The Rascals
don't often get the credit they deserve as one of the best and most innovative American rock bands of the 1960s. So much of their best and best-known work was perfect for AM radio, and as a consequence many critics and historians think of them just as the guys who recorded "Good Lovin'," "Groovin'," and "A Beautiful Morning," without acknowledging the superb craft of those singles and how different each sounds.
--
Felix Cavaliere
on keyboards,
Gene Cornish
on guitar and bass,
Eddie Brigati
on lead vocals and percussion, and
Dino Danelli
on drums -- were the finest blue-eyed soul group of their time (perhaps ever), but that underestimates them. They could play rock, pop, R&B, soul, jazz, and international sounds without ever sounding like dilettantes, and they could merge passion and precision with ease. The significant majority of
the Rascals
' catalog was recorded for
Atlantic Records
, and while the jazzy explorations of their two final albums for
Columbia
were certainly prescient, even their most devoted advocates would agree that their
Atlantic
catalog represents their best and most important work.
Now Sounds Records
has given
a glorious tribute with 2024's
It's Wonderful: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings
, a mammoth seven-disc box set that, true to its title, includes the seven studio albums the group recorded for
between 1966 and 1971, along with non-LP single sides and a smattering of unreleased rarities. (Ever wanted to hear "Groovin'" in Spanish, Italian, and French? They're on Disc Seven.)
While the band that cut 1966's
The Young Rascals
and 1967's
Collections
was a smart and scrappy rock & soul group with a killer vocalist, 1967's
Groovin'
was where they really hit their stride and began stretching their boundaries. On 1968's
Once Upon a Dream
and 1969's
Freedom Suite
they displayed a social conscience and a boundless sense of musical experimentation that still dazzles decades later. Though 1969's
See
and 1971's
Search and Nearness
are where
began to lose a bit of their creative focus, the best material is smart, heartfelt, and challenging in a way nearly any band would envy. Each of these albums is exceptional individually, and taken as a whole, this set eliminates any doubt that
could do anything they desired and make it work in the studio -- and given their eagerness to blend styles and approaches, that says a great deal. Not every unreleased track is up to the standards of what was released, and not every fan will feel they need both the stereo and mono mixes of the first five albums (especially since the monophonic editions of
and
were simple fold-downs that offer no additional details). That said, very few American bands that regularly made the Top 40 in the 1960s were as eclectic and joyously omnivorous as
, and
lavishly celebrates their peak era. ~ Mark Deming