Vacuum Cleaner

Canadian bassist / vocalist Neil Merryweather relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and hooked up with the singer, actress and future Penthouse pet, Lynn Carey. They would find greater fame upon forming the band Mama Lion in 1972, but Vacuum Cleaner captures the prototype of the group on this collaboration cut the year before, after RCA signed them as a duo. Merryweather’s bass is a solid anchor and his harmony and musical arrangements help keep everything in place; Canadian keyboardist JJ Velker adds atmosphere, but it is Carey’s powerful voice that really drives this hard rockin’ beast, gleaning comparisons with Janis Joplin. Merryweather and Carey notably appeared in Russ Meyer’s The Seven Minutes too.