Sitting behind the big control board at Atlantic Records' studio in New York City, Felix Cavaliere puffs on his pipe. Outside in the hall Eddie Brigati is joking with a fan who dropped by. Gene Cornish talks quietly with Tom Dowd, Atlantic VP, in the far corner of the control room. Dino Danelli has left for the day to go home and paint. These are the Rascals today. They have been through the many-sided pop scene and, except for a few occasional appearances, have left screaming fans behind in order to settle down in the recording studio and perfect their brand of music.

The Rascals are in an enviable position in many respects. Like a handful of groups in the world, including the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Rolling Stones, they spend hundreds of hours in the studio working on their music and each album is the product of hard work by four capable and creative young men. Unlike the Beatles or the Stones however, the Rascals have not gained the respect they deserve from all segments of the pop public. They are still treated by many as the knickered white soul band that rocked New York City to its very foundations four years ago. The Rascals discarded that image and that musical bag three years ago, but the same people who have forgotten the Beatles first hair cut and their custom-made, lapel-less Cardin suits still claim that the Rascals can't make music now because they used to wear knickers.

Felix is the Rascal who is perhaps most aware of the type of image the group started with and when they left it off to concentrate on their music. When asked about teen magazines and the way the group is treated by them, he smiles wearily. Felix is a quiet, sensitive artist who has been through too many "what's your favorite color" interviews to even remember them all. But, like Eddie who refuses to let fan publications badger him any longer with foolish questions, Felix holds hope for the future.

"Fan magazines? I feel that they are very bigoted," Felix explains. "Very few fan mags give a true representation of what is happening in music today. They all seem to think that kids are idiots. Publications that reach so many kids should be responsible. Not only do they slant their material down at kids but they also ignore certain artists like the Temptations. I've stopped reading most of them and just read the ones that cater to musicians."

But Felix thinks that there is a place for publications dealing with music. "Most of the teenagers I meet don't seem to be the kind of people who would buy the type of mish mash in most of the fan books. I think the publications should be responsible and put in educational material - life education. There is a lot more to the music business, and to us as musicians, than the kind of girls we date.

What any group is trying to say through its music is what Felix feels is the most important aspect of that group. "Music publications should deal with what we are trying to say. Since the whole pop scene began the printed word hasn't been saying anything really valid. If they don't start soon it will be too late."

As far as the Rascals music itself is concerned, Felix feels that there are two sides to it which must be considered. "I don't mean to say that every fan publication should just blindly write about how 'heavy' the music is and what a message it has. We, for instance, don't always write 'thought' songs. The song we're working on right now is a freedom song and it has a message. We have spent about a week really getting into the words and saying things. A lot of people are going to hear the message in the song and so we want to make sure we state ourselves clearly. But there is another side to our music.

"Phil Spector believes that an artist has to be not only a creator but a little bit commercial. I agree with him. Many of our recordings have a little fantasy to them. They tell about what life could be like. We try to keep people happy, that's an entertainer's job. But that doesn't mean we don't know what's happening in the world and don't reflect it in some of our songs. We do, and we don't want people to write about us as if we didn't. I guess the whole thing gets down to whether or not a person listens to our music and tries to understand it when he writes about us or whether he just thinks that everybody is interested in my favorite color."

Besides recording albums and singles the Rascals are creating in other mediums related to pop. Dino designed the "It's Wonderful" album cover and is now at work designing the next album cover. Felix is composing a film score as well as working on new material for the group. Gene is getting into writing but Felix who studies yoga "to keep sane" feels that a lot of attitudes have to change before groups like the Rascals are really recognized for their talents. "The young people of today are intelligent and deserve to be treated that way. We aren't playing our music down to them and I don't see why any other part of the whole pop scene has to be slanted down to them including the fan magazines."

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