BLONDE, BRAINY & BEAUTIFUL

Original Released on LP Philips 6369 153
 (1972)

Now here is something quite original from the good old days in the 70's, before MTV and rock videos became the order of the day. If your recollection goes that far back, you might remember seeing a flamboyant and statuesque blonde on television in an early "rock video," wearing a black tuxedo, prancing around and belting out a song with suggestive lyrics, to put it mildly! That voice was quite a surprise and belonged to one Lynn Carey who fronted a five-piece band called Mama Lion. As I remember it, a lot of guys got hooked immediately and a lot of women probably hated her on sight! But you shouldn't judge a book by its cover alone, as the old saying goes, even though Carey worked as an actress and was featured as a Penthouse Pet of the Month in December 1972.

Mama Lion was a blues/rock quintet formed in the early seventies by Canadian bass player, singer/songwriter & producer Neil Merryweather (born Robert Neilson Lillie, 1945 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Lynn (Catherine) Carey (born 1946 in Los Angeles) after the two had released one album "Vacuum Cleaner" as a duo. Other band members included Coffi Hall (drums), Rick Gaxiola (guitar) and Jim Howard (soundtrack composer James Newton Howard). This line-up recorded this debut album "Preserve Wildlife" (1972) with the now famous gatefold with Lynn Carey nursing a lion cub!

Most of the songs were written as a collaboration between Merryweather and Carey, with a few covers thrown in for good. Not all the songs are "radio friendly" if you know what I mean. But sexual inuendo apart, there's still something in the music and singing. Gaxiola is a great guitar player and you can tell that Jim Howard was classically trained by listening to the piano-intro on "Mr. Invitation”. Top notch songs are "Be Bad With Me", "Ain't To Proud To Beg", "Candy Man", "Mr. Invitation", "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Cry". I imagine that at least nine out of ten guys that got interested in this album were attracted by the artwork. Surprisingly, the band plays honest hard rock'n'roll and Lynn Carey's vocals are far from being sweet, as one would expect from her picture. She sings (I think "yells" describes it better) in Janis Joplin's way, but with a lower pitch and a voice that sometimes resembles those of old-time blues singers. Lynn has an IQ of over 160, so it is possible to be blonde, brainy & beautiful - and sing the blues!

(SM Andersen in Amazon)