Raga Rock (album)

The Raga Rock project resurrected the "Folkswingers" moniker, which was an artist credit used by World Pacific Records for its themed albums containing instrumental versions of popular songs. The name was first used in 1963 for 12 String Guitar!,^[2] an album of folk songs recorded by guitarist Glen Campbell and members of the Dillards.^[3] This LP and its 1964 sequel were produced by Jim Dickson,^[2] later the Byrds' mentor and manager.^[4][5] In 1966, with pop acts such as the Beatles, the Byrds and the Rolling Stones incorporating Indian musical influences into their work,^[6] resulting in the rise of the raga rock phenomenon,^[7] World Pacific decided to create a Folkswingers album dedicated to the new trend.^[2] The featured performer, on sitar, was Harihar Rao, who was director of Indian studies at UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology,^[2] and a pioneer in fusing Indian music and jazz through his work with Don Ellis in the Hindustani Jazz Sextet.^[8][9] In addition to being a protégé of Ravi Shankar since the late 1940s,^[10] Rao had recently taught Brian Jones the fundamentals of sitar playing before Jones recorded his sitar part for the Rolling Stones' raga-rock hit "Paint It Black".^[11]

The Folkswingers' ensemble included jazz guitarists Herb Ellis and Dennis Budimir, the last of whom, like Rao and producer Richard Bock, had collaborated on Shankar's Indo-jazz projects such as Improvisations.^[12][13] The other contributors to Raga Rock were session musicians Tommy Tedesco, Howard Roberts, Larry Knechtel, Bill Pitman, Lyle Ritz and Hal Blaine,^[2] who were all members of the Los Angeles Wrecking Crew.^[14] Rao's sitar was the only non-Western instrument used on the album.^[15]

The songs recorded by the ensemble included the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" – each of which has been recognised as representing the start of raga rock^[16] – and "Paint It Black",^[17] which the Rolling Stones issued as a single in early May.^{[6][nb 1]} Among the other tracks were recent songs by the Yardbirds ("Shapes of Things"), Simon & Garfunkel ("Homeward Bound"), the Turtles ("Grim Reaper of Love") and Paul Revere & the Raiders ("Kicks").^[17] The sole original composition, "Raga Rock", was credited to George Tipton,^[17] the project's musical arranger.^[2]

World Pacific released Raga Rock on June 10, 1966^[21] with the catalog number WPS-1846.^[22] The album's liner notes were supplied by KHJ disc jockey Don Steele, who wrote: "Here it is at last, the first popular LP to really feature the sound of the sitar."^[15] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Pete Johnson said of Raga Rock: "Hardly ethnomusicology material, but it all swings and the album is one of those rare records in which material of other groups is treated in an original way."^[23] High Fidelity's reviewer found the mix of Rao's sitar with guitar, organ and a jazz rhythm section "an interesting novelty" but said that the material did not allow the combination's potential to be fully realized.^[24]

Raga Rock was followed by other albums on which Indian-influenced pop and rock songs were given a more obvious Indian treatment.^[1] Author Mark Brend terms them "sitarploitation" records, of which the Folkswingers release was "the first and best".^[25] Among these albums were releases by Lord Sitar (Big Jim Sullivan),^[26] Rajput and the Sepoy Mutiny,^[2] and the Nirvana Sitar and String Group.^[27] Larry Knechtel and other members of the Wrecking Crew also recorded another Indian-themed LP, Tanyet, under the pseudonym "the Ceyleib People".^[14] According to Time Out music journalist John Lewis, the most artistically successful of all the "sitar rock" projects, including Rao's, was one by Ravi Shankar's nephew, Ananda Shankar, whose self-titled 1970 album combined East–West musical influences on Moog synthesizer and sitar.^{[28][nb 2]}

Rao and the Folkswingers' album was reissued on CD in 2007 by Fallout Records.^[17] In his review for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger admires the level of musicianship on Raga Rock but adds: "It still sounds like what it is: a hastily recorded cash-in album … Overall, the LP couldn't help but sound like a novelty record, albeit one with a much higher level of instrumental proficiency than the usual such project."^[17]

Side one

1. "Paint It, Black" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richard) – 2:37
2. "Eight Miles High" (Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby) – 2:55
3. "Dona, Dona" (Sholom Secunda, Aaron Zeitlin) – 2:11
4. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:08
5. "Along Comes Mary" (Tandyn Almer) – 2:47
6. "Time Won't Let Me" (Tom King, Chet Kelley) – 2:17

Side two

1. "Shapes of Things" (Jim McCarty, Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith) – 2:21
2. "Hey Joe" (Dino Valenti) – 2:45
3. "Kicks" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) – 2:25
4. "Homeward Bound" (Paul Simon) – 2:42
5. "Grim Reaper of Love" (Al Nichol, Chuck Portz) – 2:25
6. "Raga Rock" (George Tipton) – 2:29

According to the 2007 CD credits:^[2]

• Harihar Rao – sitar
• Dennis Budimir – electric 12-string guitar
• Tommy Tedesco – guitar
• Howard Roberts – guitar
• Herb Ellis – guitar
• Larry Knechtel – organ, electric piano
• Bill Pitman – bass
• Lyle Ritz – electric bass
• Hal Blaine – drums
• George Tipton – musical arrangements