Cactus
Black Dawn
Sunset Blvd Records
2016
Back in the 70s Cactus were called America’s answer to Led Zeppelin and with good reason. An honest to good, hard rocking band, with good songs which did get around to gaining some fame back in the early 70s with the four albums they released and the touring they did, before disbanding and sort of having different versions of the band tour for the most of the 70s. The late Rusty Day was gunned down in 1982.
A much different Cactus came back in the mid-00s and even a new album “V” resulted some 10 year ago. This time around Cactus consists of oldtimers Carmine Appice and Jim McCarty, along with ex-Savoy Brown lead singer Jimmy Kunes, harmonica player Randy Pratt and bassist Pete Bremy. “Black Dawn” their “newest” effort comes across as the spiritual successor of what the band began some 4 decades ago.
Really since most of the guys involved in this new iteration of the band have kept busy through the years, the whole thing sounds vital enough and original and not like a “forced” reunion, to grab some cash, but as a loving revisit to their old stomping ground. If you enjoyed the bands 70s output there’s a very good chance that “Black Dawn” will really have you smiling uncontrollably.
A much different Cactus came back in the mid-00s and even a new album “V” resulted some 10 year ago. This time around Cactus consists of oldtimers Carmine Appice and Jim McCarty, along with ex-Savoy Brown lead singer Jimmy Kunes, harmonica player Randy Pratt and bassist Pete Bremy. “Black Dawn” their “newest” effort comes across as the spiritual successor of what the band began some 4 decades ago.
Really since most of the guys involved in this new iteration of the band have kept busy through the years, the whole thing sounds vital enough and original and not like a “forced” reunion, to grab some cash, but as a loving revisit to their old stomping ground. If you enjoyed the bands 70s output there’s a very good chance that “Black Dawn” will really have you smiling uncontrollably.