Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 6: “Don’t Let Me Go”

Heffron Drive’s newest song, “Don’t Let Me Go” – and the video for it! – was released on the 24th – just in time for the start of Heffron Drive’s Summer Tour! 🙂

Single artwork
    The artwork for the single features the artistic rendering of a man’s fingertips gently resting on a woman’s hand, as if wordlessly asking her, “Please, don’t let me go.” The artwork reflects the theme of the song, as you will see. 🙂

Song
    Listening to this song, I find it a fascinating treat, tuning into the vast array of unique sounds that come together under very talented hands. 🙂 It starts its declaration of being another Heffron Drive hit at the very first note, catching your attention and holding it as you await what comes next. More sounds lend their ability to build the anticipation. A deeper tone soon joins in, escalating the the depth. 😎 (Yes, I just used those two words together – “escalating” and “depth” – if you listen to the song closely enough, you will hear what I mean. 😉 )

   At ten seconds the vocals begin. He sings with heartbreak in his voice, telling of his loneliness, admitting he made regretful mistakes, asking her for forgiveness for it all. At twenty-five seconds you begin to hear the guitar, lending its soulful tune to the story as only a well-played guitar can. It brings the sound of hope into the song, building up continuously as it soars toward the chorus when the vocals ring out to tell the girl that she means the world to him. And he wants the entire world to know it. Then he cries out the title, “Don’t Let Me Go!” Repeating this a few times, in various levels of pleading tones, the producers (who are Dustin and Kendall – also known as Heffron Drive 🙂 ) apparently had fun with the voice controls. 😛 How can boys resist all of those cool sound buttons, slides and levers? 😉 (And, no, that’s not one of the Chipmunks singing that one part, as a friend of mine commented to me – it’s one of the Yard Squirrels. 🙂 Enthusiasts of the “Big Time Rush” television show can readily tell you what that means. 😉 )

   I love the way the drums are in this song! Heffron Drive music would have good drum sounds in them, but now they are using actual drums – a great decision! 🙂 When they announced that the songs they are releasing this year have live drums in them, I was very happy about that. 🙂

   The character of the song tells his girl that he can’t find anyone else like her, speaking again of his loneliness and apologizing for what he did wrong.

   Although I didn’t get to hear Dustin vocals – I would so much like to hear the God-created instrument of his vocal chords on these songs – his music was heard otherwise, through the manmade instruments and production work that he so adeptly handles. 🙂 Heffron Drive is a duo and both members have excellent singing abilities. I could almost hear Dustin’s vocals joining in on the non-distorted part of the chorus, but was it only my creative imagination?

   I do know I heard some great guitar and other music at 2:23, painting an instrumental picture of a hot tropical beach vision with a sultry breeze blowing gently along the shore. 🙂

   There are so many fascinating things in this song; I like it. 🙂 The theme is good and so is the song. 🙂

   Toward the end of the song Kendall’s beautiful vocals at 3:15-“ooo” and 3:22-“ooo, yeah” are excellent. 🙂

Official Music Video
    When the music video began to play, I quickly recognized the video’s setting from DBelt’s Twitter picture he was using these past few months – cool! It was a hallway of lightbulbs hanging like drapes on either side with just the right amount of light. I believe Kevin G. Schmidt directed this video; I recognized his slo-mo technique that he utilized in the “Rain Don’t Come” music video.

   The video begins with close-ups of the unlit bulbs then a silhouette of Kendall in that hallway with a light shining from behind then, similarly, it switches to a silhouette of Dustin standing in the hallway, armed with his guitar. 😎 As the vocals begin, a black & white close-up of Kendall takes over the screen as he pours his heart into the vocals. As the tempo speeds up, the scene reverts to Kendall in the hallway, the lightbulbs now pulsing with the music – a cool concept. 🙂 It is a very good choice of brightness as well. 😎 The chorus begins as the scene changes back and forth between Kendall close-ups, him in the hallway, silver rectangles of confetti raining down on Kendall. Now we are a minute into the song. Quick flash sequences follow, another glimpse of Dustin, Kendall, Heffron Drive center stage, another silhouette of the very talented guitarist, DBelt. 🙂 Very cool shots. 🙂

   The second verse begins as Kendall continues to implore the girl to forgive and not let go of him. He definitely puts a lot of emotion into his singing; they are not sung as just ambiguous words and notes – he is putting himself into the story. The camera shot switches to Dustin, expertly playing the acoustic guitar as he moves in tune with the music. The chorus begins and Kendall, now the camera’s focus, backs up in two smooth moves as he cries out that she not let him go, as if he is trying to avoid being let go. He solemnly asks again that she not let him go. Then the video gets supercool. 🙂

   With those cool, higher instrument notes guiding the camera, the scenes flash by at two minutes into the video. Now Dustin and his gorgeous sparkling gold electric guitar are featured, deep into the music. 🙂 😎 A quick shot without his guitar, yet still deep in the music. 😎 Some of Kendall’s best scenes are right around here as he awaits her reply; you can easily see his hope and longing and his fear of losing her as he moves restlessly about at the forefront of the hallway he has been traveling up, closer to the camera = closer to her as he now implores her nonverbally.

