Customer Reviews

Barely Contained: Studio Sessions

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a fan of Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert since their days with The Fudge...so when they hooked up with Jimmy McCarty from The Detroit Wheels and Rusty Day the Ex Amboy Duke to form Cactus...I just knew we were all in for some serious Rockin' !!! This 2 CD Set contains the first three albums and the studio tracks from the fourth album plus 3 Bonus songs !!! Crank up tunes like Parchman Farm, Evil, Sweet Sixteen, Bedroom Mazurka and Big Mama Boogie - Parts 1 & 2 and you will not be disappointed. These guys can really cook !!! Rhino deserves a big thank you for another great project....the packaging, informative booklet and remastering are superb !!! Also check out Cactus on Rhino Handmades " Fully Unleashed " the Live gigs 2 CD Set and hear some terrific drumming and guitar solos as the boys grind out lengthy jams of their rock anthems !!!

The 2 cd set of Cactus is a welcome addition to Rhino Handmade..Cactus for those of you who may be unfamilar formed in 1970 and released 3 albums of pure rock n roll.The first album was simply named Cactus and contained some amazing hard rock,the songs of note being Oleo and Parchment Farm. In 1971 One Way Or Another was released and I remember wearing out the groves listening to Long Tall Sally and Rock Out What Ever You Feel Like ....both amazing and still hold up well in 2005.I will tell you that the guitar skills of Jim McCarty are to be listened to and enjoyed as they are screaming hard rock tones thru a Les Paul and a Marshall that will amaze and inspire!Rusty Day a great out front guy singing and playing his harp along with the thundering bass of Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice's double bass druming supreme. The last album's songs which are included here are represented by Restrictions which featured the title song which is fantastic as well as Guiltless Glider another great rocker. When McCarty left so did I so I wont comment on the last few songs that are from the final lp Ot 'N' Sweaty....but if you like intense hard rock done like nobody else...get this 2 cd set and the live set as well. I must listen to Cactus at least once a week or I feel deprived ! Get this set and know what rock really is !!!!!

Where do I start? Well, let me start by saying you need to listen over and over to catch all the talent on display in this band! I first heard Cactus when I was 16 in 1971. Now at the age of 50 I can appreciate the enormous talent of all four of these guys. Carmine and Tim the great rhythm section each on their own have talent unequalled, but together you guys blow all other combos away! Jim McCarty your riveting style and creative leads played into Tim and Carmines' rhythm changes perfectly. Jim on this collection was the best Rock lead, and rhythm guitarist around not only were his lead solos incredible but his hard driving style complimented every aspect of this bands in your face style. I hope your still playing this style Jim, I would love to hear Live! Rusty Day no one, no not even Plant let out the soul the way he did. Rusty's harp playing was blues yet he had a hard rock edge unlike anything I have ever heard.I now can not get enough of this band, I hope there is more studio tapes being released. If you like Blues based, Boogie based Rock n Roll you will not be sorry!This band was the real deal for sure. All those Bands that heard Cactus and took pieces from them should thank this band for showing how to expose their soul in Rock n Roll!!!

Well that's what they said numerous times when Stevie Ray Vaughn post mordems came out. Maybe there is more but here are all the studio cuts from the 3 studio albums plus a few other tracks that really aren't Cactus version 1.0. These guys were a smokin' hot blues rock band. They wanted to date your sister and steal your car. They were kinda what the MC5 was for one album, criminals with guitars but these dudes pulled it off for 3 records. These are good drinkin' and smokin' songs, just flat out, hard rock, blues and boogie. This package is OOP now but all 3 albums are available again separately from Wounded Bird on Amazon. Say Halleluiah and Amen brothers and sisters.

ill agree with the other reviewers on here ,but to mention,,,,after cactus, there is an interesting album son of cactus with mike pinera, and a group called free beer with remnants of cactus 2 on it, hot and sweaty was filler and live at the isle of wight has a good cut of parchman farm on it by cactus,,,,
i heard rusty day was blown away gangland style in miami, is this why the band broke up? in short restrictions, one way or another , and cactus are all good rock and roll sounds ,,,, jim mccarty also played with buddy miles expressway lp prior to cactus

After churning out psychedelic sludge with Vanilla Fudge, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice joined the blues-rock gold rush of the early '70s. Entertaining in a Spinal Tap way, Cactus spew fantastic riffs as strutting metalhead Rusty Day plays badass frontman. "Rockout, Whatever You Feel Like" is a best song of the ages.best album in years fantastic best as it gets.

Cactus, when noticed that is, is often compared to other great seventies bands, especially Led Zeppelin, but in their prime time they were a band on their own, second to none. Having released 3 outstanding blues/rockalbums "Cactus", "One Way ... Or Another" (both here with some outtakes, not the least songmaterial the band recorded) and "Restrictions" they disbanded to regroup shortly after with new musicians. They had a classic line up: vocals/harmonica, leadguitar, bass and drums (Carmine Appice had one of the biggest drumsets for the time, regarding the much smaller sets other drummers used), which is similair to - among many others - Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Who, Free, Bad Company. Musically and technically they outshone those other bands, the first 3 mentioned albums don't have weak songs or fillers, but are strong and complete. Jim McCarthy is an underrated guitarplayer, he used a Les Paul Standard with an Ampeg Screamer fuzzbox and a little amp with which he created a huge sound and his playing is fast and flawless, even his playing on an acoustic guitar is really outstanding. The rythmsection is formed by former Vanilla Fudge and post-Cactus Beck, Bogert, Appice bassist Tim Bogert, who's playing often is more towards a "normal" guitar than juist a simple bottom (at times it reminds me of John Paul Jones) and Carmine Appice was a "beast" ["Animal" (of the Muppets fame) anyone?) whose playing was much more varied than lets say a John Bonham. Comes along strong voice extraordinaire/harpplayer Rusty Day and the picture is complete. Together they wrote and played some everlasting tunes and also covered a few songs composed by the usual suspects like, of course, Willy Dixons "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover", which is nothing like the original (remember Led Zeppelins "Whole Lotta Love" with its own treatment), Mo Allisons "Parchman Farm" which opens the first album and was a live staple, Howlin Wolfs "Evil" (very loud!) and Willis' "Feel so Bad". But like I said besides those few songs written by others they created their own strong songs and they were good! Incredible. They could handle slow blues, hard rock, acoustic songs, for instance "Song for Aries" and "Mean Night in Cleveland" {no ballads, though], and give it their own signature mark. The guitarparts are remarkable, here plays an overlooked guitarplayer who belongs to the truely greats. After leaving Cactus he has vanished from sight and played only lowprofile, is what I have read about him, which is a loss for the admirers of his talent. Upon releasing the final "Restrictions" the bandmembers went their own way. Appice and Bogert teamed up with French (voc.), Hitchings (keyb.) and Fritzings (git.) for a new album under the Cactus banner [half studio, presented here, sans extras, half live (on the 2 CD "Fully Unleashed / The Live Gigs" with one extra track)] but it would not be the same as in days of old. All the studiomaterial is released on this 2 CD set, with a nice booklet which comments on every single song. It gives you an excellent picture of one of the best bands around. Rusty Day has since long gone, the three others from the first hour resurrected Cactus in 2006 and released "V" with a new singer but the former glory is missing. Therefore I would recommend this album.