BOB MEYER & THE RIVIERAS, "BEHOLD" C/W "YOU'VE GOT TO TELL ME," LAWN L-238 (REL. 5/1964)

This week's posts are of singles from 1964-a major year of change in vernacular music all over the globe. In that year, The Beatles reintroduced America to the roots music of its first wave of youth culture and created a new and larger one in return. Black music began to sound less like it had since the early 1950s, when it shed the jazz influences from the 1930s and '40s. Country music, led by a Southwestern insurrection in Bakersfield, California, rebelled against the tidy banality of The Nashville Sound--created to save country from a threat that didn't deliver its goods.

Some say the 1960s began with the November, 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy; others consider The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in February '64 the inception. Either will do; 1964 is the year music pushed away from what it had sounded like for several years and expanded its horizons,

No more was it possible to recycle the same ol' same ol'. The first few months of '64 brought many records that still sound like 1950s music. Given the lagtime from production of music to pressing and distribution of product, records that were passé filled the shelves. Most of them were returned unsold and unheard. Capitol and Vee-Jay Records had a license to print money with their Beatles releases, which summarized the group's career to date, from "Love Me Do" to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and two LPs which contained 24 unique tracks.

Change was more gradual in 1964. American responses to what was soon dubbed The British Invasion ranged from resentment and envy to confusion. Some musicians and producers dug their heels in; what we've been doing has worked fine, and there's no reason to change it. Younger, more impressionable performers were excited by the new possibilities and embraced them.

Among the first young artists to respond to The Beatles and what they represented was Johnny Fortune, a surf guitarist who was smitten by the Liverpool sound and made four self-financed singles that capture the vibe to a T. All have been played on this daily feature and many on the podcast. They're worth hearing and re-hearing: they're wonderful records abrim with enthusiasm and skill

Some live bands revamped their set-lists, to an extent. Bar bands shared much in common with The Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc. Same Motown songs, same Drifters songs, same r&b classics. These regional groups kept the flame of vernacular music alive during the era of Space Age-style tidy, efficient pop hits by Bobby Vee, Bobby Rydell, et al. Among them were Bob Meyer and The Rivieras, from Charlotte, North Carolina.

The band started, as many, with high school musicians of similar taste getting together after school and on weekends. These youths were obsessed with rhythm and blues and bought records and attended live shows; Charlotte's all-age venues gave them ample access to their musical heroes. The group grew to nine members and, by 1963, were adept enough to back their musical idols when they blew into town. Band member Nat Speir recalls the group supporting The Impressions and The Drifters in live performance.

The Rivieras (not the Midwestern band of "California Sun" fame) got into a recording studio that year to make their debut single. Issued at the start of 1964--first on the Casino label then on Philadelphia imprint Lawn--it became a big East Coast hit without going nationwide. The likes of The Beatles put a temporary kibosh on home-grown breakouts. The single appealed in particular to the beach scene in coastal South Carolina and Georgia, where light-going r&b was the favored soundtrack at dances and social events. This vibe was dubbed beach music after the fact, like popcorn and Northern soul. 

Scorned by serious disciples of rock as flimsy throwaway stuff, beach music had its share of trivial faves but contained a wealth of expressive, evocative southern Black music. As with the UK Northern Soul phenom, certain coveted records became huge local hits in the shared lifestyle bubble. A 1964 single such as Lenny O'Henry's "Across the Street" was a major fave in the beach music world--Atlantic Records was petitioned to reissue it in 1967 due to demand from fans in that area. 

Today's single is a prime example of where American music was at when the 1960s really began. As you might imagine, one of its feet is planted in the past; the other pokes out into the unseen future.

Both sides of this record were co-written by Nat Speir and frontman Bob Meyer. "Behold" shows the polish and skill of this group. It can't help but sound like British groups--in this case, it evokes The Dave Clark Five's bossa-nova flavored "Because," one of their 1964 hits. This sweet, engaging song has earthiness to go with its heart-on-sleeve declarations, and the crisp backing of The Rivieras, including prominent organ, gives it a very British beat-group feel--even though it had been recorded months before anyone knew from The Beatles here.

Unnoticed by the music press, "Behold" became a beach music standard and remains a favorite. Outside of the Carolinas, few know of it.

The flip-side enjoyed Northern soul notoriety when a prominent DJ discovered the single in the 1980s. "You've Got to Tell Me" is a fine, urgent distillation of the many influences that shaped The Rivieras' music. We get to hear their brass and woodwinds on this side. The song's frequent forays into a minor key give those musicians some attractive territory. Meyer delivers a smooth-yet-earthy vocal stand on this moving piece of blue-eyed r&b. He wears his influences on his sleeve, but has a presence that's riveting. These well-recorded sides are one of early 1964's finest musical moments--even though few heard them when they were new.

Meyer made his next single five years later. "I Only Get That Feeling" is a surging, powerful blue-eyed soul stand with fuzz guitar, Afro-Cuban percussion and a hot horn section. It makes Tom Jones seem tame-ish in comparison and is worth finding on YouTube.

For supplemental reading, here's an interview with Speir about the band's origins, heyday and its breakup:

https://southernsoulcollector.blogspot.com/2013/10/bob-meyer-and-rivieras.html?m=1&fbclid=IwY2xjawLWXKJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF0cEh3dWlEWUdLdmNnUEVNAR4pj25zUnYNg2FFNVQV8J6E_or2weysuGCfQGaVi6JrJ2DBeRMIEwUOa5rUOg_aem_IxlYXQvLrI4goNnnv0Jz1g

Tomorrow: The marvelous Marvelettes with their first 45 of '64. Two unusual songs from a time when Motown still tried the unknown without hesitation.