   The guitar solo has arrived and it is cool! 🙂

   Kendall continues to sing as Heffron Drive now stands back-to-back on a rotating platform, Dustin playing his guitar. Special effects with this really cool various-currents almost lightning-like light flashing by adds to the overall unique style of the video. 😎

   The video plays out to the end of the song in varying sequences of Kendall doing his smooth back-step in the hallway, close-ups of Kendall, close-ups of Dustin, Heffron Drive standing on the turntable, DBelt groovin’ with his supercool guitar, Kendall – with various backgrounds including the green and red from earlier in the video – continues to pour his heart into the vocals.

In concert
    One day after its release, “Don’t Let Me Go” made its concert debut on the first stop of Heffron Drive’s Summer Tour. 🙂 It was cool to hear the song without the electronic sounds; I like hearing it both ways. 🙂 Dustin’s lead guitar was excellent; his solo later in the song, that tropical part I mentioned 🙂 , was the highlight of the song for me. Kendall was still recovering from a bad cold, but he managed to sing much like he did on the single. He’s one determined fellow. 🙂 I was happy to get to see footage from this debut performance; Dustin and Kendall’s concerts are always personable and fun. 🙂

   Thank you for reading my article; I hope you enjoyed it and will return to read more. 🙂 If you have any good thoughts you would like to share in relation to this article, please post it in the box provided below. Thank you! 🙂

Jean247

If you are reading this article on the homepage and you would like to read others’ comments on it or perhaps leave some comments of your own, just tap on the word “comments” above this article’s title. 🙂

Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 1: What’s This?
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 2: Interlude x 2
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 3: “Rain Don’t Come” Single and Music Video
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 4: Meet Heffron Drive
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 5: “You Can’t Sit Down”

Note: Any advertisements seen here are not chosen by me.

Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 5: “You Can’t Sit Down”

From their Columbia debut album, “Here They Come!” by Paul Revere & the Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay, comes the subject of this review: “You Can’t Sit Down”. 🙂

   “You Can’t Sit Down” is a cover (originally by The Dovells) performed at the start of a live, in-studio concert on September 24, 1964 at Columbia Records in California. This song is available for purchase on the highly collectible original vinyl as well as compact disc and digital download.

   In case you aren’t familiar with this amazing group, please allow me to give you a brief introduction. 🙂 Paul “Uncle Paul” Revere, co-founder of the original group (he also founded another group – using the same name – in the 1970’s), impressive wit, a ready answer, and blessed with great comedic timing, great musical talent, and a heart for those who fight to keep our country safe so we can live free – faithfully and actively supporting The Ride To The Wall Foundation. Mark “Mad Man Marcus” Lindsay, co-founder of the original, 100% genuine group, Cherokee, wise, observant, energetic, fun, top saxophonist, amazing vocals – soulful and gutty to tender and gentle. Drake “The Kid” Levin, top guitarist, no one can match his talent with the Epiphone guitar, brave, great vocals, cool moves. Mike “Smitty” Smith, Blackfoot, top drummer – amazing skills, peacemaker, deeply wise, entertaining. Mike “Doc” Holliday played the bass guitar for the concert song I’m currently reviewing, and, as you can hear in the song, he’s very talented and was another good part of the band, although he moved on and Phil “Fang” Volk replaced him before this album was finished. Phil is top bassist, very cool, nice, great vocals. Drake and Phil came up with most of the bands’ cool moves.

   On the subject of cool moves, the rocking-horse-leg-kick (which Bruno Mars borrowed a few years ago and did in concert with his groovin’ band), is one of the coolest dance moves ever – it goes perfectly with the music and keep in mind – these guys are singing and playing their instruments at the same time as doing this move! :).

