Paul Revere and the Raiders: "I Had a Dream"

October 14, 1967 (1 week)

The rise of The Monkees ushered in a healthy period for American pop. (I was going to say 'golden age' but let's not go nuts; 'silver age' and 'bronze age' were also considered but I'm not sure even they apply) Most — though not quite all — of the dregs of the British Invasion had been weeded out which left the door wide open for bright but disposable US pop to flourish. Bubblegum has a lot to answer for but at least it was enjoyable. Most of it at any rate.

It had been nearly a year-and-a-half since Paul Revere and the Raiders last hit number one on the RPM chart. A long time in the music biz. They predated The Monkees and it's likely they would've had plenty of success with or without the Prefab Four. It's even quite possible that the conditions that led to the Raiders finally becoming a going concern also worked in the favour of Dolenz, Jones, Nesmith and Tork. Yet, one group seemed to be making creative progress while the other could only fail upwards.

That's not to say that Revere and his cohorts weren't trying to keep up, only that in attempting to do so they come out of it sounding like they had less of an idea what they were doing. "I Had a Dream" has some good ideas. The influence of The Byrds was as present as it had been on "Kicks" but they seemed to be trying to follow the jingle-jangle band as they headed towards their fruitful period of mixing raga rock, psychedelia, space rock and country on seminal albums Younger Than Yesterday and The Notorious Byrd Brothers. While I might admire the effort, I can't appreciate the results. Paul Revere and the Raiders were simply out of their depth.

"I Had a Dream" has the elements to work but the song itself is dismal — or, at best, not worthy of all the adornments. A simple folk-rock arrangement or perhaps something with a soul or Motown feel would have been good enough. But their ambitions got the better of them and the result is a mess, a giant production with far too much activity. With more restraint, the horns might have sounded nice rather than being lost in the mix; similarly, the swirling organ — which was already becoming a period piece by '67 — barely registers. (Amazingly, they had been working with studio musicians which makes it even more of a wonder that this single is such a shambles) The Raiders themselves sound like they're straining with their vocals as well.

Paul Revere and the Raiders will not be featured again in this space but other American acts from this healthy period of American pop will be along shortly. Let's see if they were able to stay in their wheelhouse or would they too get lured in by the siren song of misplaced ambition.

Score: 2