Rick & The Ravens was an American surf rock band founded in 1961 by Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on organ and harmonica, Patrick Stonier 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, and the name stemmed from leader Rick Manczarek. In 1962, Ricks' brother Ray moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, and joined the band on vocals and occasional piano. The band performed on weekends for college crowds, mostly from UCLA Film School, at a bar called the Turkey Joint West on Santa Monica Boulevard, and they played their own original songs, padded with covered versions of blues standards such as 'I'm Your Doctor, I Know What You Need' by Muddy Waters, 'Louie Louie' by Richard Berry, Barrett Strong's 'Money', and Willie Dixon's 'Hoochie Coochie Man'. Jim Morrison did perform with Rick & the Ravens, when Ray Manzarek (now using a different spelling) invited his former college colleague on stage, much to everyone's surprise. Morrison was reportedly not prepared for this, and sang himself hoarse. Rick & The Ravens released three singles in 1965, two on the Aura label and one on Posae Records, with the 'Soul Train' single being released under the name of Ray Daniels featuring Rick & The Ravens. This was an attempt by the record label to promote Ray Manzarek (under the name Ray Daniels) as the lead artist in the group, but these plans were discarded when Morrison joined the band.
On 2 September 1965 the band entered World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles and recorded six songs that would eventually be re-recorded for Doors albums, when Morrison later hit a writer's block: 'Moonlight Drive', 'My Eyes Have Seen You', 'Hello, I Love You', 'Go Insane' (known simply as 'Insane' on the acetate), 'End Of The Night', and 'Summer's Almost Gone', with the recording session being a relatively quick affair, only lasting three hours in total, and five acetate were made, one of which is still owned by Ray Manzarek. The 1965 demo features Jim Morrison on vocals, Ray Manzarek on piano and background vocals, John Densmore on drums, Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on harmonica, and Patricia "Pat" Hansen on bass guitar. Both Morrison and Rick Manczarek were disappointed by the response the demo received after attempting to promote it, and Manczarek and Sullivan were additionally not impressed with Morrison's songs, leading to both Rick and Jim Manczarek later quitting the band. At Morrison's suggestion, they changed the name of the group to The Doors, and in October 1965 Robby Krieger joined on guitar, having earlier performed with Densmore in the Psychedelic Rangers. The Doors were initially a quintet, but when Manzarek decided to handle the bass duties with the newly introduced Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Sullivan was dropped from the line-up in December 1965, ultimately ending up with the classic Doors line-up of Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore. To hear how they reached that stage in their career, here are the three singles recorded by Rick & The Ravens, plus the 1965 demos, including two previously unreleased recordings.
Track listing
01 Just For You
02 Hello I Love You
03 Rampage
04 Moonlight Drive
05 Summer's Almost Gone
06 Big Bucket 'T'
07 My Eyes Have Seen You
08 Circle Twist
09 End Of The Night
10 Henrietta
11 Insane
12 Geraldine
13 Blow Top
14 Soul Train
