It took Columbia Records two years after signing
Paul Revere & the Raiders to release this label-debut LP. In the interim, the group had released a string of singles that were only regional successes in the Northwest. Producer Bob Johnston had taken them into the studio to try to recreate their dynamic live show before an invited audience, but Columbia sat on the results until the group's coming residency on ABC-TV's Where the Action Is prompted this release. The first side of the album displays
the Raiders as the raucous club band they were, grinding through R&B dance tunes like "You Can't Sit Down" and "Oo Poo Pah Doo." The second side previews their evolution into more of a pop group in the mid-'60s, although with songs like "Fever," it still retains something of their early R&B flavor. ~ William Ruhlmann