We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
There were a bunch of artists that released two albums in 1971. One of these was the rockin outfit known as Cactus.
If you went to a rock show in the 70’s you were guaranteed to hear some drunk yell out the go to term in those days….Boogie!!! And if you were at a Cactus show…they heard you. Combine ZZ Top with Grand Funk…throw in some Allman Brothers and Cream…and you have Cactus.
This band in my opinion is thoroughly underrated. They could deliver uptempo rockers and dirty blues riffs with an animal intensity. The group was founded by the rhythm section of the Vanilla Fudge. Tim Bogert on bass and Carmine Appice on drums laid down a foundation that could have stopped a herd of charging elephants. And then on top came the searing guitar of Jim McCarty and blues drenched vocals of Rusty Day. This is not the same Jim McCarty who played in the Yardbirds…this guy was a Detroit legend.
The first LP of the year came out in February called ‘One Way…Or Another”. Among the tunes was a slowed down version of the Little Richard classic “Long Tall Sally”. They also covered “Feels So Bad”from Chuck Willis. But it’s some of the originals that stand out. “Big Mama Boogie” starts acoustic and then explodes…Day pulls out his harp and wails away. “Song For Aries” includes a spacy instrumental interlude…sort of a shoutout to all the prog rock fans out there. They could also slow things down as on “Hometown Bust”
The 2nd LP was “Restrictions” released in October. The only cover was a killer version of “Evil”, a hit for Howlin Wolf written by Willie Dixon. The LP is chock full of uptempo boogie plus they play a tough acoustic blues called “Mean Night in Cleveland” and can even get a bit jazzy on “Alaska”
When you want some 70’s rock that personifies the term Boogie…these are the guys you should turn to. All together now….
