Once again I present an artist about whom I know very little. I wish I has the time and resources to research some of the albums I post here but I don't so I'm limited to what I can pull from a couple reference books & off the net. I can however recommend this record by Rabbit Mackay & his Somis Rhythm Band to fans of 60's psych-folk-rock-blues obscurities. It was released on the Uni label in 1968. The music is pretty varied with a few rockers and a couple tracks that feature harpsichord. Candy is a blues-stomp that veers into garage rock, while Hard Time Woman sounds more like a Holy Modal Rounders blues outing. Big Sur & John's Lament are gentle psych-folk numbers. Baby Jennifer is in the angry folk singer gets back at old girlfriend genre. West Grogan Dormitory Blues is a more rockin' but similarly-themed number with plenty of snottiness in the vocals. Cool stuff overall. Rabbit is apparently alive and hopefully well and living in California. He was still performing circa 2005, when he had a track on the La Conchita Remember... compilation put together to raise money for mudslide victims.
You can hear this record here (reposted, again).
17 comments:
Thank you! This was one of my favorite LPs back in the late 60s and was never released on CD.
Thanks for the link to the Rabbitt MacKay album. I have the vinyl and have been looking for a digital version for a long long time.
The melody of "When Angel Comes" is a blatant ripoff of Eric Anderson's "Violets of Dawn" - other than that, I enjoyed most of the album
a lost treasure..its been nearly 40years.What was the name of the battle song..was his name John Brown?
i cant remember who turned me on to him so long ago, but ive had the record put on tape. glad to see its out there digitally.
A great musician and friend. One of the old gang. Haven't seen Rabbit in ages, but know he is still here in Ventura County, and still making great music. Love this album.
How do I get to DL this ... I'm clicking on the 'here' link, but it just go to an advert.
Massmirror and Shareall both seem to be dead. I will repost this sometime during the coming week.
Max
Max ... It would be great if you could up this again. I've been trying to get to hear this again for twenty years !
Hi TM,
Unfortunately this in one of the rips I lost with my recent hard drive meltdown. I'll request a repost from some other readers who dled it.
Max
OK, cool
Finally got it ... thanks for your efforts, and also Leonard (redtelephone66). So good to hear this once again.
May 2009, Santa Barbara, CA - I was just coming home and thought of Rabitt McKay (don't know where the thought came from !!?). The last time I saw Rabbit was the summer of 1969 in a small house n Moorpark, CA. He was playing Boogie Woogie on and old upright piano. I can remember the excitment of hearing him play. When he finished, he got up and walked-out, just like that. I haven't thought of that for forty+ years. Glad to see you've memorialized him with a blog. I hope he is doing well - God Bless
Thanks for the link to Bug Cloth; saw Rabbit several times in the Ventura/Santa Barbara area in the mid to late sixties, and had completely forgotten him until the name appeared in some concert research I was doing a few days ago.
Hard Time Woman and Candy were sound of my youth that meant a lot to me when I was in and out of love. I haven'y heard anything of Rabbit McKay since and I lost the vinyl. I almost thought I'd dreamt it all.
Thanks
I remember when he first came to Ventura and when he first started playing guitar. Hung around him for years at the beach. Heard he was alive and well in Santa Barbara. I taught him his first guitar chords. LOL Seriously. We were all singing Dylan then.
Rabbit released a couple of albums on UNI, and his son Manzanio Bay is on Arlo Guthries Durango album. His second UNI album is entitled Passing Through. He, MIchael DeTemple and Andy Douglas began work on a thrid album and also were sidemen on the flower power "Vision of Sunshine" lp by Wings Hauser. :-Drew
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