Returning with a heavy-hitting album for 2021, Cactus presents Tightrope, featuring new members, longtime members, and one original member — iconic drummer Carmine Appice. This seminal rock band (dubbed the “American Led Zeppelin) has seen lots of changes. The current five-piece was pretty much born out of the band’s reunion, begun in mainstream grand style when they appeared at the Sweden Rock Festival on June 9, 2006 (they played a warm-up gig at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City six days prior). The reunion saw original members Appice, bassist Tim Bogert, and guitarist Jim McCarty joined by former Savoy Brown vocalist Jimmy Kunes and Randy Pratt on harmonica.
On Tightrope, Appice, Kunes, and Pratt are joined by guitarist Paul Warren and bassist James Caputo (Bogert, who also played with Appice in Vanilla Fudge, retired in 2008 and died in early 2021). McCarty and singer Phil Naro also appear on the record. A heavy snare, wild riffing, and Caputo’s low-end flumping tear through the title track. The interplay continues with Pratt’s wild harmonica, solid harmonies, and Appice’s maracas on a sly cover of “Papa Was A Rolling Stone.” Slicing electric lead blues strikes from Warren drive “Poison In Paradise” home. The deep rock grooving Cactus has always been so well known for is apparent throughout.
On the epic slow bluesy “Suite 1 & 2: Everlong, All The Madmen,” Kunes rips through with his well-worn screaming about long-lost pasts only musicians of a certain age can attest to. At about the four-minute mark, things slow down to an almost Beatlesque middle, with string synths sliding in, descending “aahs,” and bending notes across a trippy soundscape. A country-blues stomp with Pratt’s harmonica out front pushes “Headed For A Fall” forward, while the album closes with “Wear It Out,” one of the heaviest tunes here. Simply put, Cactus are as prickly, loud, and full of rock and roll juice as they have always have been on Tightrope.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
