''Cactus'' is the debut studio album by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

, released on July 1, 1970, by Atco Records. The eight tracks consist of six original songs by the band, plus covers of

Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

's version of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

standard "

Parchman Farm Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

's " You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover". The track "Let Me Swim" loosely inspired the 1978 guitar solo " Eruption" composed by

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

Track listing

All titles written and arranged by Appice, Bogert, Day and McCarty, except where noted. # "

Parchman Farm Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

) – 3:06 # "My Lady from South of Detroit" – 4:26 # "Bro. Bill" – 5:10 # " You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

) – 6:30 # "Let Me Swim" – 3:50 # "No Need to Worry" – 6:14 # "Oleo" – 4:51 # "Feel So Good" – 6:03

Personnel

Cactus *

Rusty Day Russell Edward "Rusty Day" Davidson (December 29, 1945 – June 3, 1982) was a lead vocalist, best known for his work with Cactus (American band), Cactus, the Amboy Dukes, and Steve Gaines. Career with the Amboy Dukes Day joined the Amboy Dukes ...

– lead vocals, harmonica * Jim McCarty – guitar * Carmine Appice – drums * Tim Bogert – bass Production * Bill Stahl – recording engineer *

Gene Paul Gene William Paul (born August 20, 1944) is an American audio recording / mixing / mastering engineer, producer and musician. He was an engineer at Atlantic Recording Studios during their famed 1960s–80s period and is currently the chief mas ...

– remix engineer * Mark L. Rollins, Jr. – art direction, photography

Charts

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cactus (Cactus Album) 1970 debut albums Cactus (American band) albums Atco Records albums Albums produced by Tim Bogert Albums produced by Carmine Appice Albums produced by Jim McCarty Albums produced by Rusty Day