Posted by
Harp on Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:05:15 AM
You can turn on the radio these days and hear several songs that have been performed by several artists. Some are older songs that are remade by a current artist (Roxette's Listen to Your Heart). And some are remade and catered to different genres (Country's Gary Allen's remake of Vertical Horizon's Best I Ever Had). While some are hitting the airwaves at the same time on different stations (I won't mention all the duplications by Christian artists).
There certainly are groups that have provided an abundance of tunes that are remade - U2, The Beatles, Elvis.
But I am convinced that no other group has provided more hits than the California Raisins. The California Raisins had more stellar songs on their few albums than most artist have in an entire career. In fact every song they had was a stellar hit.
Just look at all of these songs originally performed by the Raisins -
I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Tracks of My Tears, Lean on Me, Stand by Me,
You Can't Hurry Love, My Girl, Heartbreak Hotel, La Bamba, Respect,
When a Man Loves a Woman, Sweet, Delicious and Marvelous, & Mony Mony
Alright. For real... I truly am a fan of the California Raisins (never mind that I can't stand eating raisins, yuck). But, I do know that they are in the same category as Santa Cause, Snoopy, and Tony the Tiger.
That doesn’t change just how much I admire them. These character were great for me and many other children. It was fun collecting the figurines and listening to the music. If it had not been for these Raisins, I don't know if I would have been introduced to such great classics.
I think they should make a comeback and get more of the younger generation into Rhythm and Soul music. I know I'll be looking forward to seeing their Christmas Program (I've just got to find where to see it).