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Released Year: 2009 | Label: ATCO Records / Victor Entertainment Japan | Cardboard Sleeve / SHM-CD / Reissue
Genre / Style: Rock / Hard Rock / Blues Rock / Classic Rock
Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue from Cactus featuring the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD players). Cardboard sleeve jacket based off of the original jacket artwork. Part of a five-album Cactus SHM-CD Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue series featuring the albums "Cactus," "One Way... Or Another," "Restrictions," "Ot 'N' Sweaty," and "Son Of Cactus."
Allmusic / Biography by Jim Newsom
The plan was for the Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice to join with guitar god Jeff Beck and his singer Rod Stewart in a supergroup of sorts. The plan was derailed when Beck had a motorcycle accident that incapacitated him for 18 months. Stewart then joined pal Ron Wood in the revamped Faces (and pursued a somewhat lucrative solo career), leaving Bogert and Appice to find alternates for their dream band. They recruited guitarist Jim McCarty from Mitch Ryder's disassembling Detroit Wheels, and singer Rusty Day from Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes. One can only wonder what might have been. What was, was Cactus, a generic boogie band that never got beyond opening-act status and never sold many records. The band's first album, Cactus, was OK, with a speed-demon version of Mose Allison's "Parchman Farm," but their music never amounted to anything more than the formulaic on subsequent releases. The band had a short life. After Cactus' dissolution in 1972, Bogert and Appice finally joined with Beck to form Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, that group's one release showed very little magic, and BB&A lasted little more than a year.
Tracklist
1970 Cactus / Cactus
Allmusic / Review by Eduardo Rivadavia
Cactus may have never amounted to anything more than a half-hearted, last-minute improvised supergroup, but that don't mean their eponymous 1970 debut didn't rock like a mofo. The already quasi-legendary Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of Bogert and Appice may have provided the backbone of the band's business cards, and soulful, ex-Amboy Duke Rusty Day brought the voice, but it was arguably former Detroit Wheels guitarist Jim McCarty who was the true star in the Cactus galaxy, spraying notes and shredding solos all over album highlights such as "You Can't Judge a Book By the Cover," "Let Me Swim," and, most notably, a manic, turbocharged version of "Parchman Farm." The fact that Cactus chose to tackle this classic blues song just a year after it'd been blasted into the fuzz-distortion stratosphere by Blue Cheer betrays - at best - a healthy competitive spirit within the early-'70s hard rock milieu, and at worst it suggests something of a mercenary nature to Cactus' motives, but that's an issue for the surviving bandmembers to duke it out over in the retirement home. And we digress -- for the blistering closing duo of "Oleo" and "Feel So Good" (complete with bass and drum solo slots) easily certifies the Cactus LP as one of the best hard rock albums of the then brand-new decade, bar none. Too bad the illustrious members of Cactus would quickly lose interest in this band project and deliver increasingly mediocre efforts in the years that followed.
d Tim Bogert - bass, background vocals
d Carmine Appice - drums, percussion, background vocals
d Jim McCarty - guitar / d Rusty Day - vocals, harmonica
01 Parchman Farm
02 My Lady From South Of Detroit
03 Bro. Bill
04 You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover
05 Let Me Swim
06 No Need To Worry
07 Oleo
08 Feel So Good
1971 One Way...Or Another / Cactus
Allmusic / Review by Lindsay Planer
One Way... Or Another (1971) was the second studio outing to feature the incipient incarnation of supergroup Cactus, comprised of Vanilla Fudge rhythm section Carmine Appice (drums) and Tim Bogert (bass), as well as former Amboy Dukes lead vocalist Rusty Day (vocals/mouth harp), and Jim McCarty (guitar) from Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and the Buddy Miles Express. Even as their debut was ostensibly rawer, they retained the same amp'ed-up electric blues reminiscent of early Grand Funk Railroad and Foghat. The more polished outcome heard on their sophomore effort is undoubtedly the direct result of assistance from recording engineer extraordinaire Eddie Kramer and their upgraded digs at the recently completed Electric Lady Studios, which they inhabited shortly after the passing of the facilities' owner, Jimi Hendrix. Immediately, the proceedings are thrust into high gear with a languorous and seething interpretation of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally." While not the extended barnburner it became in concert, it gets things off to a rousing start. The lightweight up-tempo "Rockout, Whatever You Feel Like" could easily be mistaken for Jo Jo Gunne, especially in Day's vocal asides, strongly recalling Jay Ferguson and company. "Rock 'N' Roll Children" is a heavier number with McCarty unleashing rounds of impressive and impellent fretwork churning atop the simmering backbeat. Cactus do what they do best, returning to their boogie rock roots on the suitably named "Big Mama Boogie - Parts 1 & 2." McCarty's pumping acoustic opening is perfectly augmented by some organic mouth harp courtesy of Day before launching into an explosive assault of pure, unadulterated proto- metal. The cover of Chuck Willis' "Feel So Bad" is given a sizable shakedown, yet doesn't quite seem to live up to its potential. The opposite can be said of the understated "Song for Aries." Although clocking in at just under three minutes, the instrumental is a showcase for McCarty's immorally underrated lead guitar. The long-player concludes with two full-blown centerpieces, revealing Cactus' strength as a formidable powerhouse combo on the autobiographically-inspired rave-up "Hometown Bust." Fittingly, this lineup and album come to an end on a high note with the title track "One Way...Or Another." The number is quite possibly the finest original to have been worked up by the band. The cut blazes from tip-to-tail and if the primary riff seems familiar, that may be because it was lifted almost verbatim from Jeff Beck's Beck-Ola-era tune "Rice Pudding." However in Cactus' care, it stomps with a bit more crunch and no-nonsense attitude.
