Drake Levin has past away. Who?
Gun nuts
Drake Levin Was No Hendrix, But He Did Rock!
So, let me ask you: how close are we to curing cancer? The former
guitarist of “Paul Revere & the Raiders,”: Drake Levin. He died in San
Francisco on July 6 from cancer. He was 62 years old. In the order of
talking about Drake, we must talk about his band.
Paul Revere & The Raiders had the garage sound down to its essence.
Matter of fact, they were the first to record the rock classic,
“Louie, Louie,” however; the Kinsmen released it on a 45 rpm just a
week after they’d recorded it!
What spoiled it for them was that they had a teenybopper following.
So, like the Monkees, nobody took them seriously; plus, wearing those
goofy, 18th Century American Revolutionary outfits didn’t help
matters, either. But hearing them on the radio was a way different
experience! They had that horny, teen-age, garage sound, with a Vox
organ and fuzz tone guitars, bass, and drums. The lead singer, Mark
Lindsay, was the only vocalist who didn’t try to sound like Mick
Jagger, so he was an original. Drake Levin played rudimentary garage
guitar, however he did something that nobody had done before him: he
played double lead on a record called, “Just Like Me.” Now, in 1965,
this was not done. There were only 4 tracks to work with! Two years
later, Arthur Lee & Love would do the same thing on their great L.P.,
“Forever Changes.” The Eagles refined the double lead on their song,
“Hotel California” in 1977, and the Irish band, Thin Lizzy, perfected
it. Drake’s version in ‘65 was sloppy and out of sync, but it sounded
really cool and, well, you just can’t argue with success. His guitar
work on songs like “Just Like Me,” “Hungry,” “Steppin’ out,” “Kicks,”
and the great fuzz tone masterpiece, “The Great Airplane Strike,” gave
them all that hard edge. Drake left the band after four years. The
Raiders tried to sound like the Beach Boys mixed with the Rolling
Stones, but when that didn’t work, they went into a commercial
direction. They scored a point in 1971 with a song about Native
Americans and some chick from Arizona. They, like many of their
contemporaries, faded into obscurity, finally relegated to performing
at county fairs and Disneyland. Drake went on to work with Lee
Michaels and Emmett Rhodes. He also faded into nothingness.
Thus exits another ‘60’s musician. So I pose a toast to Drake: I raise
my Bud high and proclaim: “Here’s to you, dude!”
Off topic alert! This is a musical video I want to share people who
appreciate rock & Roll
If you like this sort of entertainment please click on link. If you
don’t, do not click link!
Thank you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wAb1x7LbU4