Rick & the Ravens | |
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Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Genres | |
Years active | 1961–1965 |
Labels | Aura Records Posae Records |
Past members |
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Rick & the Ravens was an American surf rock [1] and frat rock band founded in 1961, known as the forerunner of the Doors. Members Ray Manczarek, John Densmore, and Jim Morrison renamed the group in the latter half of 1965 after joining forces with Robby Krieger.
Rick & the Ravens recorded three singles on Aura Records and a demo acetate containing six songs that were later re-recorded on The Doors' albums.
The band initially consisted of Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on organ and harmonica, Patrick Stonier on saxophone, Roland Biscaluz on bass, and Vince Thomas on drums. The drummer and bass player were initially not permanent members, but asked to join whenever a gig was upcoming.[ citation needed ] The name of the band partly stems from guitarist & Manczarek brother Rick.
In 1962, Ray Manczarek, having moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, joined on vocals and occasional piano. The family's name was spelt Manczarek, with an additional letter 'c'; but, Ray alone changed the spelling to "Manzarek" later on upon joining The Doors. [3]
The band performed on weekends for college crowds, mostly from UCLA Film School, at a bar called the Turkey Joint West on Santa Monica Boulevard, [4] a British pub operated by the Santa Monica Soccer and Social Club, [5] since 1974 known as Ye Olde King's Head. [6] Their concert setlist consisted of their own original songs, padded with covered versions of blues standards such as "I'm Your Doctor, I Know What You Need" by Muddy Waters, "Louie Louie" by Richard Berry, Barrett Strong's "Money", and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man."
In an interview conducted by Rainer Moddemann, Manzarek stated the first song Jim Morrison performed with Rick & the Ravens was Richard Berry's "Louie Louie". Morrison was not officially part of the band at that time; Manzarek simply invited his former college colleague on stage, much to everyone's surprise. Morrison was reportedly not prepared for this, his first public performance, and sang himself hoarse. [7] Morrison and Manzarek had met previously and found they shared a lot of musical and artistic interests. Later Manzarek asked Morrison to join the band and he accepted.
On September 2, 1965 the band entered World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles and recorded six songs that would eventually become Doors songs: "Moonlight Drive", "My Eyes Have Seen You", "Hello, I Love You", "Go Insane" (known simply as "Insane" on the acetate), "End of the Night", and "Summer's Almost Gone". The recording session was a relatively quick affair, only lasting three hours in total. [8] Singer Morrison was reportedly delighted to hear his voice on a record for the first time. The demo was released in its entirety on The Doors: Box Set in 1997. The tracks on the box set were mastered from Rick Manczarek's original acetate which was one of only five made. [9]
The 1965 Rick & the Ravens demo features Jim Morrison on vocals, Ray Manczarek on piano and background vocals, John Densmore on drums, Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on harmonica, and Patricia "Pat" Hansen (née Sullivan, from Patty and the Esquires, the band she had with Chuck Oakes whom she later married) [10] on bass guitar. The only future Doors member who was not featured on the demo is guitarist Robby Krieger. [11]
Both Jim and Rick Manczarek were disappointed by the response the demo received after attempting to promote it, and they, along with Sullivan, were additionally not impressed with Morrison's songs. [12] Subsequently, Rick and Jim Manczarek quit the band, stating they felt it was "going nowhere fast". [13] [14]
At Morrison's suggestion, [15] the band changed its name to the Doors a month after they had recorded the demo. Robby Krieger joined on guitar in October 1965, having earlier performed with Densmore in the Psychedelic Rangers. [11] The Doors were initially a quintet, but when Manzarek decided to handle the bass duties with the newly introduced Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, [14] Pat Sullivan was dropped from the line-up in December 1965, ultimately ending up with the "classic" Doors line-up of Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore.
All songs from the Rick & the Ravens demo appear, in re-recorded and sometimes amended form, on later Doors releases. "End of the Night" appeared on the Doors' 1967 self-titled debut album, "Moonlight Drive" and "My Eyes Have Seen You" appeared on the band's second album Strange Days , and "Hello, I Love You" and "Summer's Almost Gone" appeared on 1968's Waiting for the Sun , both included as a result of Morrison's struggles with alcoholism and lack of new songs at that time. The verse section of "Go Insane" became part of the "Celebration of the Lizard" suite under the title "A Little Game"; a live version of "Celebration of the Lizard" was released on 1970s Absolutely Live , with a rough studio attempt featuring on 2003's Legacy: The Absolute Best.
Release year | Name | Publisher | Release Number |
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1965 | Soul Train / Geraldine | Aura Records | Aura Records 4511 |
1965 | Henrietta / Just For You | Aura Records | Aura Records 4506 |
1965 | Big Bucket "T" / Rampage | Posae Records | Posae Records 101 |
The singles were meant as promotional material only. They were never in wide circulation, nor were they even meant to be published outside the promotional circuits. On the "Soul Train / Geraldine" single, the artist is labeled "Ray Daniels feat. Rick & the Ravens", with "Ray Daniels" double billed. The last singles were initially meant as vehicles to promote Ray Manczarek (billed as "Ray Daniels") as lead artist, with the Ravens merely a backing band. Promotional material presented the artist as "Rick & the Ravens featuring the Voice of Ray Daniels". These plans were discarded when Morrison joined the line-up.
