Rick & the Ravens (the "and" is always written with an
ampersandAn ampersand , also commonly called an and sign, is a logogram representing the conjunction "and".The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and"...
character), founded in 1961, was the band
Ray ManzarekRaymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr., better known as Ray Manzarek , is an American musician, singer, producer, film director, writer, co-founder, and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, and the Doors of the 21st Century since 2001.-Early life and career:Ray Manzarek is of Polish descent, born...
was in before he joined
The DoorsThe Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They are considered a controversial and influential band, due mostly to Morrison's cryptic lyrics and unpredictable...
. The band recorded three singles on Aura Records before splitting up and reforming as The Doors in early October of 1965.
Line-ups
The band initially consisted of Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on organ and harmonica, Patrick Stonner 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. The moniker "Rick" in the band name was Ray Manczarek's brother Rick Manczarek.
In 1962 Ray Manczarek, having moved to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
from
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, joined on vocals and occasional piano. At the time the Manczareks wrote their name
Manczarek, with the letter "
cĈ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing a voiceless postalveolar affricate , and is equivalent to the voiceless postalveolar affricate, , or the voiceless retroflex affricate,...
", as did Ray. He changed the spelling upon joining The Doors.
Because of his voice, with a
timbreNot to be confused with timber.In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope...
closer to the traditional
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
delivery than
rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
, Manzarek was also known as "Screamin' Ray Daniels" (Manzarek's middle name is Daniel), "Screamin' Ray", "the Bearded Blues Shouter", or simply "the Screamer".
Performances
The band used to perform on weekends for college crowds, mostly from UCLA Film School, at a bar on 2nd Street and Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, called the
Turkey Joint West, a British pub operated by the Santa Monica Soccer and Social Club, since 1974 known as
Ye Olde King's Head. Their setlist consisted of their own originals, padded with standards such as "I'm Your Doctor, I Know What You Need," "Louie, Louie,"
Smokey RobinsonWilliam "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown Records, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
's "Money" and
Willie DixonWilliam James "Willie" Dixon was a well-known American blues bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer...
's "
Hoochie Coochie Man"Hoochie Coochie Man" is a 1954 song written by Willie Dixon and first performed by Muddy Waters. The song was a major hit upon its release, reaching number eight on Billboard magazine's Black Singles chart...
."
In an interview conducted by Rainer Moddemann, Manzarek stated the first song
Jim MorrisonJames Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. He was also the author of several books of poetry ...
performed with Rick & the Ravens was
Richard BerryRichard Berry was an African-American singer and songwriter, best known as the composer and original performer of the rock standard "Louie Louie"....
'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. Morrison and Manzarek had met previously and found each other sharing a lot of musical and artistic interests. Later Manzarek asked Morrison to join the band; Morrison accepted.
The 1965 World Pacific Demo
On September 2, 1965 the band entered World Pacific Studios and recorded six songs that would eventually become Doors songs; "
Moonlight Drive"Moonlight Drive" was one of the seminal tracks on The Doors' second album, Strange Days. Although it was not released as a single, like "Love Me Two Times" and "People Are Strange", it is a favorite in The Doors canon...
", "My Eyes Have Seen You", "
Hello, I Love You"Hello, I Love You" is a song by The Doors from their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun. It was released as a single that same year, reaching number one in the United States and selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone...
", "Go Insane" (the early title of "A Little Game" from the "
Celebration of the Lizard"Celebration of the Lizard" is an epic performance piece written by Jim Morrison, frontman of The Doors. Composed as a series of poems, they include musical sections, spoken verse, and passages of allegorical storytelling.-Poems:*Lions in the Street...
" suite, known simply as "Insane" on the
acetateAn acetate disc is a type of gramophone record that is recorded directly from an audio source. Although acetates can be made from any audio source, they are typically produced from a master tape recording for testing the quality of the tape-to-disc transcription...
), "End of the Night", and "
Summer's Almost Gone"Summer's Almost Gone" is the fourth track on Waiting for the Sun, the third album by American rock band The Doors. The song was covered by pianist George Winston on his album Night Divides the Day - The Music of the Doors....
". The recording session was a relatively quick affair, only lasting three hours in total. 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-Track listing:All songs written by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore, except where noted.-Disc 1: Without a Safety Net:#"Five to One" - 7:30 -Track listing:All songs written by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore, except where noted.-Disc...
in 1997. The tracks on the box set were mastered from what was originally Jim Morrison's
acetateAn acetate disc is a type of gramophone record that is recorded directly from an audio source. Although acetates can be made from any audio source, they are typically produced from a master tape recording for testing the quality of the tape-to-disc transcription...
--now in the possession of Ray Manzarek--which was one of only 5 made.
Transformation to The Doors
The band that recorded the demo was not the Doors, however, but Rick & the Ravens. The 1965 demo features Jim Morrison on vocals, Ray Manzarek on piano and background vocals, John Densmore on drums, Rick Manzarek on guitar, Jim Manzarek on harmonica and Patricia "Pat" Hansen (
née Sullivan) from Patty and the Esquires -- the band she had with Chuck Hansen, whom she later married -- on bass guitar. After the demo was recorded, the band tried to pass it around. Both Jim and Rick Manzarek were disappointed in the response to the demo -- additionally both of the Manzareks, along Sullivan, were not impressed by the new Morrison songs -- and subsequently the Manzarek brothers,
sans Ray, quit the band, stating they felt the band was "
going nowhere fast".
In other words, the songs were cut
before both of Ray's brothers left the band and
Robby KriegerRobert Alan Krieger is an American rock and roll guitarist and songwriter. He was the guitarist in The Doors, and wrote some of the band's best known songs, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Touch Me" and "Love Her Madly".He is listed as number 91 on Rolling Stones list of the 100...
joined from the Psychedelic Rangers in October 1965. Psychedelic Rangers drummer
John DensmoreJohn Paul Densmore is a Californian musician and songwriter. He is best known as the drummer of the rock group The Doors from 1965 to 1973.-Biography:...
had joined Rick & the Ravens earlier the same year, in August. Krieger never played in Rick & the Ravens, though. At Morrison's suggestion the band changed its name to The Doors a month after they had recorded the demo, shortly prior to Krieger joining the line-up. The Doors was thus initially a
quintetA quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
, but when Manzarek decided to handle the bass duties with the newly introduced Fender
Rhodes PianoBassThe Rhodes piano is an electromechanical musical instrument, a famous electric piano. Its distinctive sound has appeared in thousands of songs of all musical styles, since it was first introduced in 1965. Since its rennaisance in the 1990s, it has again become very popular and widely used...
, Pat Sullivan was dropped from the line-up in December 1965, ultimately ending up with the "classic"
quartetIn music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
.
Discography
| Release year |
Name |
Publisher |
Release Number |
| 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 |
Please note 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. These plans were discarded when Morrison joined the line-up.
Mislabels
All of these promo tracks have later ended up on various Doors
bootlegA bootleg recording is an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s, erroneously labelling the tracks as songs by the Doors. Although quite common, the song pair "Circle Twist" and "Blow Top" are
not songs by Rick & the Ravens, but are simply, and perhaps deliberate, mislabels.