By Ken Paulson
Lulu and Cass Elliott, two of the sixties’ most prominent pop vocalists, found themselves at career crossroads at the close of that decade.
Lulu, known in the U.S. for “To Sir With Love” had left producer Mickie Most, hungering for a more substantive recording career. Mama Cass was pursuing a solo career following the dissolution of the Mamas and Papas. Both women had enjoyed success with their own television shows and saw themselves as entertainers rather than just pop singers.
Two Real Gone Music releases – Lulu’s Atco Sessions 1969-1972 and Elliot’s Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore – document the paths of both women in the early ‘70s.
The Lulu collection is particularly impressive. Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler brought Lulu to Muscle Shoals to work with the region’s famed musicians, apparently hoping to capture the same kind of feel found on Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis. The resulting album New Routes, contained here, is smooth and souldful, , fueled by the playing of Eddie Hinton, Jimmy Johnson, Duane Allman, Barry Beckett, David Hood and Roger Hawkins. It yielded “Oh Me Oh My (I’m A Fool for You Baby), one of Lulu’s handful of U.S. Top 40 hits.
The follow-up Melody Fair, was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, and had more of a pop feel, opening with the Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine.” The title track was written by the Brothers Gibb (she was married to Maurice at the time) and she even covered Randy Newman’s “Vine Street.” The single “Hum A Song” (From Your Heart) stalled in the Hot 100, but deserved better.
The collection also includes a full disc of rarities, a number of which were presumably recorded for a third Atco release that would never come. Highlights include Lulu’s versions of Elton John’s “Come Down in Time” and Lesley Duncan’s “Love Song.”
The Atco Sessions find Lulu at the top of her game, accompanied by some of the finest studio players in history. Little wonder that New Routes and Melody Fair would be prove to be the two best LPs of her career.
Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore is a live recording capturing Cass Eliott at Mr. Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago. It was an era in which pop and soul artists – most notably the Supremes and Temptations – would gravitate to high-end nightclubs in an effort to broaden their appeal beyond the Top 40 audience.
The album reveals a charming, determined-to-please performer that doesn’t just rely on her hits to entertain. There’s a torch song medley, a cover of Paul McCartney’s then-new “My Love” and a comical turn that implores people to stop calling her “Mama Cass.”
Bonus tracks include a medley of her solo hits and the previously unreleased “Don’t Make Me a Memory.”
Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore is a sweet souvenir.
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