Cactus-Cactus (1970)

 

Artist:  Cactus

Title: Cactus

Label: Atlantic

Format: CD

Cat #: 7562-80290-2

Year of Release: 1970

Country and Year of Edition Issue: Germany 90's reissue

Listed Condition: VG+/No Cover

Sell Date: 2/24/21

Sell Price: $4.99

Discogs Last Sold: 

Low: $6.02

Median: $8.19

High:  $15.38

Current low price: $7.95

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 9

Have/Want: 175/49

Where Sold:  Annapolis, MD

Time it took to sell: 10 years

Where and When Bought: internet 90's for like $20 something dollars

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B

Sad To See It Go: No

Long Island's Cactus were borne out of Jeff Beck being waylaid 18 months in a motorcycle crash. Instead they got Jim McCarty from Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels and Buddy Miles Express to round out Cactus.   Although Beck, Bogert & Appice finally happened in 1973, Cactus were able to crank out 4 albums, from 1970-1972 each slightly less popular than the last.  This eponymous debut peaked at #54 on the Billboard album chart.

I got Cactus after a late night Marz Bar discussion with my friend Kenny in the late 90's in the heady days of coming home drunk to the Navy Yard Brooklyn at 5am, going through my days emails and making some online cd purchases before passing out.  They would arrive by the pile on a daily basis.  This one was played once and probably a few more times in the background in the Rubric office.  I don't know how I didn't manage to see the 2006 reformation with Kenny, but I think he went.

As for me, upon listening in headphones, I was a little bored with half this album.  The album starts strong,  revving up the stalwart "Parchman Farm" by Mose Allison by way of Bukka White and through the Bluesbreakers and Blue Cheer.  But track two is where I start to zone out, and by the time of the Willie Dixon cover my brain is elsewhere.  There are some cool soloing aspects toward the end of the record that set this apart.  Bogert takes "Oleo" into another place.  Then, Appice puts on a clinic to close out "Feels So Good," long before he put on drum clinics. 

Tim Bogert passed away last month, which sparked someone's interest to buy this title cheaply and not care that I somehow misplaced the case and cover and listed it that way at half the lowest price (at least when I listed it).  I don't know how the hell I lost it.  It's one of the great questions in my meticulously alphabetized CD collection. Going through my digipak pile in storage it would peak out at me, waiting for this fine day of sale I thought would never come.    Maybe it's in a box somewhere, got mixed up, damaged or accidentally tossed.  I have no idea.

It's one of the great mysteries of my life.