• 2 years ago
Patto - Monkey's Bum (1973),Italy,
Jazz, Rock, Blues



Like Jack Bruce's Jet Set Jewel (here), this album is one of these great LP refused by their label, here not by RSO but by Island, a label that benefits from a good reputation but which was able to reject such a great record on the simple basis that progressive was out (but the music here is certainly not progressive, they must have glue in their ears) and because Ollie Halsall quitted the band during the sessions (it's true the guitarist was an important piece of the whole but Mike Patto shows here that he was competent enough to take the band in charge, here he composes alone 4 songs) and they did not want to release an album without a tour featuring the guitarist that played on it. Many say that this album was rather good with some excellent songs on it. I consider it is great and as a whole, would have been the best thing Patto would have released. On the songs recorded after Ollie Halsall left, Mel Collins played sax and it's a perfect alchemy with Mike Patto voice. Unfortunately, contrary to Jet Set Jewel, no official release with the original studio sound has been done (shame on Island) and all we got is this rather crappy sound but songs are so good I listen to it quite often actually, one of the rare albums I accept to hear in these conditions. There were 2 unofficial versions, one on Audio Archives and one on Akarma (I included the back cover in the rar file so you can have the song titles) but both are bad either. I decided to do another sleeve since the 2 of these releases are rather arbitrary. I illustrated the title, which is not really about the butt of monkeys but about a chess strategy, the reason why I took this chess game showing I hope, the famous Monkey's Bum disposition (although it's a strategy, so no fixed image can illustrate it).

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. My Days Are Numbered (0:00)
2. The Dream I Had Last Night (5:14)
3. Sugar Cube 1967 (7:04)
4. I Need You (11:10)
5. Good Friend (14:39)
6. Get Up And Do It (18:22)
7. Sausages (21:30)
8. Hedyob (25:42)
9. Pick Up The Phone (30:50)
10. General Custer (34:02)


Line-up / Musicians

- Mike Patto / lead vocals, electric piano
- Peter "Ollie" Halsall / guitar, keyboards
- Clive Griffiths / bass
- John Halsey / drums, percussion

With:
- Mel Collins / saxophone (6)
- Dave Brooks / saxophone (11-13)

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