Vegas In L.A. Dept - The Pat N' Lolly Story!

Oboy! Have we got some swell *content* today! We gots readables, watchables, and listenables, and a bunch of deliverables, all *curated* with you, th' freeloadin' bum, in mind!

In the 'sixties, brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas (Patrick and Candido Vaquez-Vegas) wrote hits (e.g. Niki Hoeky) for big L.A. acts, sessioned for everyone from James Brown to Sonny & Cher, and recorded this here album At The Haunted House [left- Ed.], which is the swellest go-go music you're going to frug to all week! Half their own compositions, half covers of nightclub dance hits. Tough, hi-octane sound with quality vox, and I'm going to shut up here and copy out the liner notes:

❝ The most exotic discotheque in LA (where it all began) is the eerie Haunted House. The hottest new singing team on the West Coast is composed of Pat and LollyVegas. Put them together and what do you have? A great album, for one thing.

Recorded live above the dance floor of the Huanted House, these songs by Pat and Lolly Vegas capture all the excitement of the brand new California “bag.” Combining the soul of rhythm and blues with a go-go beat, this new sound has been an overnight sensation and has helped make the Haunted House into one of the most wildly successful nightspots in the country.

The House, located at Hollywood and Vine, has a most unique appearance. Its entrance is a complete chamber of horrors equipped with life-size wax figures of such infamous creatures as Frankenstein, Dracula, the ghoulish characterizations of Vincent Price, and many other terrors. The figures are so real-looking that Cassius Clay once remarked: “They even scare me. And, man, that means they’ll scare anybody.”

The ingenious bandstand, designed especially for Pat and Lolly’s act, features a monster’s head fashioned into a shell which pushes the sound up and out - making a microphone unnecessary. The actual sound comes through the monster’s nostrils, which blows hot steam which makes the sound even louder.

Because of the great success the House has achieved since its opening, the owner, Mickey Crouch, is planning similar Haunted Houses in London, Las Vegas and New York.

Although Pat and Lolly Vegas have been working together for more than six years, they are still young boys - Pat is 21 and Lolly is 20. Both are very talented musicians and songwriters. Half the numbers on this album are Pat and Lolly originals, and one of their previous creations,”Look At Me,” was made into a great hit by their close friend Doby Gray.

Working hand-in-hand with Doby and other young artists in the Los Angeles area, Pat and Lolly have been responsible for the creation of a new blues-rock sound that has already conquered the West Coast and is starting to make the biggest nationwide smash since the invasion of the Beatles.

So come now, past the hallway of horrors, and into the inner chamber, and listen to the magical talents of these two young men. You will have to agree that although this is their first album, it is not likely to be their last. ❞

1967 - the year of Peak This! The actual sound comes from the monster's nostrils! In the same year, the guys showed up in It's A Bikini World, because of course they did, bottom of the musical bill after The Animals, The Toys, The Castaways, and The Gentrys. This movie classic is deliverable in the comments, in Fuzz-O-Vision™, the only quality available at this time. Imagine you left your glasses at home because you want to impress your date, or you're at a drive-in with a steamed-up windshield, and you'll be okay.

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 A Golden Age of stupid fun - Pat n" Lolly made title sequence [see banner above - Ed.] but not lobby card

You'd of thunk the bros would be able to retire after this much achievement (already so much greater than thine or mine), but no! On the encouragement of Jimi Hendrix, who admired Lolly's playing, they formed Redbone, released some fucking great albums, and grabbed some global hits! Go bros!

First *eponymous* album was a double - rare for a debut at the time, although it rarely appears in lists of debut doubles. Note distinctive choogle-funk beat, with a little Norlins syncopation sauce, setting groove that carries you through four instrumentals, where they get to stretch out a little. Wah-wah guitar through a Leslie cabinet passes the time like cold beer in the shade.

Completely ignored by Allmusic staffers, sneered at by Christgau. Rated SWELL+ by IoF©.

Second album Potlatch, appearing same year (1970) delivers more of similar, with first Big Hit, the funktacular Maggie. Energy that lit up the Haunted House night after night dialled down half a notch to reflect fickle public's disinterest in frugging and go-go. Disc throbs along nicely - if it was a motorcycle it would be a Harley.

Amazon features my favorite review of all time: "I love it but ordered the wrong one. I wanted Beaded dreams. I will order it as soon as i move. I am moving on the 28th."

Third album Message From A Drum (retitled Witch Queen Of New Orleans outside U.S.A.) from the following year - making four elpee discs in two years - was the one that broke them in Europia.

The band had a long life, inevitably fluid lineups, Greatest Hit Come And Get Your Love in '74, but we're stopping here on account which me typing fingers is atrophied, and I have spooky feeling their best work - i.e. the stuff I like - is done by this point (prove me wrong).

Reviewed by Dudia at rateyourmusic: "Kolejny ciekawy album zespołu Redbone. Mamy tu ślady rdzennego indiańskiego rytmu, a także kilka ciekawych funkowych klimatów."

The wrap: it's hard to understand the relatively low profile of Patrick and Candido Vaquez-Vegas. Impeccable track record as songwriters, session men, performers. Energy in abundance. Helmed a great band and got funkified before it was fashionable - the connection from go-go discotheque to funk - possibly to disco - I bailed here - is logical and beautiful. Top tier early seventies rock.