REVIEW: The Riot Squad Anthology 1965-1967

Breaching the same nightclubs, halls and dancefloors of the 1960’s frequented by the likes of The Artwoods, The Clique and The Action; The Riot Squad were equipped with members that would go onto bigger stages including Mitch Mitchell and a young Davy Jones aka David Bowie, creating the best R’n’B music for their beat thirsty followers.

Cherry Red records have kindly culled together all of the band’s A and B sides of their seven singles, a long raft of session tracks taken from their superb Joe Meek Chest Tape archive, plus newly discovered acetates, along with demos and alternate tracks, all together most probably makes this the most definitive collection of their music put together.

Of the tracks featured it’s their single I Wanna Talk About My Baby that instantly attracts, sounding like prime Georgie Fame backed by Booker T and the MG’s this dynamite piece of 60’s soul should be on everyone’s turntable. 1965 actate features the well worn cover The Monkey Time fabulously captured here sounding like prime Geno Washington. Of the Joe Meek session tracks I Beg To Heaven, Cry Cry Cry, If I Didn’t Love Her So and Come Home Baby showcases a breadth of musicianship beyond the bands youthful ages.

The David Bowie tracks feature the young starlet finding his vocal range and yet to locate Ziggy. The bands Making Up For Lost Time unreleased album is another long lost deep dive into lost treasures. Their take on Aint No Mountain High Enough should have been a universally released chart smash, Say You Don’t Mind sounds like The Move fronted by Viv Standshall, whilst Like A Rolling Stone is as good as any Dylan cover. All in all a phenomenal collection, newly mastered by Alec Palao plus featuring rare and previously unseen archive, of one of the very best bands to appear in the forever appealing 1960’s.