Barry & the Remains

For years, the debut album from Boston's the Remains -- the only album the group would release during their original incarnation -- got a bad rap, not so much for its inherent strengths or weaknesses but because a number of writers and fans (most notably Jon Landau) felt it didn't capture the power and energy of the band's fabled live shows. But while the live-in-the-studio demo the band cut for Capitol Records in 1966 (currently available as A Session with the Remains) may be sharper and more frantic, time has vindicated The Remains as a superb example of blues-influenced garage rock, tough and swaggering but with plenty of heart to go along with all that soul. While the early Rolling Stones are a fair comparison to this, if anything the Remains were able to fuse blues and full-bore rock with a more satisfying sense of groove and Barry Tashian's emotionally charged vocals and bare-wires guitar work are consistently electrifying on this set's ten songs, while William Henry Briggs' keyboards offer solid and admirably varied support. While the album gets off to a midtempo start with the deep and moody "Heart" and "Lonely Weekends," once the band shifts into fourth gear with the almost-hit "Don't Look Back" this album rocks solidly, and the six originals show Tashian, Briggs, and bassist Vernon Miller were all top-shelf songwriters. If The Remains isn't quite the flamethrower set their legend would lead some to expect, it's blue-eyed soul and blues at its most potent, and one of the most thoroughly satisfying albums to come out of the '60s garage rock era. [While the material from The Remains made its CD debut on a 1991 compilation called Barry and the Remains, that disc featured new digital remixes and rearranged the sequence, folding the songs in with a handful of non-LP single sides and an alternate take of "Say You're Sorry." Legacy's 2007 reissue of The Remains restores the original sequence and tacks ten single tracks at the end as bonus tracks (though the alternate "Say You're Sorry" is now lost to history). The 2007 CD also brings back the original mixes from the album's initial LP release, and though they aren't quite as crisp as their 1991 digital counterparts, Bob Irwin's remastering makes a world of difference, and this disc boasts a clarity and richness that honors the original sonic intentions while bringing the audio closer to contemporary standards. Hearing the original ten songs in their intended sequence really does make a difference, and purists will certainly appreciate hearing this material in a much closer approximation of its original form; it's a great reissue of an album that's stood the test of time with flying colors.] ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide