Genre: rock
Rating: 1 stars *
Title: Kinky Mersey
Company: Tiger Lily
Catalog: TL
14043
Year: 1976
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: minor ring wear
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5726
Price: $100.00
Namesake singer/percussionist James Cahoon Lindsay's initial brush with popular recognition sprang from being a member of Goodthunder. A decent L.A.-based progressive band, they managed to record one 1972 album for Elektra before falling apart. Today the album's probably best known for the fact it was produced by Paul A Rothchild (of Doors fame).
"Goodthunder" Elektra catalog number EKS 75041
Elektra did little to promote the album and by the end of 1972 the band called it quits with several members (drummer John Desautels, bassist Bill Rhodes, and Terry Linvill,) continuing their musical collaboration as The L.A. Jets, followed by a stint under the nameplate 1994. Lindsay either wasn't asked to participate in those projects, or elected not to join, instead seemingly striking out on his own as a solo act.
Tiger Lily was renown for grabbing all sort of material including demos, previously released albums, and even shelved projects. To my untrained ears 1977's "Kinky Mersey" sounded like a haphazard mixture of off-the-cuff jams and polished studio demos. Musically there wasn't anything particularly creative or original to be found - four of the eight tracks were Beatles covers (several carrying erroneous credits. With the addition of a Kinks cover and a Gerry and the Pacemakers song, the result was an album with a distinctive UK flavor. Too bad it didn't have anything else going for it.
- While there wasn't anything wrong with the opening Kinks cover, by the same token there wasn't anything here to distinguish it from the thousands of local bar bands who have it in their repertoire. Gawd only knows how they managed to botch the writing credit on this one ...
- Admittedly 'No Reply' isn't the best track the Beatles ever wrote, but here it was reduced to MOR sludge. Complete waste.
- Their second Beatles cover was an improvement. It didn't stray far from the original composition, but was worth a quick spin if only to hear Lindsay trying out his best British accent. Nice electric guitar backing.
- In contrast to the first three tracks, 'It's Gonna Be Alright' was extremely raw - in fact at a couple of points you could hear Lindsay coaxing the band through the composition ('chorus'). In their defense, tracks like this one were never intended to be heard by the public.
- Judging by the raw vocal performance, the third Beatles cover also sounded like an early demo, or a bad wedding band trying out a new song for the repertoire.
- Side two opened up with a extended cover of The Beatles 'Why Don't We Do It In the Road'. The original was a fairly heavy song, but here it's turned into a molten slab complete with orgasmic screams and Monty Python-esque background vocals.
- Complete with carnival organ and horrible vocals, their cover of 'Another Saturday' was hysterically inept. Of course what would you expect when they got the song title wrong (it's actually 'Another Saturday Night') and the label mis-credited the song to L. Cohen ... Sam Cooke must be laughing himself silly.
- 'Folk Song' closed the album with a stark and pretty, if misplaced ballad. The song certainly wasn't bad, but just seemed totally lost surrounded by the other seven performances. Almost made you wonder if it was by the same group of folks, or perhaps something Tiger Lily had lying around the studio that was used to pad the rest of the album.
Executive summary ... an aural mess and probably one of the rarer Tiger Lily releases due in part to the fact it was so bad.
"James
Cahoon Lindsay Band" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) You Really Got Me (Jack Bruce - Peter Bow) 2:48
2.) No Reply (John Lennon - Paul McCartney) -
3.) I'll Be Back Again (John Lennon - Paul McCartney) -
4.) It's Gonna Be Alright (Gerry Marsden)
5.) The Night Before (John Lennon - Paul McCartney) -
(side
2)
1.) Why Don't We Do It In the Road (John Lennon - Paul
McCartney) -
2.) Another Saturday (Leonard Cohen) -
3.) Folk Song (Jack Bruce) -