Search - Feline Groovy-24 Purrfect Tracks for Kool Kats :: Feline Groovy: 24 Purrfect Tracks for Kool Kats

Purrrrfect!

John B Goode | Nova Scotia, Canada | 07/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can echo the previous poster's enthusiasm. I really like the variety - folk, jazz, R&B, pop - on this disk, and the sequencing is, as typical of Ace, very clever. I'm not even a cat person, but I love this program



I doubt if there will be a Volume 2, but if there was, I wouldn't mind a stretch that included Louis Armstrong's This Black Cat among the tracks.



Mostly likely, there will be a Dog Lover's disk?"

One Of Ace's Theme Compilations

John B Goode | 05/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ace Records of the U.K. are renowned for their excellent multi-volume series such as The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll, Teen Beat (instrumentals), and Early Girls (devoted to the Girl Group Sound), both from a musical content aspect (always with the best sound reproduction possible) and the massive liner notes and accompanying discographies that are just as much a hallmark of their products.



Here is one of several they have which are based upon themes, in this case the cat. Over the years there have been quite a few songs about the domesticated feline and here Ace comes up with 24, some of which will be immediately recognizable as they were chart makers, while a few will have most scratching their heads.



The best here, in terms of hit status, is Tom Jones' What's New Pussycat, from the film of the same name, which hit # 3 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in July 1965. But it really has nothing to do with a cat. Tom Cat, on the other hand (# 20 Hot 100 in April/May 1963 for The Rooftop Singers) is very much about one of our feline friends as indicated in the lines "I've got an old Tom Cat, And when he steps out, All the other cats in the neighborhood, They begin to shout - There goes a ring tail Tom, Struttin' round the town, And if you got your heat turned up, You better turn your damper down."



Three more decent hits were Walking My Cat Named Dog, the only one for folk singer Norma Tanega which reached # 22 Hot 100 in March 1966, The Cat Came Back (penned by Harry S. Miller way back in 1893 and telling the comical story about an unwanted cat who, each time the owner found a way to get rid of him, kept coming back) is done here by Sonny James (# 12 Country in late 1956). Leave My Kitten Alone by Little Willie John (# 13 R&B/# 60 Hot 100 in August 1959), is again not really about a cat.



Lesser hits were Mongo Santamaria's El Pussy Cat (# 97 Hot 100 in 1965), a vocal version of Bent Fabric's whimsical instrumental Alley Cat, done here by David Thorne whose version went to # 76 Hot 100 late in 1962, and The Cat by Jimmy Smith (# 67 Hot 100 from the 1964 film Joy House). A couple were B-sides to big hits - Three Cool Cats which backed Charlie Brown by The Coasters in 1959 (and again had nothing to do with cats), and Lee Dorsey's The Kitty Cat Song, which was on the other side of his 1965 hit Ride Your Pony.



The rest were either failed singles or album cuts, with full details contained in the liner notes. As for what's not here, and considering that several may have a variation of "cat" in the title but are not really about cats, these would seem to have been logical inclusions in, say, a 30-track release: Kitty In The Basket, a duet by Jimmy Boyd and Gayla Peevey, the latter being the girl who brought you 1953's I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, recently made popular again; I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat by Mel Blanc as Tweety Bird, The Cat In The Window (The Bird In The Sky) by Petula Clark; Stray Cat Strut by The Stray Cats; The Cat's In The Cradle by Harry Chapin; Cat's Eye In The Window by Tommy James; Cat Walk by The Village Soul Choir; Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent; Cat People (Putting Out The Fire) by David Bowie; and Everybody Wants To Be A Cat by Scatman Crothers (from the animated film The Aristocats).



Seems like the makings of a volume 2. In the meantime, this would make a great gift for that cat-loving relative or friend."