian Landscape by Paul Gauguin. Dino felt that the impressionist painting reflected a mellow, almost Hawaiian feeling and fit the mood of the album perfectly.
The Love Me single was a religiously themed song and featured Molly Holt on backgrounds quite prominently. It charted at number 95 on the pop charts -- The Rascals' last ever single to chart.
I want The Rascals to be a casual group, playing in a casual atmosphere. It's just incredible what other famous groups get for a one-night performance. They are stealing the eyeballs out of the people that support them. When we play, I would want the tickets to be only 50 cents. I want the kids to feel free and easy. Just like us. This group is going to have a strong rhythm action so that musicians can come and go as they please and sit in and jam with us. The purpose of this group is to be more freeform, improvisational. I guess almost a jazz-oriented Bonnie and Delancy and Friends. I want everything and everyone to feel free.
Felix Cavaliere (Crawdaddy, November 7, 1971)
Columbia records was unhappy with the album the group had released. The label had signed The Rascals, and although both Eddie and Gene were gone, Columbia still expected the music to be in the same vein as it was at Atlantic. Instead, what they got was a progressive, jazzed up version of The Rascals, rather than the soulful Rascals. The fact that Peaceful World only made it to number 122 on the album charts didn't help matters much. Some pressure may have been put on the group to return to their roots, because with their next several releases, their soul/rock roots came through much more strongly.
In October the group released a single, which featured Lucky Day, backed with Love Letter from the Peaceful World LP. Lucky Day was more of a return to the older sound of The Rascals and was in the same mold as songs such as A Beautiful Morning and Groovin', complete with ethereal background vocals. Despite the songs merits, it failed to chart.
The Rascals' next release was in February of 1972. Brother Tree/Saga of New York was another odd choice for a single. The A side was a fairly spiritual song with a very slow musical accompaniment. The flip side was more of The Rascals' old rocking sound, and may have fared better if it were the A side. This single also did not chart.
The group followed these two singles with their parent album in March, The Island of Real. The entire album was more in the style of the old Rascals soul/rock vein, although Felix's spiritual feelings did make their way into many of the lyrics. Two of the songs on the album, Be on the Real Side and Robert Popwell and Buzzy Feiten wrote Jungle Walk, respectively. The new members of the Rascals were pictured on the back cover of the album, thus cementing their presence in the group.
The front cover featured a painting of Dino's that he had "laying around" and it's the only album cover he says he regrets designing as he did. Dino says that he had problems finding an appropriate cover photo or painting for the album, and used the one that he did as a sort of last resort choice. In retrospect he would have put a photo of Coney Island during the wintertime on the cover. The brownish darkness and "lost in time" feeling of such a photo would have well represented the mood of the band at the time, according to Dino. He says that the band in general felt unsettled with their direction, and that Columbia records was just as unhappy with them.
Dino remembers Columbia being quite angry with The Rascals. Not only were they not the same band musically and personnel wise that they were whilst at Atlantic, but their sales also started to die around the time of their switch to the Columbia label. Columbia had signed the group for purely economic reasons, and was not happy with the direction that The Rascals had gone in since signing to the label.
After The Island of Real stalled at number 180 on the charts, Columbia decided to drop the band. The contract they had with The Rascals called for two albums to be made initially, and an option for the label to ask for several more. The poor chart showing of the group, even at this early stage in their partnership with Columbia, was enough to make the label drop them within only a year and a half of their signing.
Columbia did release two more Rascals singles that were culled from The Island of Real album in the coming months, most likely to try and break even on their investment in the band. In May of 1972, the Hummin' Song/Echoes single was released. Echoes is notable for being the first and only Rascals single side to be lead sung by a person other than Felix, Eddie or Gene, as Molly Holt took lead duties on the song. In September, the Jungle Walk/Saga of New York 45 was released. Saga of New York had previously been used at the flip side of Brother Tree. For Columbia to use this song as a flip side twice may mean that they either had much faith in the song, or they simply felt it was a "throw away" song that would be suitable buried on the flip of a single.
After Columbia dropped The Rascals, the band did not continue further, and called it quits. The Rascals were no more after seven years. Because of the relationship that the group had when they first formed, and the importance that each member held, it seems in retrospect that the group really ended much earlier when Eddie, and then Gene, left. The members of the group while at Columbia were mainly serving Felix's musical vision, and true unity between the members never really came to fruition. Unlike the relationship that the original members of the group had during their early days, the Columbia era Rascals were almost an extension of Felix, not a group of equal partners. Although they made wonderful music together, the sense of unity and brotherhood that is so important to any musical group was missing. Even if Columbia had decided to renew their contract, it seems likely that they would have eventually disbanded after their obligations to the label were completed.
