Riot Squad专辑介绍：by Mark DemingGiven their history, the Riot Squad ought to have a bigger cult following than they do -- David Bowie was briefly a member and so was Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience; for a spell they worked under the tutelage of iconic producer and visionary nutjob Joe Meek; and they somehow developed a huge following in Venezuela. However, they've mostly been forgotten except by a handful of beat-era fanatics, and not without reason. While the group turned out a few interesting sides, judging from Jump!, a collection featuring the seven singles they released along with some unreleased sides and tracks they cut backing other vocalists, the Riot Squad were a distressingly average combo, veering between R&B and pop influences without hitting either dead on. Actually, this compilation documents the work of two groups -- Larry Page hand-picked the original lineup of the Riot Squad (including Mitch Mitchell), but when they splintered after a year, saxman Bob Evans drafted a band called the Chevrons to take the place of his departed comrades, and they're the group documented on the later Joe Meek sessions. The Riot Squad Mark I had a more vigorous approach, but their take on Kinks-meets-Yardbirds-style R&B sounds a bit too clean and neat for their own good, while the second edition had the benefit of Meek's eccentric studio techniques but were saddled with second-rate material by their producer. (And while Bowie recorded some surviving demos with the Riot Squad, none of them appear on this disc.) By many accounts, both editions of the Riot Squad were strong live acts (the Meek-era band was tapped to back up Wilson Pickett on a U.K. tour), and it's a shame they were never able to pour the excitement they generated live onto wax -- Jump! sounds like odds and ends from British Invasion also-rans rather than the legacy of a swingin', underappreciated beat group.