'60s Pop Rock From Scotland: Cartoone - Cartoone 1969 (2009 Deluxe Edition, Friday Music)

Formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1969 and launched to extensive publicity, the rock band Cartoone was comprised of Mike Allison, Mo Trowers, Derek Creigon and Chic Coffils. They were previously known as the Chevrons, and as such, recorded ‘Too Long Alone’ for Pye Records in 1966. The group honed their songwriting talents during the ensuing years, and when a demo tape reached Mark London, he introduced Cartoone to Atlantic Records. They signed for the company on the same day as Led Zeppelin. Cartoone, which also featured contributions from Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, showed a group of undoubted promise and they undertook a punishing US tour upon its release. Guitarist Leslie Harvey augmented them during this sojourn, but when he opted to remain with Power (later Stone The Crows) a disenchanted Cartoone broke up.

Cartoone's sole, self-titled album is more known as a footnote in the late-'60s career of Jimmy Page than it is for its own merits. Page contributed guitar to the record as a session man -- though his work is neither too prominent nor too similar to what he was getting ready to do in Led Zeppelin -- and Cartoone opened for Led Zeppelin at some shows in the U.S. in early 1969, probably because of the Page association and a shared label (Atlantic Records). Not to stretch the Page/Led Zeppelin connection past its breaking point, but those whose interest in this album is piqued by that connection should know that this Scottish band's music is highly dissimilar. Far from being hard rock, it's slightly fey pop/rock with strong debts to the lighter side of the late-'60s Beatles and, more apparently, the late-'60s Bee Gees.

Singer/bassist/guitarist Derek Creigan has a far less delicate delivery than the Gibb brothers, but certainly the melancholy melodies, ornate arrangements, and trembling vocal timbres of songs like "Withering Wood," "Girl of Yesterday," "I Can't Walk Back," and especially "Mr. Poor Man" can't help but bring early Bee Gees to mind. Yet Cartoone seemed to be suffering from some indecision as to how to define themselves, with some other tracks indicating some harder-rocking ambitions (especially the opening and most Beatlesque track, "Knick Knock Man"). Other cuts load on so much orchestration that they seem to aim to the right of the Bee Gees, as stabs at the more bombastic and ballad-oriented slice of the late-'60s British pop market. The common shortcoming, as is so often the case in records reflecting numerous trends of the period, is in the material, which just isn't as distinguished as that of the Bee Gees, let alone the Beatles.(allmusic.com)

Of course, the band didn't have as much standing power as the bands mentioned above. Nonetheless, they had a whole series of songs on the album that set themselves apart from the average. The band could show a certain independence in their songs. The band was always best when they were a little rockier. Knick Knack Man, Let Me Assure You are good examples. But also other songs are convincing.(Frank)
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