Drake Levin has past away. Who?

[Candy Randy]

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

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

[stuckinlodi]

1. Oh No!

Paul Revere and the Raiders were my first concert - February 15, 1967 :). I'm really sorry to hear Drake is gone.

The Raiders were also the house band for the Dick Clark series "Where the Action Is". That show was on MONDAY THRU FRIDAY, and was filmed on location in paces all over the U.S. The Raiders were a very hard working band!

[katandmoon]

2. I almost posted about this last night. I still have fond memories of watching the Raiders on

Where the Action Is, and I still have and still listen to their albums that I bought as a young teenager way back then.

RIP Drake. :(

There is a poignant tribute to Drake on Fang's web site.
http://www.philfangvolk.com/

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Drake & Fang. White Vox Phantom guitars & "Where the action is"

after school.

[musette_sf]

4. oh no!!!

i had heard he was sick.

say hi to Smitty for us, Drake.

:cry: