The Raiders
Country Wine - Columbia 1972
Tracks: 1. Country Wine / 2. Powder Blue Mercedes Queen / 3. Hungry For Some Lovin´ / 4. Baby Make Up Your Mind / 5. Take a Stand / 6. Where Are Your Children / 7. Ballad of the Unloved / 8. American Family / 9. Golden Girls Sometimes / 10. Farewell to a Golden Girl / 11. Terry's Tune* / 12. It's So Hard Getting Up Today* / 13. Song Seller* / 14. A Simple Song* / 15. Love Music* / 16. Goodbye No. 9* / 17. All Over You* / 18. Seaboard Line Boogie* / 19. Tobacco Road* / 20. Angels of Mercy* / 21. Chain of Fools*
Comments:
Like its predecessor "Indian Reservation" The Raiders' last album "Country Wine" is a disparate mix of many different genres. Unfortunately, the group chose not to pursue the line that was laid with the excellent 1970 album "Collage".
On "Country Wine" there will probably be some songs appealing to most people, and the group exhibits both ability and versatility. This versatility unfortunately is also a bit of a problem as "Country Wine" since never really comes out as an "album". It seems more like a scrape together of recordings to supplement the two singles "Country Wine" and "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen". The two singles in themselves are also extremely different; the former is a highly commercial popsong while "Powder Blue Mercedes Queen" is an excellent gutsy rocker, a bit like Bad Company and Free. The number was written by singer Mark Lindsay, and one can only fret about the group not adhered more closely to this style. A little in the same vein is the solid "Take a Stand" also written by Lindsay with bassist Keith Allison. Lindsay / Allison are also behind the fine folkish acoustic "Golden Girls Sometimes", which is another highlight of the album. The rest is a mixture of soul-pop and pure family pop – unfortunately - solid; but not really interesting.
Lindsay and the group continued to release singles until 1975, of which most(all?) are found as bonus tracks on this version of "Country Wine". Like the album, these are also quite different. The best of them are actually really good. "Song Seller" is a fine pop-rocker; almost in the group's original 1960s style. B-side "Simple Song" written by Lindsay / Andrea is almost as good. Another B-side "Goodbye No. 9 "is a nice quiet ballad in the style of John Sebastian.
The group had another album ready for release and three tracks from this album are also to be found as bonus tracks. All three point towards a more soul-oriented style, which the group in many previous cases had touched upon. From this "lost" album at least four numbers remain to see the light of day.
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