- John Holbrook -- 

- Jon Holbrook Experience

Genre: rock

Rating: 1 star *

Title:  Cruisin' In Time

Company: Tiger Lily

Catalog: TL 14047
Year: 1977

Country/State: US

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: still in shrink wrap (opened)

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 5858

Price: $250.00

Even by the standards of the infamous Tiger Lily tax scam label, 1977's "Cruisin' In Time" was a strange and rare album.  In fact good luck finding another copy for sale, let alone another review, or picture of the album cover.  

Produced by John Holbrook (who released another LP under the 'Jon Holbrook Experience' moniker on Tiger Lily), this one was credited to 'Woodstock Revival'.  In standard Tiger Lily format there were no performance credits so you were left to guess who the anonymous players were.  In all likelihood it was Holbrook himself and a collection of New York based sessions players, though some of the performances were so raw you had to wonder if they just grabbed some demo tapes in order to have enough material for an album.  Musically the collection featured a truly bizarre mix of 1950s and 1960s rock chestnuts.  There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the selections and for what it was worth, none of the nine tracks seemed to have had much to do with Woodstock - okay The Who played the concert, but that seemed to be about the extent of it  ...    Course, if this was a tax scam release who cared about any of that stuff ?

"Cruisin' In Time" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Sea Cruise    rating: * star

Played pretty close to the original, the leadoff cover of Frankie Ford's 'Sea Cruise' was nothing special - stick with the original.   

2.) It's My Party   rating: ** stars

I'm a big fan of the weird, but this cover of 'It's My Party' was definietly extreme.  I'm speculating that the song may have featured Holbrook handling the vocals.  That might explain why the song sounded like it was being performed by Bryan Ferry trying to mimic a  Translvania vampire stuck in an elevator with dawn rapidly approaching.

3.) Little Red Book  rating: **** stars

Easily the best song on the album, the anonymous singer and band turned in a raw and snotty cover of Burt Bacharach's 'Little Red Book'.  Nice proto-punk angst embedded in this one ...  

4.) Summertime Blues   rating: ** stars

Their cover of 'Summertime Blues' actually stumbled along with a bit of energy until they flubbed the lyric.  Truth be told, any group of high school kids should be able to do at least as good.   

5.) Rockin' Robin   rating: ** stars

Give these guys kudos for being willing to take on a song that had such an elaborate structure - those background tweets are a nightmare ...  This one was actually kind of fun in a cheesy Sha-Na-Na kind of way.  The scat segment was hysterical.  

(side 2)
1.) Cottontail   rating: ** stars

Side two started out with the album's strangest performance - 'Cottontail' found the anonymous singer breathlessly trying to keep up with the hyperspeed song.  The weird part was that the instrumental backing was clearly an old record.   

2.) Louie, Louie  rating: **** stars

The second strangest performance came in the form of a reggae version of 'Louie Louie'.  Cute in a goofy kind of way and probably one to include on your 'Louie Louie' compilation tape. 

3.) Little Honda    rating: * star

Hard to believe this version of The Beach Boys classic 'Little Honda' actually got committed to vinyl.  Again, any group of 16 year olds could probably pull of a more competent version.   

4.) Pipeline (instrumental)    rating: * star

Hard to do, but they managed to turn a cover of The Chantays 'Pipeline' into a snore fest.

Holbrook has a small website, but it makes no mention of this album, or any of his other work for Tiger Lily.  His staff never responded to emails I sent with respect to this album and other Tiger Lily works.  Guess they're extremely busy.  http://www.johnholbrook.net/