(2021) Norma Tanega - Walkin' My Cat Named Dog [Expanded Edition]


Review:
…First discovered while singing at a summer camp in the Catskills of New York, Norma Tanega won the attention of Herb Bernstein (arranger and producer for The Happenings and Laura Nyro). Bernstein told producer Bob Crewe about Tanega and she was quickly signed to his New Voice Records label which was also the home of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog introduced listeners everywhere to Tanega’s offbeat musical world, with her alternate-tuned guitars and odd-metered time signatures. It just takes one listen to the album’s opener “You’re Dead” to see that Tanega was unlike her contemporaries. Yet, American listeners seemed to dig her idiosyncrasies, as the album’s title track climbed to No. 22 on the Billboard chart, hit the top ten in Canada, and received attention across the pond, too. In no time, the likes of Barry McGuire, The Jazz Crusaders, Art Blakey, and The T-Bones had cut versions of her hit.  With appearances on American Bandstand and Where The Action Is, it seemed that Tanega was primed for stardom.  After visiting England for some television spots, she chose to move to London where she started writing songs for others.  Her music was recorded by Tom Springfield (formerly of The Springfields, and co-author of The Seekers’ “Georgy Girl”), and she began a relationship with his sister, Dusty, who also covered her work. In 1971, Tanega released I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile but it wasn’t received as well as her debut and she soon moved back to the States where she taught music and recorded a number of experimental works.  Tracks from her debut continues to reach listeners even more than a half-century on. In fact, “You’re Dead” is currently the theme to the FX program What We Do in the Shadows. Real Gone’s new reissue restores the original cover and boasts a rich new mastering by Mike Milchner from high-resolution digital files of the original stereo masters.





Track Listing:
01 - You're Dead
02 - Treat Me Right
03 - Waves
04 - Jubilation
05 - Don't Touch
06 - Walkin' My Cat Named Dog
07 - A Street That Rhymes at 6 A.M.
08 - I'm Dreamin' A Dream
09 - What Are We Craving?
10 - No Stranger Am I
11 - Hey Girl
12 - I'm The Sky
13 - Bread
14 - Run, on the Run


Media Report:
Genre: folk-rock, pop
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits