Randy Holland - Cat Mind (Mother Record Corp., 1972)

A lot of private press releases did not appear on commercial labels for good reason, but not this one. This is a very nice rock release, with some folk and country inflections, and a good loner vibe. It's not (contrary to some catalogues) psychedelic, but Holland dark and somewhat snotty delivery and some smokin' guitar make it stand out from the pack.

Most of the songs were writtne by Holland with the exception of a couple by Lew Alpaugh (who also did the arragements on the record), a nice Mickey Newburry cover ("I'll Remember the Good") and a rollicking "Muddy Water" by a F. Wright (not sure who did that one originally, or whether it appears here for the 1st time, although it sounds like it could have been a country song circa late 60s). The record was recorded in Bound Brook, NJ and the record company was located on George Street in New Brunswick, NJ (not far from Rutgers' radio station, WRSU, where I spent many an hour in Grad school).

This is the only album Holland recorded but you can read some of his poety on his blog. He ended up in Las Vegas, doing some kind of casino work and running an art gallery. Sadly, he passed away earlier this year--you can read the obit here.

Here's a track list (and can someone please tell me why I'm no longer to paste text into blogger post entries?!?!--guess I have to retype)

Side ONE

Bless the Nake Days

Colours of Sad

Song for a Rainy Tuesday

Make Me Flowers

Muddy Water

Side TWO

I'll Remember the Good

Cat Mind

Indian Blues

Ladybug

Take My Hand

I hope you enjoy the record.

I'm hoping this marks a return to regular blogging for me. I've got a stack of records I want to record for you, but my next post may be one of the records that have been "sitting" on my computer for a while (Tipico Nos Grandsea or the Freedom Singers, odd choices I know).

Some news

Just a quick post with a bit of news and one crass plug.

The crass plug first. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute some reviews to the book Endless Trip, an American/Canadian companion volume to Galactic Ramble. But even if that weren't the case I would still highly recommend it. A fantastic collection of reviews, both new and vintage, of 60s & 70s era pop, psych, folk, prog, rock, r&b, & even some jazz. It's bigger than your phonebook, even if you live in a major metro area, containing over 3000 reviews, both well-known and obscure. Click the book title to order your copy.

Also, I'm making a major effort to update my links. Getting rid of dead blogs and adding cool new ones. If anyone wants to help by reporting dead links, new links for old blog, or just new good blogs to add, please do. Since every time I check I link I have to go back over the past year's posts (it's been that long since I checked most of them), it takes a while.

Even better, I expect to have a new post up within a week, Randy Holland's Cat Mind album--some very tasty private press, loner rock.