URBAN ASPIRINES: The Remains: The Remains 1966 (Remastered: 2007)

The Remains (sometimes referred to as "Barry and the Remains") were a mid-1960s American rock group from Boston, Massachusetts, led by Barry Tashian. Although the Remains never achieved national success, they were very popular in New England, and were one of the opening acts on the Beatles' final US tour in 1966.

Back when Lyndon Baines Johnson was president and the war we worried about was in Vietnam and most TV sets were black-and-white, four kids from BU who met as residents of Myles Standish Hall

formed a garage rock band called Barry and the Remains. For two meteoric years, starting in 1964, their polished performing packed Kenmore Square’s iconic rock club, the Rathskeller, earning them an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, an album deal, and a job fronting for the Beatles’ last U.S. tour. Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over: the Remains disbanded in 1966. “The flame burned out,” says Barry, aka Barry Tashian, lead vocalist and guitarist. “That was the time to quit.”

(In 1964, four Boston University students — guitarist Barry Tashian, bassist Vern Miller, drummer Chip Damiani and pianist Bill Briggs — took the city’s music scene by surprise, mixing Rolling Stones stomp with tight Beatles songcraft. The line

of fans stretching from Kenmore Square to Fenway Park meant only one thing: It was “Remains Night” at The Rathskeller. By New Year’s Day 1965, The Remains were signed to a major recording deal, playing to packed venues throughout New England, even sharing a stage with Bo Diddley (whose “Diddy Wah Diddy” they covered) and The Shirelles. By the end of the ’65 they had two regional hit singles on Epic Records and had performed for 14 million viewers on Ed Sullivan’s Christmas Show.

In 1966, the group had two more regional hits, appeared on NBC TV’s Hullabaloo, and garnered

a coveted spot as opening act on The Beatles’ final U.S. tour. Enthusiastic response to The Remains’ performances were echoed by rave reviews in the local and national press. Following the Beatles tour, The Remains’ eponymous debut was released by Epic Records, anchored by the instant classics “Why Do I Cry?” and “Don’t Look Back”. Unfortunately the album’s release coincided with The Remains’ disintegration, the band frustrated by an inability to gain traction on the national scene.

Long regarded by garage rock aficionados as one of the finest bands of the 1960s, and forever immortalized on Lenny Kaye’s original 1972

Nuggets compilation, Barry, Vern, Bill and Chip took a deserved 21st-century victory lap, releasing 2000’s The Remains EP, and ’03’s Movin’ On, performing to sold-out crowds in Europe and the U.S. An award-winning documentary about the Remains, America’s Lost Band, brought further late-period accolades to the quartet. Today, Barry Tashian and his wife, Holly, are a Nashville-based country/folk duo who released their sixth album, Long Story Short, in 2008.
by Stephen Haag and Dean Johnson)

The band became a popular live act throughout New England and appeared on the CBS TV program

The Ed Sullivan Christmas Show of 1965. After signing with Epic Records, they enjoyed local hits with a catchy, swinging Tashian original, "Why Do I Cry", and their hard-driving version of the Bo Diddley/Willie Dixon classic "Diddy Wah Diddy". In 1965 the Remains relocated to New York City—where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show—and then, after about a year, moved on to California. They recorded an album, The Remains, appeared on NBC TV's 'Hullabaloo', and released the soulful, hard-rocking single "Don't Look Back".

In 1966 came the opportunity which might have broken the band nationally, but proved instead to be their last hurrah: they were offered a three-

week stint as an opening act for the Beatles, on what would turn out to be the Fab Four's final tour. Immediately before the tour, drummer Chip Damiani quit the band, to be replaced by future Mountain drummer N.D. Smart. Said Tashian in a 2012 interview: "We had always been the four of us and we’d played hundreds and hundreds of gigs as the four of us and all of a sudden this big tour comes up and boom! We have to play it with a new drummer who didn’t have the same feel that Chip had. I mean he was a fine drummer but it wasn’t the same band. I just felt like the flame was burning down without our original drummer."

The Remains broke up in 1966, but their music eventually attracted a strong international cult

following. They began performing and recording again in the late 1990s, and have continued to play regularly since then.
In common with many of their garage rock contemporaries, the Remains gradually acquired cult status, and eventually reformed to play at several garage revival shows, such as Cavestomp in New York City in 1998, Las Vegas Grind in 2000 and a tour of major European cities in 2006. They recorded a new album, Movin' On, in 2002.

