The Walkmen - Pussy Cats

Genre rock Publisher Record Collection External Links Official The Walkmen Website Official Record Collection Website

The story of the original recording of Pussy Cats is as bewildering as The Walkmen's reasons for re-recording it. Harry Nilsson and John Lennon formed a mutual admiration society and want to document same - fair enough. Nilsson forgets to put lime in coconut, suffers sore throat during recording sessions - well, okay. Nilsson refuses to tell Lennon about searing vocal cord pain, continues "bravely" with sessions, loses voice completely - it's 1974 and I got nuttin'. And I haven't even delved into the thought processes that made Nilsson and Lennon decide simultaneously that Jimmy Cliff wouldn't sound ridiculous coming out of their lily-white mouths, although at least "Loop de Loop" is plausible given Nilsson's foray into children's music with The Point.

But what history has taught us, if anything, is that a) the drugs don't work b) but analog tape does, especially when it's best that your vanity project be relegated to the back pages of rock lore. Otherwise, noted analog mavens like The Walkmen might think re-recording this drug-fueled musical footnote was a good idea. Admittedly, the first few listens are a treat. You get caught up in the rollicking barrelhouse piano, and Hamilton Leithauser's boozy vocals are, in fact, perfect, especially on "Many Rivers to Cross," ironically enough. So if there is a point to re-recording a cover album, that song proves it - that white people don't sound quite as dumb covering hip-hop and reggae classics when they have a few generations between them (so come back in twenty years, Dynamite Hack). However, that leaves nine other songs, and they don't really fare as well, perspective-wise. There is a certain clattering charm all around, though. The "Subterranean Homesick Blues" cover dispenses with reverence and fucks up some Dylan, which doesn't happen nearly enough. "Save the Last Dance" has a moody, beguiling core, and Lennon/Nilsson original "Mucho Mongo" is David Lynch-eerie.

So Pussy Cats by The Walkmen is saved from throwaway status only to become a throwaway again. But without the trappings of history, it's a catchy little drunken party album, and at just under forty minutes, it won't be on your CD playing device long enough to annoy the shit out of you.