Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys quickly garnered a fan following through regular appearances at Café Wha? which, in turn, led to them becoming the house band at the infamous Electric Circus club in the East Village. A series of free concerts at Tompkins Square Park established Cat Mother as part of a thriving Greenwich Village music scene that included bands like the Lovin’ Spoonful, Blues Project, and the Youngbloods. They came to the attention of manager Michael Jeffrey, who was Jimi Hendrix’s mercurial overseer, and he got them a deal with the newly-formed Polydor Records label, opening slots for Hendrix, and a high-profile gig at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, playing alongside folks like Chuck Berry and the Doors.
Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys’ The Street Giveth...
The association with Jeffrey and Hendrix led to the guitarist co-producing Cat
Mother’s debut album, The Street Giveth…and the Street Taketh Away. How
much of the album’s impact is due to Jimi and how much to the band is lost to
time but, considering the loose-knit, ramshackle countryish rock sound that
Cat Mother achieved, I’d have to say that the production leans in their
direction. The Street Giveth… opens with the too-clever-by-half “Good
Old Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a medley of sorts that included heaps of honky-tonk piano,
spirited vocals, and stinging guitar. A tribute to the music of the band’s
youth, it incorporates scraps of “Sweet Little Sixteen” (Chuck Berry), “Long
Tall Sally” (Little Richard), “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” (Jerry Lee
Lewis), “Blue Suede Shoes” (Carl Perkins), and “Party Doll” (Buddy Knox), all
strung together with original lyrics and musical passages.
“Good
Old Rock ‘n’ Roll” was a surprise hit, rising to #21 on the pop chart and
dragging the album along for the ride to #55 on the charts. It didn’t hurt
that much of the rest of The Street Giveth…, while not in a similar
vein, was nevertheless a strong collection of songs, musically and lyrically.
“Favors” is built on a bluesy underlying riff straight out of the Doors’
playbook, but incorporates hard-rocking instrumentation, scorching fretwork,
and gorgeous harmony vocals amidst the din. The folkish “Charlie’s Waltz” is a
delightful story-song with sonorous vocals and a lush soundtrack that offers
swirling crescendos of instrumentation while “How I Spent My Summer” is more
in the style of Country Joe & the Fish, a country-tinted rocker with
complex instrumentation, mesmerizing keyboards, and strong harmony vocals.
With
a band as eclectic as Cat Mother, no single song can be considered a
“departure” from their sound, but “Probably Won’t” comes close to qualifying,
the song’s strident lyrics and piano-drums-bass rhythmic track setting it
apart from much of the album’s good-time sounds. The following “Can You Dance
To It?” evinces a funky, strutting rhythm with Southern-fried git-pickin’ that
could pass for Steve Cropper or Elvin Bishop. By contrast, “Bad News” captures
a big-band sound not unlike Blood, Sweat & Tear’s first album, a bluesy
undercurrent and jazzy flourished balanced by rustic rock ‘n’ roll similar to
the Band. The album-closing, nine-minute instrumental jam “Track In A” would
become a longtime fan favorite, the song a jazzy romp with plenty of cowbell,
multi-layered keyboards, exotic rhythms, and elegant fretwork that rolls along
to a satisfying finish.
Vital, Energetic, Creative & Entertaining
In a year that boasted of debut albums from heavyweight talents like Led
Zeppelin, Neil Young, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the MC5, Free, the James
Gang, Joe Cocker, Poco, Alice Cooper, Blind Faith, Yes, Humble Pie, the
Stooges, Santana, and King Crimson (among others…yeah, 1969 was a GREAT year
for rock music!), Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys still had a lot to
brag about. The Street Giveth…and the Street Taketh Away delivered on
the band’s promise, masterfully combining disparate music styles into a
cohesive sound that was as complex as any albums by their contemporaries.
Fifty-plus years on from its release, The Street Giveth… still sounds
vital, energetic, creative, and entertaining, a relic from an earlier era
where musicians could (sometimes) get their groove on without market
interference.
To get out from under Jeffrey’s management and
away from an increasingly stressful life in NYC, Cat Mother moved out to the
west coast – first to San Francisco and later to a communal household in
Mendocino – and dropped the “All Night Newsboys” from the band’s name. They
would record three more albums for Polydor – 1970’s Albion Doo-Wah,
1972’s Cat Mother, and 1973’s Last Chance Dance – pursuing a
more country-rock sound. Most of the band members continued to play music
after Cat Mother’s mid-‘70s break-up, with Michaels landing in Austin, Texas
by way of Thailand; Smith remaining in Mendocino and playing with various
local outfits; and Packer joining Sha Na Na and playing with folks like Lou
Reed and Hall and Oates. For a few years in the early ‘70s, however, Cat
Mother was one of the most innovative and entertaining bands to cram country
and rock music into a single loose-fitting straitjacket. (Polydor Records,
1969)
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