THE KITCHEN CINQ "EVERYTHING BUT... " U.S. 1967 LHI mono LP M-/M- Lee Hazlewood

$

41

THE KITCHEN CINQ "EVERYTHING BUT..." Original U.S mono LP from 1967 featuring the Texas Garage Rock band with 11 tracks of singles sides, covers of 1960s hits & original tracks. As The Illusions, they were the top band in Amarillo, but were lured to the bright lights of Hollywood to seek national stardom. Through some Texas connections, the group got an audition w/Lee Hazlewood, the producer, writer & Svengali for Nancy Sinatra, Dino, Desi & Billy & many others. Lee was particularly hot  at the time. In addition to his production duties, he signed a solo deal with MGM & was in the process of setting up his own label- LHI (Lee Hazlwood Industries) w/Decca. The Illusions passed the audition & were to become the first act on the new label but first a name change was in order & The Kitchen Cinq was born. Lee's girlfriend Suzy Jane Hokom was chosen as producer becoming one of the first females to be given that responsibility. Recording went smoothly & the resulting album was a mix of original material written by the group, covers of recent hits such as Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man", the Hollies' "I Can't Let Go" & the unusual choice of Buffy Ste. Marie's "Codine" delivered here in an uptempo rendition. The best cover song is "Still In Love With You Baby". It got some airplay when released as a single but like the Beau Brummels original version, did not chart. The first single pulled from the album was "Determination" which featured some good fuzz guitar work & "You'll Be Sorry Some Day" which sounds like a hit but the 3 second silent gap after the chorus torpedoed the record w/the Top 40 Dee-Jays crying that it was  dreaded "Dead Air"! The album closes with perhaps the best track- "Need All The Help I Can Get"- a Lee Hazlewood original that could have been a hit for Dino, Desi & Billy. Unlike their fellow hard rockin' Texas bands such as the 13th Floor Elevators or the Moving Sidewalks, the Illusion/Kitchen Cinq tempered their fuzz guitar with pleasant harmonies reminiscent of the early Association or the Turtles. Decca was never good at breaking new bands & this album by the Kitchen Cinq sold in very small quantities at the time but that doesn't take away from the musical quality of this hard to find album (LHI) E 12000 mono M-/M-. A beautiful copy!