(Family Productions, 1972) This album is infamous for one reason. The cover shows the Mama Lion, herself, Lynn Carey, a paragon of Farrah-era 70s sexiness, behind a gilded cage. Open the gatefold and you see that behind the bars SHE IS ACTUALLY NURSING A BABY LION! So my recent acquisition of this was worth it for that. Unfortunately, only for that. The growl of this lioness, trying to make Janis proud, is successfully loud, but fails to sound good in any way. Terrible tone, a few grating squeaks and cracks, and general vocal awfulness make this a tough listen. It is interesting to consider how influential Whitney and Mariah were on future terrible singers, as there is no melisma or scary scales thrown into any notes here, she is just singing straightforward ugly. If it took taking a wild animal to teat to get this record out, god bless her, she earned it. Also interesting: the record label logo is Romulus and Remus going at the wolf, so give it to this band: when they went in on interspecies suckling, they went all in!
It's been a while since I've listened to this. I CHECKED IT OUT A FEW YEARS BACK BECAUSE CAREY WAS THE ACTUAL VOICE OF THE CARRIE NATIONS IN "BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS"( IN THE MOVIE ITSELF , NOT ON THE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM .) AND I LOVE HER SINGING , THERE....But , if you like stuff like this , just not this , check out Lydia Pense and Cold Blood (Tho , I imagine you have.) or a band with the unfortunate name of Fantasy. Gutsy , wailing , Janis - inflected 16 year old girl singer. Their album may prove hard to find , but , they also appeared in the Teen Schlock Psychsploitation movie , "Musical Mutiny" with Iron Butterfly.
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