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Cactus - 'Ot 'n' Sweaty (1972)

Track listing:
  1. Swim 4:45
  2. Bad Mother Boogie 5:22
  3. Our Lil Rock-N-Roll Thing 7:06
  4. Bad Stuff 3:12
  5. Bringing Me Down 5:26
  6. Bedroom Mazurka 4:38
  7. Telling You 5:10
  8. Underneath The Arches 0:26

Notes

Japan 24-Bit Remaster

'Ot 'n' Sweaty is an album by the second lineup of American rock supergroup Cactus released in 1972. Original members Jim McCarty and Rusty Day already were absent, and former bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice joined by Werner Fritzschings on guitar, Duane Hitchings on keyboards and Peter French (ex-Leaf Hound and Atomic Rooster) on vocals. This was the band's final album before their long hiatus that lasted until 2006. The first three songs (filled up the first side of the original LP) were recorded live on April 3, 1972 in Puerto Rico at the Mar y Sol pop festival, and the rest (the second side of the LP) were recorded in studio (so on the album's front cover is pointed after the band's name: On Stage In Puerto Rico And In The Studio). The pinnacle tracks for this album are "Bad Mother Boogie", "Bedroom Mazurka", "Bad Stuff", and "Telling You".

The plan was for the Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice to join with guitar god Jeff Beck and his singer Rod Stewart in a supergroup of sorts. The plan was derailed when Beck had a motorcycle accident that incapacitated him for 18 months. Stewart then joined pal Ron Wood in the revamped Faces (and pursued a somewhat lucrative solo career), leaving Bogert and Appice to find alternates for their dream band. They recruited guitarist Jim McCarty from Mitch Ryder's disassembling Detroit Wheels, and singer Rusty Day from Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes. One can only wonder what might have been.

What was, was Cactus, a generic boogie band that never got beyond opening-act status and never sold many records. The band's first album, Cactus, was OK, with a speed-demon version of Mose Allison's "Parchman Farm," but their music never amounted to anything more than the formulaic on subsequent releases. The band had a short life.

After Cactus' dissolution in 1972, Bogert and Appice finally joined with Beck to form Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, that group's one release showed very little magic, and BB&A lasted little more than a year.