All of these promo tracks have later ended up on various Doors bootlegs, erroneously labelling the tracks as songs by the Doors. [9]
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, conmprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts of the 1960s, primarily due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona and legal issues. The group is widely regarded as an important figure of the era's counterculture.
The Doors is the debut studio album by American rock band the Doors, released on January 4, 1967, by Elektra Records. It was recorded in August 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders, in Hollywood, California, under the production of Paul A. Rothchild. The album features the extended version of the band's breakthrough single "Light My Fire" and the lengthy closer "The End" with its Oedipal spoken word section. Various publications, including BBC and Rolling Stone, have ranked The Doors as one of the greatest debut albums of all time.
Robert Alan Krieger is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Touch Me", and "Love Her Madly". When the Doors disbanded shortly after the death of lead singer Jim Morrison, Krieger continued to perform and record with other musicians including former Doors bandmates John Densmore and Ray Manzarek. In the 2023 edition of Rolling Stones's 250 Greatest guitarists of all time, he was repositioned at number 248.
John Paul Densmore is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band the Doors, and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recording made by the band, with drumming inspired by jazz and world music as much as by rock and roll. The many honors he shares with the other Doors include a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the rock band the Doors, co-founding the group in 1965 with fellow UCLA Film School student Jim Morrison. Manzarek is credited for his innovative playing and abilities on organ-style keyboard instruments.
"Moonlight Drive" is a song by American rock band the Doors, released in 1967 on their second album Strange Days. It was edited to a 2:16 length for the 45 rpm single B-side of "Love Me Two Times". Though a conventional blues arrangement, the track's defining feature was its slightly off-beat rhythm, and Robby Krieger's "bottleneck" or slide guitar, which creates an eerie sound.
Other Voices is the seventh studio album by the Doors, released by Elektra Records in October 1971. It was the first album released by the band following the death of lead singer Jim Morrison in July 1971 with keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger sharing lead vocals. Tracks for the album had begun before Morrison's death and the band hoped that Morrison would return from Paris to finish them.
Full Circle is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released in August 1972. It is the second album after Jim Morrison's death, and their last until the 1978 album An American Prayer. The album includes "The Mosquito", the last Doors single to chart.
"Peace Frog" is a song by the Doors, which was released on their fifth studio album Morrison Hotel in 1970. Guitarist Robby Krieger explained that the music was written and recorded first, with the lyrics later coming from poems by singer Jim Morrison. Although the song was never released as a single in the US, it was issued as the B-side of "You Make Me Real" in France.
"Love Me Two Times" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. First appearing on their second studio album Strange Days, it was later edited to a 2:37 length and released as the second single from that album. The single reached number 25 on the charts in the United States.
"When the Music's Over" is an epic song by the American rock band the Doors, which appears on their second album Strange Days, released in 1967. It is among the band's longer pieces, lasting 11 minutes.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American rock band the Doors, released in 1980. The album, along with the film Apocalypse Now, released the previous year, created for the band an entirely new audience of the generation that did not grow up with the Doors. The album went on to become one of the highest-selling compilations of all time, with combined CD and vinyl sales of 5,000,000 in the United States alone.
"People Are Strange" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It appears on the band's second studio album, Strange Days, released in September 1967. The song was written by the Doors' vocalist Jim Morrison and guitarist Robby Krieger, although all of the band are credited on the sleeve notes.
Essential Rarities is a compilation album by the Doors, originally released as part of the boxed set The Complete Studio Recordings in 1999, but reissued in 2000 as a single CD, containing studio cuts, live cuts and demos taken from the 1997 The Doors: Box Set.
"Love Her Madly" is a song by American rock band the Doors. It was released in March 1971 and was the first single from L.A. Woman, their final album with singer Jim Morrison. "Love Her Madly" became one of the highest-charting hits for the Doors; it peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and reached number three in Canada. Session musician Jerry Scheff played bass guitar on the song.
The Doors Collection is a music video compilation by the American rock band the Doors, released on Laserdisc and DVD in 1995 and 1999, respectively. It compiles three films previously released on VHS by MCA/Universal Home Video: Dance on Fire (1985), Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1987) and The Soft Parade – A Retrospective (1991).
When You're Strange: Music from the Motion Picture is the studio album and the soundtrack to the 2010 documentary film, narrated by Johnny Depp, about the Doors and their music. The soundtrack features 14 songs from The Doors’ six studio albums, with studio versions mixed with live versions, including performances from The Ed Sullivan Show, Television-Byen in Gladsaxe, Felt Forum in New York and Isle of Wight Festival 1970.
Backstage and Dangerous: The Private Rehearsal is a live album by the American rock band the Doors. It was recorded during a private rehearsal at the Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood on July 22, 1969, except "Jazzy Maggie M'Gill" that was recorded during the concert soundcheck on July 21, 1969. Indeed, the band had played two concerts at the venue the previous day.
Manzarek–Krieger was an American rock band formed by two former members of the Doors, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, in 2002. They were also known as "The Doors of the 21st Century", "D21C", and "Riders on the Storm" after the Doors song of the same name. They settled on using "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors" for legal reasons, after acrimonious debates and court battles between the two musicians and Doors co-founder/ drummer John Densmore. They performed Doors material exclusively until the death of Manzarek in 2013.
"End of the Night" is a song by the American psychedelic rock band the Doors. It was featured on the band's debut album and then released as the B-side to the album's first single, "Break On Through " in January 1967.
... ragged frat rock of Rick & the Ravens.
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