[ Review by Mark Deming

Most 1960s garage rock obsessives collect singles rather than albums for a good reason: While plenty of snarling teenagers could come up with two decent songs at a stretch, a precious few seemed able to brainstorm a dozen tunes without reaching to the bottom of the barrel or resorting to covers of other people's hits. But there were exceptions to this rule, among them the Sonics, the Litter, and,

especially, the Remains, who never enjoyed much success on the national charts but were fabled heroes in their home town of Boston. The Remains' 1966 album for Epic is a classic, packed with great songs from singer/guitarist Barry Tashian, bassist Vern Miller, and pianist Bill Briggs, and boasting exciting, fiery performances, and if the full firepower of their legendary live shows didn't always come through on tape, even the album's weakest moments made clear the Remains were tougher, smarter, and tighter than the vast majority of their competition. The Remains is mid-'60s American rock & roll at it's best, and you don't have to own any paisley clothing to enjoy it.

[When Epic/Legacy reissued the album in 1991 (with the band's name augmented to Barry and the Remains), they added a handful of non-LP singles and unreleased tracks and gave the album a crisp digital remix, and against all odds, Epic actually improved a masterpiece. If the old analog version sounds harder and dirtier (a good thing for garage rock), the CD allows you to hear more of the details, and nearly every one of the 21 cuts on board is killer stuff (their cover of Don Covay's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" shows them beating the Rolling Stones at their own game, and after you've heard "Don't Look Back," you'll always wonder why it wasn't a Top Ten hit).]

[ All Music Guide
“A strong contender for the finest overlooked American band of the mid-’60s. American rock & roll at its best.”

The line of fans stretching from Kenmore Square to Fenway Park meant only one thing: It was “Remains Night” at The Rathskeller. By New Years Day 1965, The Remains were signed to a major recording deal, playing to packed venues throughout New England. By the end of the 65′ they had two regional hit singles on Epic Records and had performed for 14 million viewers on Ed Sullivan’s Christmas Show. In 1966, the group had two more regional hits, appeared on NBC TV’s Hulaballoo, and garnered a coveted spot as opening act on The Beatles’ U.S. tour.]

The Remains clearly retired far too soon, but great music has no expiration date and a revival was eventually staged. In the ’90s, the Sundazed label, located in New York, began ressurecting their recordings, along with previously unreleased material. And in 2002, the band put out a new album, Movin’ On that drew encouraging reviews.

Please Kill Me - This Is What's Cool (The Remains) HERE

The Remains ‎– The Remains

Label: Epic ‎– 82876 82851 2, Legacy ‎– 82876 82851 2

Format: CD, Album, Reissue

Country: US

Released: 1966

Recording Date: January 27, 1965 - August 19, 1966

Recording Location: Nashville, TN, New York

Remastered: 2007

Genre: Rock

Style: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock

TRACKS

01. Heart (Written-By – G. Aber, T. Hatch) 2:40

02. Lonely Week-End (Written-By – C. Rich) 3:26

03. Don't Look Back (Written-By – B. Vera) 2:41

04. Why Do I Cry (Written-By – B. Tashian) 2:52

05. Diddy Wah Diddy (Written-By – E. McDaniel, W. Dixon) 2:35

06. You Got A Hard Time Coming (Written-By – B. Tashian, V.R. Miller, Jr.) 2:10

07. Once Before (Written-By – R. Damiani, V.R. Miller, Jr.) 2:09

08. Thank You (Written-By – B. Tashian) 3:17

09. Time Of Day (Written-By – B. Tashian) 2:18

10. Say You're Sorry (Written-By – W.H. Briggs, III) 2:20

Bonus Tracks

11. Mercy, Mercy (Written-By – D. Covay) 2:38

12. I Can't Get Away From You (Written-By – V.R. Miller, Jr.) 2:36

13. But I Ain't Got You (Written-By – V.R. Miller, Jr.) 2:11

14. Me Right Now (Written-By – B. Tashian) 2:29

15. My Babe (Written-By – W. Dixon) 2:11

16. I'm Talking About You (Written-By – C. Berry) 2:13

17. Ain't That Her (Written-By – B. Tashian) 2:11

18. Baby, I Believe In You (Written-By – B. Tashian) 2:36

19. When I Want To Know (Written-By – B. Tashian) 2:11

20. All Good Things (Written-By – V.R. Miller, Jr.) 2:14

MEMBERS

Bill Briggs: Keyboards

Chip Damiani: Drums

Barry Tashian: Guitar, Vocals

Vern Miller: Bass

Companies, etc.

Phonographic Copyright (p) – Sony BMG Music Entertainment

Produced For – Legacy Recordings

Manufactured By – Epic

Distributed By – Epic

Mastered At – Sundazed Studios

Glass Mastered At – Sony DADC – CTDP-150249

Credits

Producer – Billy Sherrill (tracks: 5 to 7, 9, 11 to 14), Bob Morgan (2) (tracks: 2), Robin McBride (tracks: 4, 15 to 20), Ted Cooper (tracks: 1 to 3, 8, 10)

Product Manager [Packaging Manager] – Jeremy Holiday

Reissue Producer, Mastered By – Bob Irwin

Supervised By [Project Direction] – Adam Farber