By 1977, the year of Kansas City Slickers? release, most bands had happily ensconced themselves in one niche or another--one was either Punk or Power Pop or New Wave or ---- (fill in the trend of your choice), but The Leopards fell into no such handy category. Kansas City Slickers was unique for its time--certainly no other record of its day sounds remotely like it--and remains so today.
Back then its uniqueness baffled critics who, in the few places where the album was actually reviewed, did little more than point to the album?s Kinks influence. While the influence of The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Easybeats and other Sixties groups is indeed evident on the album, such a superficial assessment does not begin to do justice to the cornucopia of sound on Kansas City Slickers.
Recorded and mixed at Moon Studios - the basement of Dennis Pash's childhood home on Maggie Lane in Kansas City, Kansas - the production and music achieve a level of sophistication not often associated with basement recordings. Still, Kansas City Slickers retains its basement charm, protected from the sophisticated machinations of a professional studio by its lack of technology. (James Marinovich, Sing Sing Records)
On first listen, you’d swear that the 1977 indie album from Kansas City, Kansas is Muswell Hillbillies-era Kinks — and on second and third listen, as well. This talented foursome not only perfectly re-creates the Kinks’ klassic sound (complete with a spot-on Ray Davies vocal impression by main Leopard Dennis Pash), they also turn out originals that subtly rewrite various Kinks tunes without ever resorting to obvious lifts. Genius.
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By the time the Leopards got around to releasing another album more than a decade later, the Kinks had a lower profile than ever, which makes Magic Still Exists a most welcome arrival. On its opening track, the hyper “Block Party,” the band threatens to stake out a style of its own; after that, Pash and friends get back to business, sounding as wonderfully Kinky as ever. Here’s hoping they do it again in 1999.(Ira Robbins / Scott Schinder)
Of course you can hear the influence of the Kinks, but the band manages to skillfully combine this with their own sound. The result is two albums that stand on their own and are simply great fun. Enjoy. (Frank)
The Leopards - KCS Flac (zippy) The Leopards - KCS Flac
The Leopards - KCS mp3 (zippy) The Leopards - KCS mp3
The Leopards - MSE Flac (zippy) The Leopards - MSE Flac
The Leopards - MSE mp3 (zippy) The Leopards - MSE mp3
Danke für die Leopards. Die erste kannte ich überhaupt nicht. Die auf Voxx hatte ich mal. War ein Fehler sie herzugeben.
ReplyDeleteJa das denke ich auch. Aber davon geht die Welt ja auch nicht unter. Ich wünsche dir noch einen schönen Tag, Josef.
DeleteGruß
Frank
Alle beide sind jetzt nur mehr mit viel Geld zu bekommen. Vor allem die erste von 77.
ReplyDeleteThank you muchly.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much !!
ReplyDeleteHey Frank. Thanks for sharing. FYI - Back cover of album shows 14 tracks but your dl only has 13. Any chance you could post missing track? Thanks
ReplyDeleteHello Iceman,
DeleteI'm sorry this happened, I received the album in a share over the web and I didn't even notice this when I received the album. So thanks for the tip as well. I will immediately try to get the missing track yet. Until then I will stop the download links on the blog.
I will get back to you as soon as I know if I get or have received the track. Thank you again Iceman and have a nice day
Frank
No, I believe I was mistaken! The tracks were not numbered & when I looked at the back cover of LP I didn't notice track 6 took up 2 lines & thought it was 2 tracks. I finally checked out the LP side 2 label & realized my mistake after seeing your request @Oldrockers chat. So sorry. Doh!
DeleteHello Iceman,
Deletewe were both wrong, haha. Side B has only seven tracks. The first song is called "Chief Red Scar's World Famous Herbal Cure Show" and I think that is why you asked for another song.
Everything's fine :-)
Delete