Paul Revere and the Raiders: Kicks! The Anthology 1963-1972

This is the one Paul Revere and the Raiders CD to have if you're only having one, as the commercial says -- 30 chronological hits jammed into one affordable CD, with newly-remastered sound. Covers the band's whole career as pop superstars.

What an anomaly were Paul Revere and the Raiders -- an American group who sold more than most of their British Invasion peers, a house band for a daily TV show who were as authentic as any white R&B act, teen idols who were practically punk. From 1963, when the group (re)formed after a stuttering start to unleash their cover of "Louie Louie" at the same time as the Kingsmen, to 1972, when "Indian Reservation" proved to be one of the era's biggest and most durable protest songs, the Raiders were THE pop band for hip kids. And vice versa.

There are any number of greatest hits compilations out there for Revere fans to choose from, like many of their Sixties contemporaries, but "Kicks!" claim to fame is fairly simple: it's the one single-disc collection that brings all of the band's charted singles into one place. (Their first chart hit, the instrumental "Like, Long Hair," isn't here, but that song bears little relation to the Raiders America came to know and love.) At 30 cuts (!), it'd be hard to imagine a better place for nascent Raiders fans to start, or for casual fans to stay. Only three of the band's Hot 100 singles (all flops) are omitted, and between the cracks you may find yourself fascinated by gems like "Ballad Of A Useless Man," "Mo'reen," and their cover of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone." Unlike the Monkees, however, Paul and the Raiders never needed the critics to re-evaluate their greatness. This CD proves why.