Dino, in particular, began planning the group Bulldog with Gene almost immediately after The Rascals ended. For him to forge ahead so soon shows that he likely knew the end of The Rascals was near. Felix, on the other hand, may not have expected the group to end so quickly. It was two years before he released his first solo album for Bearsville records. Prior to this, his only work in the music industry after The Rascals broke up was to appear on and produce Jimmy Spheeris' 1973 album The Original Tap Dancing Kid.
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.
The Rascals Biography Part Seven: 1973 -- Present
All of the former Rascals went on to solo careers after they left the group. None of them ever reached the level of success they had with The Rascals, but there were several close brushes with it. Notably Fotomaker, Dino and Gene's late 1970s group that also featured former Raspberries member Wally Bryson. Fotomaker had all the makings of a super group, but stalled after some initial chart success. Felix had a comeback hit with Only a Lonely Heart Sees in 1980. Eddie and David Brigati appeared on the successful New York Rock and Soul Revue album in 1991.
Throughout the 1970s, the only real Rascals happenings, besides each member's solo careers, were the occasional small label greatest hits packages and reissues put out on The Rascals. In August of 1980, Pat Benatar had a million seller with her remake of You Better Run. The Crimes of Passion album, on which the remake appeared, did even better, landing at number 2. The remake remains one of Pat's best-known hits and undoubtedly introduced many people to the songs of The Rascals. Besides an early 1970s David Cassidy remake of How Can I Be Sure that was an especially big hit in Europe, most Rascals remakes remained tucked away as album cuts.
On August 1, 1981, The Rascals garnered a nice footnote in MTV history when Pat's version of You Better Run became the second ever video to be broadcast on the station. The first video to be broadcast on MTV is the oft-spoken of, but rarely seen or heard Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.
The 1980s brought the beginning of an onslaught of Rascals reissues and compilation packages. This was partly due to nostalgia and the introduction of the cd format. The use of Rascals music in films (especially The Big Chill) and commercials for Western Union and Seven-Up, among other products, also spurred renewed interest in their songs. But the biggest reason behind the repackaging of The Rascals was due to the reformation of the group for a tour -- minus Eddie (and Dave) -- in 1988.
Throughout the years, the former Rascals sometimes worked together on various solo projects. Certain members had upheld good relationships with each other and were able to work together occasionally. But, the old personal problems that some members of the band had with other members still existed. In fact, the passage of years only seemed to intensify their personal problems. However, now it was not just a case of personality clashes. Now issues such as music publishing, legal problems, royalties, and other business related issues were at a peak and were mixed in with the personal differences. When the original members of the band broke up after leaving Atlantic, they made the decision to sell their music publishing. This action lead to an enormous amount of legal headaches that would follow The Rascals throughout the rest of their careers until the present day. It also lead to much strife between certain members of the band.
The idea to reform the group in 1988 for a short summer tour was a good one, and it made many Rascals fans very, very happy to see the band again. The tour also spurred Rhino Records to reissue The Rascals' first 5 albums on vinyl and cassette, plus a later material retrospective, Searching For Ecstasy. Warner Special Products also reissued the group's first three albums on cd. Almost ten years later, these cds still remain the only proper Rascals albums available on the cd format.
The tour did not go off without a hitch, though, and the personal problems that plagued the band for so long marred the reunion and lead to Eddie's non-inclusion. And, like so many other happenings in the group's history, the details of why the reunion wasn't a complete one varies according to whom is asked.
The tour had a preview kickoff on May 14, 1988. Atlantic Records held an all day, partly televised concert to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The label had been making a very big deal of this anniversary throughout the year by reissuing many label retrospectives. A celebration concert to complement these reissues seemed the logical next step. As one of the labels biggest acts, The Rascals definitely belonged at the concert. And they planned to be there -- as the second to last act, right before the Led Zeppelin reunion that took place that night. This slot in the show was quite an honor for The Rascals, and their reunion was one of the most anticipated of any group in recent years.
I don't care if we would've had The Who and The Stones, I would've put The Rascals next to closing.
Ken Ehrlich, producer of the televised version of the
Atlantic Anniversary Show (Rolling Stone, June 30, 1988)
Eddie was scheduled to appear with the other three Rascals at the Atlantic show, but ended up not doing so. It's unclear exactly why he didn't. Once again, each member remembers things differently. Eddie contends that he was disinvited to the reunion; Felix claims that Eddie cancelled at the last minute.
