Pookah — Pookah 1969 (USA, Psychedelic Rock)
The only LP by the trio from Rochester, New York. The album was released by United Artists. All material is original.For a band that released an album on a major label, there's surprisingly little information to be found on Pooka. I can tell you the line-up featured keyboardist Pat Cupo, guitarist John Ippolito, and drummer Dave Ranaletta. Cupo and Ippolito had been members of the mid-'60s Rochester, New York cover band The Trackers. As for the band name, it was either a sly nod to a hookah, or taken from characters found in Irish folklore - spirits known as shape changers which could take the appearance of black horses, goats and rabbits. Given songs like 'Ha! Ha! I Can Fly ' and 'Rain On Your Grave', I'm guessing the former was the inspiration.
Speculation on my part, but the trio seemingly found a mentor in the form of producer Vinny Testa who I'm guessing helped them score a recording contract with United Artists. So I'll be blunt and tell you 1969's Testa produced "Pookah" won't change your life in any form, or fashion. At the same time, given critics haven't been all that kind to the album, I'll readily tell you the results are far better than you'd expect. With Cupo and Ippolito responsible for all of the material, the band was unique in being gifted with three strong singers. I liked all of them, though I'd give the edge to drummer Ranaletta who only handled vocals on a couple of songs. Musically these guys were hard to peg. With the exception of Cupo's keyboards (which were apparently rigged with internal colored lighting that went off with the music), there wasn't anything particular original across these eleven tracks. Complete with stabs at raga influenced acid-folk ('In a Field'), blues-rock ('Lady Ostrich'), progressive ('Broken Dream'), and psych ('Rain On Your Grave'), it was one of those albums where you could spend a lot of time playing spot-the-influences, which to my ears included large doses of Traffic and Vanilla Fudge. Far from perfect, but worth checking out since you can still find reasonably priced copies. RDTEN1 Dec 23 2019
Tracks:
01. Blue And Peaceful — 0:00
02. In A Field — 4:15
03. Tomorrow's The Day — 7:18
04. Things Don't Matter — 10:36
05. Broken Dream — 13:27
06. Kickin' A Can — 19:17
07. Merlin's Party — 22:58
08. Lady Ostrich — 27:25
09. Ha! Ha! I Can Fly - 32:01
10. The Heat - 35:08
11. Rain On The Grave - 35:40
Personnel:
John Ippolito - vocals, bass, guitar
Pat Cupo - vocals, keyboards
Dave Ranaletta - drums, percussion
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Vinny Testa – producer
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