This here, was like a breath of fresh air. It is something quite extraordinary that comes through the dark clouds, waiting to deliver this extra milage. It’s going to be worth the ultimate trip that’ll be played for the rest of eternity. I’m talking about Cats in Space. A band who has been around for nearly ten years in Horsham, West Sussex by guitarist Greg Hart and drummer Steevi Bacon.
When I first heard a name like Cats in Space, it startled me at first. It startled me, because it sounded very much like a Saturday Morning Cartoon you would watch in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s from networks such as ABC, NBC, and CBS in its hey-day. It wasn’t until I first heard their double live album, Fire in the Night, released this year on the Harmony Factory label. to see what the fuzz is all about.
And believe me, when I put my earphones on, hit the play button on my iPod touch, I knew something special was bursting through my eardrums. The live album was recorded at the time they were promoting their sixth album Kickstart the Sun released two years ago. Going through this live album, is being at those UK tours, witnessing this incredible band, who opened for Blue Öyster Cult, but carrying the flags of the AOR genre, arena rock, glam, pomp, it’s all there.
It made me go back and listen to the bands that might had a huge impact on the Cats music. Ranging from; Aviary, Styx, Boston, Kansas, Touchstone, City Boy, Queen, Bowie, and Starcastle rolled into one. Take for example, the glorified, yet out-of-this world epic second act intro of ‘Too Many Gods’. Featuring blistering symphonic riffs, ascending arrangements, vocals bringing to mind the late, great Brad Delp of Boston and Dennis DeYoung from the Grand Illusion-era, that brings to mind a powerful cannon blast, waiting to happen!
Then, it’s off to the races with ‘Timebomb’ where the midsection goes into a revved-up drive down into the unknown, racing towards the clock, reaching the finish line to one of the venues that gets audiences pumping up for more while ‘Teenage Millionaires’ hits those ‘70s glam platform boots with an amount of heavy ass-kicking vibrations between Sweet and the Audio-Visions-era of Kansas.
Elsewhere, across time and space, the rising phenomenon of being successful with ‘Goodbye to the American Dream’ with its hefty consequences, and the themes of furniture stores with ’51 Pillow Bed’, where people go crazy when it comes to moving into a new house, apartment, or penthouse, they want to model the whole nine yards to make it their own place to crash, to make it their own work place, you get the general idea.
But, it’s the fan-favorite ‘Johnny Rocket’ that gets fans up out of their seats and headbanging like there’s no tomorrow while Cats in Space turns into a combination between unsung maestros Aviary and Starcastle, rolled into one with The Kinks’ Arthur sessions and Be-Bop Deluxe’s Sunburst Finish-era, channeling ‘Ships in the Night’s’ keyboard introduction in the middle section of the song.
Understand, I’m very new to Cats in Space’s music. And I had a complete ball with this! Fire in the Night is a great introduction for newcomers who want to get into the band’s music.
As we wait upon their next album with Time Machine, coming in at the end of October this year, and being a part of the Cherry Red family with Esoteric Antenna, Fire in the Night is the live album that’s going to be up there with Rush’s All the World’s a Stage, Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous, Barclay James Harvest’s Live Tapes, and Premiata Forneria Marconi’s Cook album. It’s the cosmic arena live album that is to be played at maximum volume.
