detroit featuring mitch ryder

when i was starting to play in bands on long island in the early '70s, evabody was trying to sound like the stones on get yer ya-ya's out, every idiot drummer took drum lessons from carmine appice ("i take from cawwwmie"), there were as many bands with a fat guy in a leather coat playing a les paul jr. in homage to leslie west as there were stevie ray clones in texas in the '90s, and every bar band had to play the version of lou reed's "rock and roll" originated by mitch ryder's detroit.

detroit was the band mitch formed ca. 1970 after breaking with his svengali/manager bob crewe, with "johnny bee" badanjek from the detroit wheels on drums, steve "the decatur gator" hunter (who went on to play in lou reed's rock and roll animal band) on lead gtr, and ron cooke who was the original bass player in sonic's rendezvous band. they released one album, produced by bob ezrin of later alice cooper/peter gabriel/pink floyd fame, on the tee-tiny paramount label (same one that had a hit with commander cody's "hot rod lincoln").

they played hard-edged, r&b-based biker rock, and the way their album mixed rockin' and soulful impulses kinda reminded me of another favorite slab of wax, the animals' animalization. (mitch's "drink" = eric burdon's "gin house blues;" detroit's "i found a love" = the animals' "i put a spell on you," etc.) the band wasn't made to last, though. "there was a cultural lifestyle in the band that no one could survive," mitch told the detroit metro times in 2004. "high 24 hours a day, violent, angry." mitch went on to reinvent himself as a respected solo artist in germany and an oldies act stateside. go fig.

i owned the detroit album when it was new but sold it one of the several times i sold my record collection over the yrs. we usedta play "rock and roll" the mitch way in one of the bands i had in college, and my friend stephen, who drummed in that band and later persuaded me to move to texas, dubbed me a cassette copy of it which i think i wound up giving to my oldest dtr. i owned it again on cd when it was briefly available early in the '90s, but then i let that go when i was selling shit to make rent while i wrote for the paper. recently i stumbled on a used vinyl copy for cheap at half price books, but i understand that it's available again in cd form on akarma, the italian label that's reissued lotsa heavy psych and proto-metal like blue cheer, the groundhogs, dust, may blitz an' like that. if archetypal '70s hard rock of the cactus/captain beyond variety with a soulful edge sounds like a good idea to you, this could be up your alley.