Cradle – The History [Purple Vinyl 2xLP] – New LP

Detroit 1969/1970.  Suzi Quatro and her sisters. This is very much part of the heavy blues-based acid rock of the era.  "Dream" is a heavy rock version of "Ev'ry Mountain" from Sound of Music mixed with Leon Russell's "Groupie (Superstar)" (this before The Carpenters turned it into a #1 hit in 1971--the version must associated with the song).  Most of the material was recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, New Years, as the 1960s turned into the 1970s (the same night that Hendrix was recording his last album Band of Gypsies at another hall.)

  

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Never able to fit the mold that label executives demanded, at the very end of 1969 the Quatro sisters’ Pleasure Seekers became Cradle. Though "the suits" weren't ready for them, their forward-thinking sound and quintessentially Detroit determination blazed a trail for the decades of hard-rocking women who followed -- as did their choice to remain true to themselves, no matter what. On LP for the first time, pressed on purple vinyl, and cut at 45!

Susan Kay Quatro was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 3, 1950. Her father, Art Quatro, played in a local jazz combo, and as a child Quatro occasionally sat in with the group as a percussionist; she also studied piano and drums. Art Quatro played bass and would later present Quatro with one of his instruments, a 1957 Fender Precision Bass, which she would use to play on-stage. Quatro got the rock & roll bug early in life when she saw Elvis Presley perform on television and became an instant fan; in 1964, she and her sister saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, and like millions of other teenagers, they were inspired to form a band of their own. Quatro and her siblings Patti and Arlene assembled an all-female garage band, the Pleasure Seekers, who played on the Detroit nightclub circuit and at teen clubs. The group's debut 45, "What a Way to Die," would go on to become a collector's item among garage fans, with Quatro comparing her boyfriend to a bottle of beer, and deciding the beer was better company. The Pleasure Seekers later scored a deal with Mercury Records, and released a song for the label before parting ways with Mercury when they wanted to boost the group's sex appeal in a bid to sell more records.

In 1969, the Pleasure Seekers evolved into a group called Cradle, who played the rock ballroom circuit in the Midwest. In 1971, noted British record producer Mickie Most was in Detroit with Jeff Beck when he was persuaded to see Cradle by Michael Quatro, Suzi's brother and Cradle's manager, as well as a promoter and musician in his own right. Most wasn't bowled over by Cradle, but he was very impressed with Suzi, and offered her a deal with his RAK Records label as a solo act. Quatro moved to England as she and Most strategized her solo career; her first 45, 1972's "Rolling Stone" b/w "Brain Confusion," which featured Peter Frampton on guitar, was a flop everywhere but Portugal, but her next 45 was another story altogether. Most recruited Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, who had written and produced hits for the Sweet, Mud, and the Arrows, to work on Quatro's next disc, and "Can the Can," a stomping, glam-inspired number with silly lyrics but an unstoppable rhythmic tune, was a number one hit in Britain and Australia. It was the first in a series of hits that Quatro would enjoy in the U.K. and Australia over the next five years, most from the Chapman & Chinn team, and included such glam rock gems as "48 Crash," "Devil Gate Drive," and "The Wild One," but despite periodic touring in her homeland (including one road trip where her opening act was a scruffy but ambitious New York band called Kiss), Quatro would have to wait until 1978 to finally score a hit in America