I felt that (the Atlantic show) was the proper venue to play and discuss the possibility of future dates. But I think Felix felt it would confuse the public if I did that show and didn't join the tour. Then an Atlantic attorney told me, in effect, I was disinvited.
Eddie Brigati (The New York Daily News, June 23, 1988)
(Eddie) pulled out at the last minute -- which, quite frankly, caused a lot of problems.
Felix Cavaliere (The New York Daily News, June 23, 1988)
I didn't pull out at the last minute; I was blocked out of the Atlantic show and the reunion tour by Shelly Finkle of Cross Country Productions after four months of coordinating reunion strategy with them.
Eddie Brigati (April 8, 1997)
The Rascals' appearance at the Atlantic show, where they were backed by additional musicians (including members of Paul Schaffer's band), was a wild success. A summer tour with about 50 dates began in June. The Rascals, backed by several outside musicians and vocalists to fill out their sound, presented a slick, almost Las Vegas type show. The presentation was successful, and the fans reacted positively to the shows. There was some audible booing at several New York area shows when one of the auxiliary band members performed How Can I Be Sure, but other than that, the shows went off without a hitch. Other than this, all seemed to be going well until more internal problems sprung up within the band.
Felix?s management had handled the plans and booking for the tour. Dino and Gene had signed onto the tour separately and found that they had been contracted to do the tour for much less money than Felix had been, thus creating tension straight off the bat between the two and Felix. Then, after the tour began, Dino and Gene began to feel as if the tour was not simply a Rascals reunion, but a springboard for Felix's solo career to get his name known to the public again. Felix denied this. Regardless, more bad feelings ensued. When the tour ended, neither Dino nor Gene were on good terms with Felix.
After the tour, Felix toured as a solo act, but sometimes represented his shows as being "The Rascals." This angered the other Rascals, and the situation was a hornet?s nest in the making. Then it was discovered that Felix was trying to register The Rascals name for his own use. Up until this point, no one officially owned the name, so technically it was up for grabs. Dino and Gene filed a counter registration claim in their own names within two days of Felix's registration being approved. Eddie then stepped into this soap opera and filed for registration under the names of all four Rascals. Eddie's registration was the one that ultimately was approved.
The situation concerning the name was still a sticky issue, registration or no registration. Felix wanted to represent himself as The Rascals while touring. But Dino and Gene had plans to tour themselves, and they wanted to use the name as well. A lawsuit ensued in Federal Court where it was decided that no one member of the group could use The Rascals' name to represent themselves. Felix could tour as "formerly of The Young Rascals" or "Felix Cavaliere? s Rascals," and Dino and Gene could tour under the name of "The New Rascals." But the name of The (Young) Rascals could be used only if all four agreed to its use.
He (Felix) has to be Felix Cavaliere? s Rascals. Gene and Dino have to be The New Rascals, and I'm the harmonicaless Rascal.
Eddie Brigati (The Howard Stern Radio Show, February 21, 1991)
With the name issue settled, yet another lawsuit came soon after. This time Eddie was suing Felix over music publishing matters. It took several years, but they eventually come to a settlement.
In the 1990s, quite a few cd compilations were released on The Rascals. Atlantic made a deal with Rhino Records in the early 1990s whereby Rhino became the official reissuer of most Atlantic label oldies artists. Rascals? fans benefited greatly from this. A double cd anthology and several single cd retrospectives were released on The Rascals in the early 1990s. At the present time, there are no plans for any further reissues or packages to be released. However, cd reissues are certainly long overdue, and many fans would be thrilled to see them come out.
The Rascals entered the multimedia age in 1995 when Rhino included them on a cd-rom entitled Rock Expedition: The 1960's. The group was pictured on the box and cd cover along with other well-known groups The Monkees, Sonny and Cher and Iron Butterfly. The cd-rom contained a biography, discography, interview clips, and a short video clip on The Rascals.
The Rascals had been nominated several times for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the early 1990s. They were nominated in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996. They were finally voted in in 1996 and will be formally inducted into the Hall on May 6, 1997. The Rascals and David Brigati are scheduled to appear at the induction ceremony and will do a one time live performance. It will be their first reunion on stage in 27 years. Cable station VH-1 will broadcast the ceremony four days later, allowing fans of the group to witness this historic event.
We'd like to thank everyone for making it possible. Along with the combination of talent, sacrifice, and luck, the audience plays so much of a part. Without an audience there's nothing. So you gotta give the audience a big round of applause.
Eddie Brigati (Inside Pop, 1968, Scholastic Books)
This biography © 1996 by Jennifer C. Huebl.
Permission to print this biography and/or save it electronically for personal (only) use is granted provided this copyright notice is not removed.