Genre: psych
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Everything But ...
Company: LHI
Catalog: E12000
Year: 1967
Country/States: Armarillo,exas
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: promo sticker 'featuring their hit single' on cover; mono pressing
Available: 1
GEMM Catalog ID: 5330
Price: $50.00
As the Amarillo-based The Y'alls, lead guitarist Mark Creamer, Dale Gardner, rhythm guitarist Jim Parker, drummer Johnny Stark and Dallas Smith managed to record one little heard 1966 single for the small Ruff label ('Run for Your Life' b/w 'Please Come Back' (Ruff catalog number 1016). Following a name change to the hipper sounding The Kitchen Cinq, the group's big break came when the ever-eclectic Lee Hazlewood signed them to his newly formed Decca affiliated LHI label.
Released in 1967, "Everything But ..."
teamed the band with Hazlewood sidekick/producer Susan J. Hokom. Musically the collection offered
up a mixture of pop/rock originals (largely penned by Stark and Creamer) and
popular covers. While the set wasn't exactly the year's most original
offering, all eleven performances were engaging, the band showing a
chameleon-like knack for bouncing between American and English rock
influences. That said, they also sported a distinctively Texan sound -
hard to describe, but much of the set had that spare, Buddy Holly-ish sound
that I associate with Texas. Doubt me, then simply check out Parker's 'Young Boy'
or 'Still In Love with You
Baby'. Originals like the fuzz-drenched 'Determination' and 'Please Come Back to Me'
provided the true set highlights, though among the covers their Byrds-styled
rendition of Buffy St.
Marie's 'Codine' (a surprisingly daring choice), a beat-ish 'I Can't Let Go'
and 'You'll Be Sorry Some Day' were all worth hearing. Elsewhere, in an obvious nod of
appreciate to mentor Hazlewood, the collection included a nifty cover of 'Need All the Help I Can Get'.
Sporting some great acoustic guitar and group harmonies, perhaps best of all
was ' If You Think'. On the downside, the band lacked a sterling singer leaving many of the
tracks to be handled in an ensemble approach and the album featured an
irritatingly thin and tinny sound making you wonder if Hokum had
recorded the band in a shower room). Still, it's an LP with
considerable staying power and one of the few that I've bothered to convert
to CDR format for personal use.
In case anyone cared, LHI tapped the LP for a pair of singles:
- 1967's 'You'll Be Sorry Some Day' b/w 'Determination' (LHI catalog number 17000)
- 1967's 'Still In Love with You Baby' b/w '(Ellen's Fancies) Ride the Wind' (LHI catalog number 17010)
The second 45 should have provided the band a massive top-40
hit, though the decision to use one of marketing's most unattractive group
photos (geez did they parent The Feelies), probably cost them vast sales and
airplay.
Unfortunately, without much in the way of promotional support from
their label the
album vanished without a trace (LHI following in short order).
"Everything But ..." track listing:
(side 1)
1.) You'll Be Sorry Some Day
(Bob Corso) - 2:32
2.) Solitary Man (Neil Diamond) - 2:28
3.) Determination (Johnny Stark - Mark Creamer) - 2:00
4.) Please Come Back to Me (Johnny Stark - Mark Creamer) - 2:29
5.) Codine (Buffy St. Marie) - 2:45
(side 2)
1.) Young Boy
(James Ervan Parker) - 2:29
2.) Last Chance To Turn Around (Milrose - Bruno - Elgin) - 3:09
3.) Still In Love with You Baby (Ronald Elliot) - 2:35
4.) If You Think (Danks - Taylor) - 2:05
5.) I Can't Let Go (Taylor - Gorgoni) - 2:29
5.) Need All the Help I Can Get (Lee Hazlewood) - 2:45
One last single for LHI and two for for Decca followed:
- 1967's 'The Street Song' b/w 'When the Rainbow Disappears' (LHI catalog 17015)
- 1968's 'Good Lovin' (So Hard To Find)' b/w 'For Never We Met' (Decca catalog number 32263)
- 1968's 'The Minstrel' b/w 'She's So Fine' (Decca catalog number 32374)
After a single credited to 'A Handful' ('Dying Daffodil Incident' b/w 'Does Anybody Know' (LHI catalog number 45-1201,) the band called it quits. Creamer, Parker and Stark packing up for Los Angeles where they reappeared as Armageddon.
