Tina Mason - Is Something Wonderful!

Forgotten gem from the 60s West Coast

The frontwoman of Tina & The Mustangs, Tina Mason had a short recording career with Capitol in the 60s. Her only LP, Is Something Wonderful!, quickly disappeared into obscurity after its 1967 release. Now vinyl copies regularly sell for three figures.

Why this recording made so little impact at the time of release is a bit of a mystery. It was produced by David Axelrod, the man who turned William Blake’s poetry into a psychedelic pop opera and who has experienced a revival in the last decade, while arrangements came from HB Barnum, who worked with The Supremes, Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin. Not only that, but the album isn’t half bad. Mason’s voice is to die for and, alongside some standard Bacharach fare, is a sumptuous version of Cry Me A River.

Seven bonus tracks are included and one of these proves to be the highlight of this reissue: Mason’s treatment of Chip Taylor’s Any Way That You Want Me (made famous by The Troggs and Evie Sands) is sultry and superb. In fact, the bonus tracks are uniformly great, and make an album that would already be worth a punt without them totally unmissable.

Now Sounds | CRNOW 2

Reviewed by Lynn Roberts
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