The Holy Mackerel - The Holy Mackerel (1968)

ONLY FOR NONCOMMERCIAL SHARING 01 The secret of pleasure 02 Scorpio red 03 The lady is waiting 04 Wildflowers 05 The somewhere in Arizona at restaurant song (And niow i am alone here) 06 Prinderella 07 Bitter honey 08 Nothin´ short of misery 09 The golden ghost of love 10 The wild side of life 11 Men 12 1984 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT: This video is not being used to make money in any way and is for entertainment and leisure purposes only. This is an act of fair usage as described by the Copyright Offices, therefore, a dispute should not occur over this video. No copyright intended. This is strictly for non-profit and educational purposes only. All rights belong to the original owners and content creators of this material. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use“ for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. It is not to be used for copying and selling. No copyright infringement intended. INFO: Paul Williams first pop group was the LA based Holy Mackerel. While he would go on to greater success writing classic pop hits for Three Dog Night and the Carpenters, the music he recorded with the Holy Mackerel is more adventurous and psychedelic. The group’s only album was released by Warner Brothers in 1968. While it wasn’t a commercial success, the LP features some great material. The best tunes on The Holy Mackerel are on par with great Millennium and Sagittarus tracks. Sure, there’s two or three weak tracks throughout the album but much of The Holy Mackerel is given over to quality stuff. “Scorpio Red”, “Wildflowers”, “The Secret of Pleasure”, “10,000 Men” and “1984” are excellent dreamy soft psych tracks. “1984” is probably the album’s magical highlight although “Wildflowers” features interesting distorted vocals and plenty of swirling sitar. Many of the songs on the LP are psychedelic folk-rock but there’s a few country-rockers (“Somewhere in Arizona” and “The Golden Ghost of Love”), pure folk (“The Lady is Waiting”), and bouncy Nilsson-like pop (“Bitter Honey”) dispersed throughout ; these cuts are vintage late 60s LA pop. There’s a lot of ideas at work here but the group manages to pull it off, making The Holy Mackerel an artistic success. Highly recommended to those who appreciate intelligent sunshine pop/soft psych sounds. Now Sounds reissued The Holy Mackerel in 2010 with plenty of extras. Also worth checking out is Paul Williams 1970 collaboration with Roger Nichols titled We’ve Only Just Begun. []