The Holy Mackerel – The Holy Mackerel

Charming psych-lite sunshine (country-ish) pop album w/ most of the material brought to life by soon to famous writer/singer/songwriter Paul Williams (notably ‘Bitter Honey’) otherwise spoilt by the late 60s whimsy goofy wordplay track "Prinderella".
Impressive if forgotten late '60s psych-folk artifact.

There was so much happening in 1968 that it’s no wonder that The Holy Mackerel, brought to life by singer/songwriter Paul Williams were entirely overlooked, especially when one considers that the band (including his brother, Mentor on rhythm guitar, ex-Jefferson Airplane member Bob Harvey holding down guitar and vocals, George Hiller on lead guitar and vocals, Cynthia Fitzpatrick on flute and vocals, along with former Turtle member Don Murray on drums) was already disbanded by the time this album was released.

This is another of those sunshine pop bands that fell flat during the 60’s, yet the album has seen a re-issue with bonus material (a total of twenty-two songs) and extensive liner notes that’s not much better than the original, with no less than three singles and the album failing in the day to nationally chart at any level. There were many other bands having huge success with this sort of sunshine pop light-handed psychedelic pop, delivered at the tail end of AM radio, where the band was certainly not heady enough for the fledgling FM radio format.

I found the songs to have been delivered harshly, many pretentiously, especially the sharp piercing flute played by Cynthia, there’s nothing melodic or harmonic about the vocals, where the attitude of the record is nearly amateurish and not as easy listening as say the Ohio Express, The Archies, The Rascals or even the 1910 Fruitgum Company … though while the Mackerels were attempting something grander and more vibrantly in step with the times, they were anything but.

*** The Fun Facts: As to the band’s name, saying Holy Mackerel is to denote surprised pleasure and excitement.

Review by Jenell Kesler

This very diverse album contains some rather pleasant light pop with a few orchestral flourishes (the chorus of “Scorpio Red”, the whole of “Bitter Honey”) and hip “psychedelic” production touches (the treated vocals in “The Secret Of Pleasure”), occasional folky tones (“The Lady Is Waiting”, the quietly disturbing “1984”), and at least one excellent country-rock number, extensively entitled “The Somewhere In Arizona At 4:30 AM Restaurant Song (And Now I Am Alone)”, and sung with much warmth (in a range close to Sal Valentino’s) by rhythm guitarist Mentor Williams, who also shines on a great Burrito-style version of “The Wild Side Of Life”. Bassist Jerry Scheff was a Ballroom/Goldenrod/Millenium alumni, while lead vocalist Paul Williams (Mentor’s brother) found much greater fame in the seventies, involved as he was with the Muppets and many other puppets of the music and film industries. Definitely worth checking out if you’re into the various facets of the late sixties California experience.