(1968 us, a significant amalgam of garage psych and folk rock, 2011 Kismet release)
LANA MINUS LIFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn6Uczj4DDg
A first time listener thought this album was a one band sampler. It is an apt description of the album, since it defies labels.
This is strong, self-assured music, not just songwriting but song craft. The Somis Rhythm Band is defined by its vocals too. They're perfect for these songs. There's some really nice keyboard work, and at times the record has a rustic feel.
Rabbit Mackay says "find a record player and a quiet place." It's excellent advice - Nancy Carson - Allan J Moore
'Perhaps he is a bit headstrong. I think most of it is by design. He is struggling to find an identity. He has in fact told me that he wants to be controversial, inventive, temperamental. Actually, he belongs to a group of young poet-performers which might include John Phillips, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Bob Lind... you know the type. But make no mistake by thinking this information gives you a mental file on Rabbit Mackay.
That he is far beyond categoric placement is evident when you hear the first few bars of any of his song-poems. And I call them song-poems because they are far more involved in lyric content than in harmonic and melodic structure. You might see him and call him a 'hippie', but I'm sure that bag would offend him. He lives with several friends, Ellen and her baby in a small wood-frame house and adjoining shed in the middle of a sugar beet farm near Somis, California. It's complete with rusty farm machinery, old rabbit hutches, a goat and sugar beets. It's also quite obvious that he has rejected the materialistic life.
What furnishings you see are all spit and polish, which is probably a credit to Ellen. You'll see paraphernalia as you look around, and you might catch a whiff of incense which was burned a bit earlier. It's a groovy place where you can reach out. Rabbit's mind works a hundred miles an hour. His record producers tell me that it is impossible to keep him happy recording. By the time the technical hang-ups of the recording business have been overcome and a finished product has been derived, he has moved on to something more involved.
And though his instructors at Moorpark College reserve calling him genius at this time, all agree that there is something special about this young man. He seems to have surrounded himself with unique musicians - not that they have chosen obscure instruments as an outlet. They haven't. The rest of the group is electric piano, guitar and drums. Nothing strange there. But when Tree plays his piano, it sounds different somehow.
The same goes for Bob's drumming. Something he does fits Rabbit Mackay. That is the name of the entire group, you know. They went through the bit about 'The Rabbit Mackay Happening' or 'The Rabbit Mackay Movement' or 'The Rabbit Mackay Experience'. But the group decided not to tell their listeners they had just been part of an experience'
- original press release, December 1967
This unconventional singer-songwriter came from Somis, California. His first album takes in blues, garage-rock and gentle psychedelic folk, with backing from guitar, keyboards, flute, drums and more. A neglected gem originally released in June 1968.
Tracks
1. Big Sur - 4:36
2. Candy - 2:11
3. Lana Minus Life - 5:17
4. John's Lament - 3:20
5. Hard Time Woman - 2:52
6. Mexico Town - 2:21
7. Baby Jennifer - 2:47
8. When Angel Comes - 3:36
9. West Grogan Dormitory Blues - 4:08
10.You Can Always Come to Me - 2:50
Musicians
*Rabbit Mackay - Guitar, Harmonica, Kazoo, Vocals
*Mike Fleming - Guitar, Vocals
*Bob Thompson - Drums
*John Raines - Drums
*David Sueyeres - Harpsichord, Kazoo, Organ, Piano, Vocals
*Reji Pekar - Lead Guitar
*John Pilla - 2nd Guitar
*Bill St Pierre - Flute
*Walt Kunnecke - Alto Flute
*Harry Hellings - Trumpet
JOHN PEEL & Rabbit MacKay
Rabbit Mackay was a singer and musician from California who, with his Somis Rhythm Band, made an LP for MCA (Uni) Records, "Bug Cloth", in 1968 before returning to obscurity. Information on him is scarce, but he was said to be still performing into the 2000s, although the only other known recording by him is one track on a compilation album issued in 2006.
Rabbit Mackay (with his Somis Rhythm Band) was one of the more obscure of John Peel's 1968 enthusiasms. He wrote approvingly of the singer's album "Bug Cloth" in his column in International Times of 23 August 1968 ("In these days of very clinical recordings it is good to hear something that radiates happiness like this") and played tracks from it on Top Gear - especially "Hard Time Woman" which was issued in the UK as a single. It is possible that the words of the song had a special relevance for Peel at a time when his first marriage had ended unhappily, but the rough and ready feel of the track undoubtedly appealed to him.
Hard Time Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UayLryDc1Xs
West Grogan Dormitory Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dtV3Uuj6Os
14 minutes sampler...a little scratchy vinyl but beautiful sides
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc3ycHtjuPM
