One of the best boogie blues bands of the early 70’s. Too bad they broke up. Rusty Day, their lead singer and harmonica player, died in a drug deal gone bad. They had two members of the Vanilla Fudge, Tim Bogert on bass (First time I saw a bass solo at a rock concert) and Carmine Appice on drums. They were originally gonna have Jeff Beck as their lead guitarist and Rod Stewart as their lead singer but Beck broke his leg so Rod Stewart toured with the Faces and they got Rusty Day on vocals and Jim McCarty on guitar instead. I saw them live once when they opened for Rod Stewart. My girlfriend at the time wanted to see him and she paid for the tickets. I had some friends who had seen them live and they told me I would really enjoy them. When they came on stage Rusty said, “We’re gonna kick your asses!” And he was right. They kicked ass! I’ve liked them ever since. They reunited a few years back, but without Rusty they’re not the same. Rusty had this big time swagger onstage. Here they are doing a blues song and then a boogie song.
And their namw is………….?
CACTUS… The American Led Zeppelin! Thanks, Denny, they’re in my 70’s favorites on my I-pod, inspired me to purchase a lot of “Toad” on I-tunes as well.
Great music, and thanks so much for this one.
Their second album, One Way or Another, was my favorite. That’s the one that had Long Tall Sally on it. I had it on an 8 track and played the heck out of it. I now have it on CD. There is a CD with all of their studio sessions which I have and one with a lot of live stuff, most of it recorded at the last live date the original lineup played which was in Memphis. They split up right after that gig. I read somewhere that they were always fighting. Bogert wanted a bigger part for his bass, using it as a lead instrument. I see that there is now a second compilation of their live stuff that I’ll have to order. Their 4th album is with a different singer, guitar player, and a keyboard player and there are some live tracks recorded in Puerto Rico. That guitar player was pretty good as well. There are some live tracks where they have a rhythm guitar player backing up McCarty. I don’t know why. They never lived up to the American Led Zeppelin tag, that’s what they were supposed to be with Beck and Stewart, but they were still a great band and were awesome live. The night I saw them, I liked them better than Rod Stewart, but then, I never really liked Rod Stewart all that much anyway.
Awesome tunes from my late teens early 20’s years. Thanks.
Where have the years gone? I now have gray hair old enough to buy liquor!