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All Music Guide:
A strong contender for the finest overlooked American band of the mid-'60s, the Remains (led by Barry Tashian) were the most notable Boston group of the era. But they never broke out nationally, despite signing to Epic and copping an opening slot on the Beatles' final American tour in 1966. Sometimes described as a garage band, that designation isn't at all accurate; the Remains shared the same British Invasion influences as many American teen acts, but had a lot of professional finesse to their straight-ahead attack and sharp songwriting, sometimes sounding like a fusion of the Beatles and the Zombies with their energetic harmonies and guitar-electric keyboard blend.
Four fine singles for Epic found little action outside of the Northeast. Frustrated by the disparity they perceived between their studio work and their furious live show, they cut an audition tape for Capitol, although no offer from the label was forthcoming (the session was issued for collectors many years later). An uneven but solid debut album for Epic was released near the end of 1966, but by that time, the Remains were breaking up, dispirited by the stalemate in which their career seemed to have been mired. Remains drummer N.D. Smart II played with Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris; Tashian also played with Harris, and today is a Nashville-based country-folk musician, often recording as a duo with his wife, Holly.
However, despite the various musical activities occupying the bandmembers over the years, Barry & the Remains reunited for the first time in more than two decades when they played at the Mod Fest in Spain in August 1998. Inspired by a tape of Spanish rock bands covering tunes by the Remains that he was given by a promoter of the event, Tashian subsequently considered additional activity by the group -- and in fact, in 2002 the re-formed Remains issued a brand-new long-player, Movin' On. In April 2010 the Remains released a new song, entitled "Monbo Time," to support 1960s Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette in his struggle with leukemia.
Wikipedia:
The Remains were a mid-1960s rock group from Boston, Massachusetts, led by Barry Tashian, who later was harmony vocalist and guitarist for Emmylou Harris and part of the duo, Barry and Holly Tashian. The Remains performed in Boston in 1964 and 1965, playing The Rathskeller where fans lined up from Kenmore Square to Fenway Park to see them.
They are best known for being one of the opening acts of The Beatles' final US tour in 1966.
Although associated with the garage rock scene, the Remains were highly accomplished professional musicians and their recordings, while hard-edged, are notably well-produced and arranged. The band enjoyed a local hit with their version of the Bo Diddley/Willie Dixon classic "Diddy Wah Diddy". Despite considerable local success and strong critical acclaim (including an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show), the band failed to break through on a national level and folded in late 1966. However, in common with many of their garage rock contemporaries, the Remains gradually acquired a cult status, and eventually reformed to play at several garage revival shows such as Cavestomp in New York City during the late 1990s, Las Vegas Grind in 2000 and a tour of major European cities in 2006. They recorded a new album in 2003.
The band's first and last singles, "Why Do I Cry" and "Don't Look Back" respectively, are both featured on the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era box set.
Their single "Why Do I Cry" is featured briefly in the film Superbad (2007) when the character McLovin is being taken to a party in a police car.
In 2007, Epic/Legacy came out with a reissue of The Remains' 1966 album, which received the following review from rock journalist, Mark Kemp, in Paste Magazine (June 2007): "Had these Boston bad boys stuck it out beyond their 1966 debut, we might today be calling them--and not the Stones--the World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band. As it is, The Remains most certainly are America's greatest lost band."
Kemp's praise echoes the well-known critique written 40 years earlier by rock critic (and subsequently Bruce Springsteen's manager), Jon Landau, in Crawdaddy! magazine (January 1967): "They were how you told a stranger about rock'n'roll."
In 2008, the world premiere of a documentary about The Remains, "America's Lost Band," directed by Michael Stich, took place at the Boston Film Festival. Steve Simels, Boxoffice Magazine, describes the film as "a fascinating retelling of one of the great what-might-have-been stories of American music of the '60s."
The Remains' story was also the subject of a stage musical at the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival, "All Good Things," which received acclaim from a variety of critics. (60sgaragebands.com, News & Nuggets, August 31, 2004).
In 2010, The Remains released a new song about the Boston Red Sox, "Monbo Time," that was done as a tribute to the 1960s Red Sox pitcher, Bill Monbouquette. The Remains pledged that they were donating 50% of the revenues they receive from sales of the song to cancer research. (06880danwoog.com, April 23, 2010; Boston Herald, April 22, 2010).