d Tim Bogert - bass, background vocals, lead vocals on track 2
d Carmine Appice - drums, percussion, background vocals
d Jim McCarty - guitar / d Rusty Day - vocals, harmonica
01 Long Tall Sally
02 Rockout, Whenever You Feel Like
03 Rock N' Roll Children
04 Big Mama Boogie - Parts 1 & 2
05 Feel So Bad
06 Song For Aries
07 Hometown Bust
08 One Way...Or Another
1971 Restrictions / Cactus
Allmusic / Review by Jon Pruett
With a mixture of members from Vanilla Fudge, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and the Amboy Dukes, it's hard to believe that Cactus didn't really succeed in their time. Often derided for being second-rate boogie rock, the band simply did what it did, and part of the allure of the style is its sloppy, second-rate nature. This 1971 release may not see the band at their peak, but it surely showcases the occasionally thundering rhythm section of Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice. Why a song like "Token Chokin'" was never a hit and why it has yet to be embraced by the classic rock-loving public is a complete mystery. The song is some of the most heels-up, thundering, so-brainless-it's-genius rock that has ever been to tape. It's complete with big guitars, big sing-alongs, and a bass-and-drum combo that could knock out windows. Somebody needs to revive this track. Songs like "Evil" and "Sweet Little Sixteen" are all scorching guitars and long-haired riffing. It's a testament to the blues-inspired power they could surely muster up onstage. Other tracks seem to fall apart like the opener, "Restrictions," and "Guiltless Glider," which starts off thick and heavy a la Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla," but goes on for about six minutes too long. To buffer some of the more blustery elements of the record, there are competent acoustic blues numbers like "Mean Night in Cleveland" and "Alaska," the latter an ode to said state featuring lyrics about penguins, Santa Claus, and the aurora borealis. Nobody has ever said that boogie rock is grad school material, and Cactus are certainly no exception - they did manage to make a big, bearded racket that is both groan-inducing and a lot of fun.
d Tim Bogert - bass, background vocals / d Carmine Appice - drums, percussion, background vocals
d Jim McCarty - lead guitar, slide guitar / d Rusty Day - vocals, harmonica, percussion
Additional
d Ron Leejack - slide guitar / d Albhy Galuten - piano / d Duane Hitchings - keyboards
01 Restrictions
02 Token Chokin'
03 Guiltless Glider
04 Evil
05 Alaska
06 Sweet Sixteen
07 Bag Drag
08 Mean Night In Cleveland
1972 'Ot 'N' Sweaty / Cactus
en.wikipedia.org
'Ot 'n' Sweaty is an album by the second lineup of American rock supergroup Cactus released in 1972. Original members Jim McCarty and Rusty Day already were absent, and former bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice joined by Werner Fritzschings on guitar, Duane Hitchings on keyboards and Peter French (ex-Leaf Hound and Atomic Rooster) on vocals. This was the band's final album before their long hiatus that lasted until 2006. The first three songs (filled up the first side of the original LP) were recorded live on April 3, 1972 in Puerto Rico at the Mar y Sol pop festival, and the rest (the second side of the LP) were recorded in studio (so on the album's front cover is pointed after the band's name: On Stage In Puerto Rico And In The Studio). The pinnacle tracks for this album are "Bad Mother Boogie", "Bedroom Mazurka", "Bad Stuff", and "Telling You".
d Carmine Appice - percussion, drums, backing vocals
d Tim Bogert - bass, backing vocals / d Werner Fritzsching - guitar
d Peter French - vocals / d Duane Hitchings - organ, piano, electric piano, keyboards
01 Swim
02 Badd Mother Boogie
03 Our Lil Rock-N-Roll Thing
04 Bad Stuff
05 Bringing Me Down
06 Bedroom Mazurka
07 Telling You
08 Underneath The Arches
1973 Son Of Cactus / The New Cactus Band
en.wikipedia.org
The New Cactus Band, led by Duane Hitchings, released one album (Son Of Cactus) and featured nobody of the original Cactus. Mike Pinera, formerly of Blues Image and Iron Butterfly, came in on guitar, along with Roland Robinson on bass and Jerry Norris on drums. The band then toured live in the Midwest and on the East Coast in mid 1973 with Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell and former Gregg Allman bass player Charlie Souza. The New Cactus Band soon disbanded. In the late '70s Rusty Day formed another version of Cactus in Orlando, where he had relocated. This version of Cactus featured Steve Dansby on guitar, Dan Keylon and later John Sauter on bass, Frankie Robbins and later Gary Moffatt on drums. Frankie Robbins' brother Dennis along with Dan Keylon also played with the Rockets and Jim McCarty. There are no known studio recordings from this era, though live recordings do circulate. On March 6, 1982, Rusty Day died from gunshots as a victim of a drug deal gone bad.
d Duane Hitchings - keyboards, flute, vocals / d Mike Pinera - guitar, vocals
d Roland Robinson - bass, vocals / d Jerry Norris - drums, vocals / d Manuel Bertematti - drums, vocals
01 It's Getting Better
02 I Can't Wait
03 Hook Line And Sinker
04 It's Just A Feelin'
05 Lady (Spend My Life With You)
06 Ragtime Suzy
07 Blue Gypsy Woman
08 Senseless Rebel
09 Man Is A Boy
10 Hold On To My Love
11 Daddy Ain't Gone