   The group, as a whole, is amazingly talented in many areas: instrument playing – they get the most out of their instruments, singing, fun antics, entertaining with their wit and humor. Cool, fun and approachable. Great moves to the music. Behind-the-head guitar playing by both Drake and Phil. Songwriters, producers, musicians, singers – no end to the Raiders’ talents! 🙂 And they would do other cool stuff like entertaining the lunch crowds at Columbia Studios – very cool! Wildly popular, even when the record company didn’t have things quite in gear as far as promoting their artists, the guys music: consistently loved! Wherever Paul Revere & the Raiders performed, their records sold out. Their television appearances available on DVD are quickly out-of-stock and any footage of them on the Internet has huge hits! 🙂 Speaking of huge hits, “Kicks”, an anti-drug song their supercool producer, Terry Melcher, got for them from songwriters Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, is one of their most well-known hits. They also did the best cover ever of Richard Berry’s “Louie, Louie”. 🙂 They’re one cool, fun, talented group! 🙂

   Paul Revere & the Raiders added “Featuring Mark Lindsay” after their group name after some people mistakenly assumed Mark was the “Paul” since he was singing lead. Their U.S. Revolutionary War era-style uniforms are way cool, too: tricornered hats with gold trim – white feathers along Paul’s hat, velvet jackets (they looked great, but they sure held the heat in), era-accurate white shirts, pants, boots. A note about those boots: Paul Revere & the Raiders’ boot style was later erroneously dubbed “Beatle Boots” by the media. I say erroneously because Paul Revere & the Raiders started wearing this style of boot before The Beatles wore them. Also, it would understandably annoy/irritate Mark Lindsay whenever someone called his haircut a “Beatle Haircut”, because it wasn’t – he had that cut before the Brits, too. Thus Mark grew a Revolutionary War style queue so people would stop saying that. It is irritating when people give credit to someone else for something you came up with – and then say you’re copying them!

   On to the featured song in this review! 🙂

   Track #1, “You Can’t Sit Down”, begins with the sounds of the big crowd gathered at Columbia Studios for a very fun concert. 🙂 You can hear Paul, Mark, Smitty, Drake and Doc’s good-natured bantering amongst each other. Soon, a few keys of the organ are played then Paul holds with a steady stream of notes. The banter continues, the drum roll begins, and then the emcee grandly presents Paul Revere & the Raiders! 🙂 A three-note cue from the band’s fearless leader on the organ signals the instantaneous response of the rest of the group as they swing into a high-energy, lively rendition of “You Can’t Sit Down” – perfectly together. The sax – with the organ echoing – is the voice taking lead in this instrumental (or, mostly-instrumental, even though many songs labeled “instrumental” contain some vocals as well) version, with a thrumming bass, amazing lead guitar and magnificent drums all being played the very best those instruments are capable of. 🙂

   Throughout this energetic piece you can hear the band banter back and forth, whistles (Drake’s a proficient whistler), with plenty of “Yeah!” and “Hey!” vocals as they perform. And, yes, that’s the sax man yelling in between long runs of sax playing – the Creator gave this man an amazing set of lungs!

   Partway into the song the individual instruments are highlighted. Sax takes point. Mark is amazing. 🙂 At 1:32 Drake’s guitar work shines; his precision and blur of speed is awesome, without missing a beat ( 😉 ). The spotlight goes from the guitar to the drums at 2:05. 🙂 Yes, you are hearing one man and one drum kit! 🙂 Smitty’s drumming is out of sight! The organ gets some highlight time and the deep bass of Holliday can be heard throughout. 🙂 Warning for anyone listening on headphones: at 3:41 Mark hits – and holds – a very high note on the sax! In the last seconds of the song, super-lungs Lindsay yells with strength and volume that an average person would be hard-put to match after resting quietly – and he just finished that amazing run on the sax! And he was dancing. 😎

   These guys are excellent musicians and way cool groovy! 🙂 I love the music of the 100% genuine Paul Revere & the Raiders!!!!!! 🙂 Their albums include: “Here They Come!”, “Just Like Us!”, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere & the Raiders” (also known as “Midnight Ride”) and “Revolution!” (although the album cover doesn’t include all of the original band members who were there for the actual recordings – like Drake Levin). There’s a lot of great music on these albums and they are available with bonus tracks – like the Italian single version of “Little Girl in the Fourth Row” in which Mark sings the song in Italian – from Sundazed and digitally. 🙂

   Please feel free to share any good comments you have in the box provided; I would appreciate knowing you enjoyed reading my review. 🙂 More reviews are awaiting posting! 🙂

Jean247

If you are reading this article on the homepage and you would like to read others’ comments on it or perhaps leave some comments of your own, just tap on the word “comments” above this article’s title. 🙂

Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 1: What’s This?
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 2: Interlude x 2
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 3: “Rain Don’t Come” Single and Music Video
Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 4: Meet Heffron Drive

Note: Any advertisements seen here are not chosen by me.