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PAT & LOLLY VEGAS - PAT & LOLLY VEGAS AT THE HAUNTED HOUSE - CD

• First time on CD
• From the brothers who formed Redbone
• Produced by Leon Russell (Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, etc)
• Complete with detailed liner notes

“Produced by Leon Russell, this album is a mix of garage and pop and contains renditions of Satisfaction, In The Midnight Hour and others, as well as six original songs” – Fuzz, Acid & Flowers

“Garage soul covers with lounge action” – Underground Sounds

This highly enjoyable 1966 set showcases the talents of the brothers who would go on to form million-selling Cajun-funk favourites Redbone. Produced by Leon Russell (who went on to work with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and countless others), it’s an engaging combination of snappy originals and uptempo cover versions that blends blue-eyed soul and garage rock to memorable effect, and makes its CD debut here.

1. In The Midnight Hour
2. Walk On (Right Out Of My Life)
3. Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag
4. Under You
5. Let’s Get It On
6. Baby, I Need Your Loving
7. Here I Go (Falling In Love Again)
8. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
9. Keep Me Up Tight
10. Good Lovin’
11. Any Old Time
12. High Blood Pressure

In the best traditions of showbiz, brothers Lolly (b. 1939) and Pat (b. 1941) Vegas had been slogging away for years before achieving million-selling success with Redbone in the early 1970s. Of mixed Yaqui / Shoshone and Mexican descent, they grew up in Fresno, California and allegedly began their professional musical careers aged only 13 and 14 respectively, backing 50s crooner Jimmy Clanton. When his work began to dry up at the start of the 60s, the brothers relocated to Los Angeles, where – in addition to 1961 solo 45s recorded for the tiny Audio International (Lolly) and Unity (Pat) label – they began a long apprenticeship in a dizzying number of peripheral musical jobs. A steady trickle of obscure 45s (by them but credited to the Individuals, the Sharks, the Avantis and the Routers) appeared on labels such as Astra, Spear, Chancellor, Regency, Apogee, Sapien and even Reprise, and they cut a 1963 LP as the Deuce Coupes entitled Horodders’ Choice for Del-Fi label.

In this period they toured as part of the Beach Boys band, and with the Marketts, and eventually attracted the attention of manager Bumps Blackwell, best known for his involvement with Little Richard and Sam Cooke. Under his supervision they amended their names from Vasquez to Vegas (allegedly to avoid racism stemming from their heritage) and by expanded their palette to include TV and film. By 1965 they were not only part of house band The Shindogs on the hit TV show Shindig (alongside Delaney Bramlett and Leon Russell), but also playing sessions for Glen Campbell, Johnny Rivers, Elvis Presley and Sonny and Cher, as well as appearing in timeless movie classics such as The Nasty Rabbit and It’s A Bikini World. In 1966 they had a regular gig at LA’s Haunted House club, a bizarre horror-themed establishment located at Hollywood and Vine, with a ‘chamber of horrors’ at its entrance and a stage resembling a monster’s head. According to this album’s absurd sleevenotes, its acoustics (supposedly amplified via the beast’s nostrils) even obviated the need for microphones.

With a deal with Mercury in place, Live At The Haunted House was allegedly ‘recorded live above the dance floor’. Not everyone is convinced that it is in fact live, but it certainly stands as an appealing blend of snappy originals and up-tempo soul and pop covers. Produced by their friend Leon Russell, it was barely promoted and didn’t sell well - but its release coincided with a general upturn in the brothers’ fortunes. Songs of theirs were being covered by Aretha Franklin, the Righteous Brothers, Bobbie Gentry, Dobie Gray and others, and in January 1967 PJ Proby peaked at number 23 on Billboard’s pop chart with their composition Niki Hoeky. The scene was fast-changing, and as 1967 progressed they increasingly began to share the Sunset Strip with bands like the Doors, Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds. As the counterculture edged ever closer to the mainstream, they decided on one last change of direction, adding Tony Bellamy on guitar and Pete de Poe on drums and renaming themselves Redbone. Their debut appeared in 1969, and by 1974 they were huge stars in Europe and had sold a million copies of Come And Get Your Love in the US. It was all a long way from this, their debut, which has languished in obscurity ever since, but deserves to be heard as a garage rock curio as well as a fascinating document of an important juncture in American popular music.

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