Search - The Robbs :: The Robbs

But, It's MONO!!!

James Doherty | 06/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can only agree with the other reviewers who wrote about this CD. Almost every cut is a fantastic encapsulation of the whole feeling of the era, and especially being young during that era. (I can still remember being on a family vacation in Wisconsin with my parents, and the exact stretch of country road we were driving on while "Race with the Wind" was on the AM car radio.) And talk about variety... although there is a consistent Robbs sound throughout the CD, each song offers something a little different - a new rhythm, surprising instrumentation, cool harmonies. "Race with the Wind" is one of THE finest overlooked classic '60's songs. This CD will only get better the more you play it. HOWEVER, let it be known that although the original LP was issued in stereo, this CD reissue is in MONO. As the stereo mixes did offer a little more clarity to the different instruments, this is unfortunate, but still should not deter you from getting this great CD."

Classic 60's Pop Most People Never Heard Of

IJEFF | Milwaukee, WI USA | 03/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was extremely pleased to see this CD finally available. I grew up with a lot of these songs living in Wisconsin. Hard to believe they never broke out nationally because the bulk of these songs are as good as a lot of what their contemporaries like the Grass Roots were putting out at the same time. Might be more a reflection on the poor marketing often times associated with Mercury records (i.e., see Graham Parker). As other reviewers have pointed out, "Race With the Wind" is an outright masterpiece. Other excellent songs include Violets of Dawn, Rapid Transit, Cynthia Loves It and of course, Bittersweet which I believe was the closest The Robbs ever got to a national hit. Interestingly, when I first heard Rapid Transit way back when, I thought it was Roger McGuinn and The Byrds. The final song, Jolly Miller is quite a departure from their sunny pop style, but is also quite good. Sound quality is overall decent though nothing exceptional. Just a really nice little nugget from the late 60's of well crafted pop music that somehow never found its way to the top of the charts. Now if we could get an official cd release from the post-Robbs band Cherokee which was made up of most of the same musicians and features the lost classic song "Girl I've Got News For You".

"

BRILLIANT Midwest sunshine folk-rock-psych-pop-bubblegum

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 05/14/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The blitz of reissues wrought by the CD revolution leaves one to wonder if there really are undiscovered gems still in the vaults. The reissue of this mid-West folk-rock-psych-pop-bubblegum band's one and only LP emphatically proves the answer to be Yes! Though their singles, first for an assortment of indies, later for Mercury, Atlantic, Dunhill and ABC barely scraped the bubbling-under section of Billboard's charts, they left behind a legacy of outstanding pop music that neatly fuses folk-rock, psychedelic/garage and bubblegum.



Originally formed in Wisconsin, the Robbs landed a spot as Dick Clark's house band for "Where the Action Is" and a contract with Mercury. Their singles added up to this 1967 album, supplemented by a pair of non-single tracks, and touched #200 on the Billboard LP chart for but a single week. The release then disappeared (except, perhaps, for baby-boomers who had the pleasure to dance to The Robbs at Midwest shows) until Collectors' Choice thankfully rescued it from its undeserved obscurity.



Though the band created a few superb covers, including the sunshine-harmony of Eric Anderson's "Violets of Dawn," the polished garage pop of Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan's "Bittersweet," and a Byrds-styled rock arrangement of the chilling folk standard "Jolly Miller," their seven originals are perhaps even better. The rolling drums of "Cynthia Loves" bring to mind Tommy Roe, with a melody and sunshine harmonies that are just waiting for Rooney to take a dip. "Rapid Transit" borrows the vocal stutter from The Five Americans' "Western Union" to fine effect, and a Revolver-era backwards guitar permeates "Next Time You See Me." Whether or not The Robbs created these innovations, they played them out for all they were worth.



It's truly unfortunate that Mercury was never able to translate the band's regional success into a national breakthrough. Doubly surprising given their exposure on "Where the Action Is" and in teen magazines. This is an all-too-short audio diary of a band who deserved greater exposure in their time. Now where's the collection of their pre-Mercury singles?"