The Remains - Don't Look Back live at the BMAs

THE highlight of the 2010 Boston Music Awards for me was seeing The Remains.  Though I wasn't around when the band was in their heyday, I've loved their songs for years and always felt they were criminally underappreciated -- even in their hometown of Boston.  While people probably think The Standells (a bunch of Californians) are Boston's greatest garage rock band, The Remains seem mostly forgotten.  So, it was a fitting if-overdue honor when The Remains were honored as Hall of Fame recipients at this years BMAs.  After accepting their award, the band took the stage and played a set of lost classics to a packed crowd.  40+ years later "Don't Look Back" could take on a very different meaning, but Barry Tashian and crew were clearing having a lot of fun onstage reliving the glory days, and their excitement was infectious.  I had chills seeing a band that until a few weeks ago I never thought I would see live.  Enjoy the following video shot at the BMAs by our friends at Kitchen Sessions:

Don't Look Back: The Remains

The Remains were Boston's first great rock n' roll band.  In the mid 60s when the British Invasion bands like The Beatles, Stones, Animals and Kinks were releasing hit after R&B-inspired hit, The Remains were Boston's answer.  The singles were tough and gritty, less like the sugary Motown-inspired early Beatles hits and more like Eric Burdon's Animals - as far as I'm concerned "Don't Look Back" is a classic that should have propelled the band to stardom.

While The Remains had a hit with "Diddy Wah Diddy" and even garnered national attention with a performance on the Ed Sullivan show and opening slot for The Beatles on their final tour.  However, by the time The Beatles, Kinks and Stones started to mature, polish their sound and experiment with psychedelia, The Remains had called it quits. 

Now the band that has been described as "America's Lost Band" will be honored as Hall Of Fame inductees at the Boston Music Awards on December 5.  They will also perform at the event (tickets available here).  A well deserved and overdue honor for a band that never saw the success they deserved.  In the words of Jon Landau, "they were how you told a stranger about rock'n'roll."

The Remains - Don't Look Back by visible voice 

Bruce Springsteen - Diddy Wah Diddy live at Fenway Park