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28 minutes in length approximately. The sound is very good-taken from the pristine Viva Records mono master tapes. The booklet succinctly tells the story of THE LEATHERCOATED MINDS,and how the album came to be released.
As far as I know,this is the only album released because of a photograph. Viva Records had a great photo of Sunset Boulevard (on the cover) and didn't know how to exploit it. So they put together a studio group and recorded covers of then popular songs,along with some instrumentals,and sound effects (supposedly recorded on Sunset Blvd.),and released the album-to practically zero sales.
The group was made up primarily of musicians from the Oklahoma area,like Leon Russell,the folk duo GYPSY TRIPS (also on the cover),and J.J. Cale. The group also included musicians who went on to join Taj Mahal's early band,and others. With Cale producing,arranging,and playing guitar-this album has a curious appeal. The instrumentals were guitar-oriented,with Cale playing some BYRDS-like guitar ("Arriba","Pot Luck",etc.),on the self-penned tunes. The covers ("Eight Miles High",Psychotic Reaction","Over Under Sideways Down",etc.) all have slightly odd yet enjoyable,commercial arrangements. The use of horns give several tracks ("Kicks",Sunshine Superman") added interest and depth to the album's appeal. With the addition of sound effects (used sparingly) the album screamed exploitation,but today has a time machine-like appeal.
This album is for collectors/fans of late 60's Los Angeles pop-rock,J.J. Cale,or just slightly odd-ball period releases. But (to my surprise) this album seems to get played more often than something like this would seemingly warrant. There's nothing "heavy",no message-just covers of some good songs (with some ear-catching arrangements),along with some good (and surprising) J.J. Cale guitar. And in the end that's all you need for a curious,enjoyable trip back to a time when small,independent record labels released anything and everything to hopefully make a buck. And this is certainly worth more than that.
For more music from the Viva label,check out "Ain't It Hard",which includes three tracks from this album,along with a number of other locally known groups like GYPSY TRIPS,THE SOUND SANDWICH,and SUNDAY SERVANTS,among others. This album,too,has a curiously enjoyable sixties time-period appeal.
