![]() ![]() Now, to the Cactus devotee: The sound on The Birth of Cactus 1970 is really quite great. It’s the stuff that spoke to the souls of a whole lot of kids who dreamt of the Great Society college degree, but instead, they found, once again to quote John Fogerty, “two Hundred million guns are loaded” and “Satan cries ‘Take aim.’” Such were the times. Perhaps you had to be there, but for all its hard-rocking intent, The Birth of Cactus 1970 is deeply inner groove music - music that understands very loud fears. Of course, boogie rock danced with forgetful freedom. And John Fogerty sang, “Don’t let the man get you and do what he done to me.”īlues rock fed our fears. ![]() But this live recording from their very first gig is, quite simply, incendiary fire that (even today!) scorches through those long ago daily headlines of Vietnam, the draft, Richard Nixon, and a whole lot of stuff that liberal arts (then the vogue!) college students everywhere didn’t like at all. New listeners, if any, should find solace in the three reworked numbers, especially “Noya,”  where the band recompenses by experimenting with structure.The Birth of Cactus 1970 may well smoke up its brand-new finally released vinyl grooves.Ĭactus’ first studio album rocked. Backed by beguiling keyboard strings and intensely persuasive singing, “Dulche”  is  about stellar composing ”” following prog-rock patterns, the song travels through multiple changes and doesn’t revisit obvious melodic hooks. “Shohoj”  is richly textural marked by the rounded bass work, mystical keyboard lines, plodding drums and lyrical abstractions. “Status Update” is blemished by adolescent allegories on ”˜roses and guns’, while “Boro Deri” is vintage Cactus and tad weary. ![]() Having earlier made overtly political pronouncements,  the title track cranks up the dissenting knob by notches. A grueling riff, whiplash of a bass line and heretical guitar work complements the bristling lyrics. That should take nothing away from the brute volcanic force of the opening title track. “Blah Blah Blah” is reason enough for renewing faith in Bangla rock, so clinical and powerful is its wholesome dissing of political life in Kolkata and the political purveyors of blah blah blah rhetoric. ![]() A band that has been in business for two decades, with merely four albums and a soundtrack to show, could do with some more original energies. It is wished though that the thumping affirmation of renewed intent (the band, in an earlier phase, was being written-off for its tedious tunes) that they exhibit in the first five tracks would continue with the remaining three. “Mon,” “Neel” and “Noya” ”” notwithstanding their inherent attractiveness and interesting rearrangements ”” are nothing but tweaked-around versions of their old hits, better served as live performance material than studio album songs. Might as well, for Cactus, exactly 20 years since they first arrived on stage, they can truly count themselves as pioneers of rock’s vernacular form in Bengal. Perched right atop the heap of Bangla rock bands in Kolkata and Bengal, Cactus makes a fitting statement with their latest album, Blah Blah Blah. ![]()
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