Cat
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Album Summary
Cat burst onto the scene in 1970 under the storied banner of RCA Victor, bringing together a quintet of players — Gary O'Connor, Mike McQueen, Jim Campbell, Graham Fidler, and Phil Mulholland — who blended pop sensibility with the raw, electric energy that defined the turn of the decade. This self-titled debut carried that classic feel of a band finding its voice and putting it all on wax in one go, the kind of record that got pressed and shipped out into a world hungry for new sounds. RCA Victor, a label with deep roots and serious muscle behind it, gave Cat the platform to deliver eleven tracks ranging from originals to their own take on Chuck Berry's immortal 'Johnny B. Goode,' signaling a group unafraid to tip their hats to the rock and roll ancestors while carving out their own corner of the room.
Reception
- Detailed contemporary chart performance or critical review data for this specific release is not reliably documented in widely available sources, and no positions or publication reviews are cited here to avoid invention.
- The album's release on RCA Victor suggests the band had secured a major label home, indicating some level of industry confidence in their commercial potential at the time of release.
Significance
- As a self-titled debut on RCA Victor in 1970, Cat represents the kind of grassroots rock and roll spirit that was alive and kicking at the dawn of the decade, sitting right at the crossroads of pop rock accessibility and classic rock grit.
- The inclusion of Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' alongside original compositions like 'I'm Gonna Hijack A Plane To Cuba' and 'Looking Through A Glass Darkly' reveals a band with one foot in rock and roll tradition and another stepping boldly into more adventurous lyrical territory reflective of the era's restless cultural mood.
- With five distinct voices and personalities in the lineup — O'Connor, McQueen, Campbell, Fidler, and Mulholland — Cat embodied the communal, band-as-family ethos that made so many early 1970s rock records feel alive and breathing in a way that studio-polished product simply could not replicate.
Tracklist
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A1 Light Of Love 77
3:46
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A2 Burly Shirley —
3:05
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A3 The Pigeon Song —
2:46
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A4 The Whole World's Watching —
2:24
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A5 Looking Through A Glass Darkly —
2:35
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A6 Johnny B. Goode —
2:51
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B1 Blank Space —
2:47
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B2 I'm Gonna Hijack A Plane To Cuba —
3:15
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B3 Solo Flight —
3:33
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B4 We're All In This Together 92
4:50
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B5 Goodbye —
2:55
Artist Details
Hailing from the United States and signed to the legendary RCA Victor imprint, Cat was a rock outfit whose sound blended the polished sensibilities of pop rock with the harder-edged soul of classic rock. The band brought together the talents of Gary O'Connor, Mike McQueen, Jim Campbell, Graham Fidler, and Phil Mulholland, five musicians who collectively shaped the group's identity during that golden era of American rock. While they may not have dominated the airwaves the way some of their contemporaries did, Cat represented exactly the kind of hardworking, genre-blending outfit that gave the 1970s rock scene its rich and diverse texture.
