Artists Whose Later Non-Group Work May Need Reassessment (An Occasional Series): Special "For a Fat Girl You Don't Sweat Much" Edition

Okay, I'm going to hell for that joke. Sorry.

In any case, from her eponymous 1972 solo album, please enjoy the not then Mama Cass Elliot and a simply lovely cover of "Baby I'm Yours."

That came on the sound system at my local watering hole the other day and I couldn't immediately place it, but when Shazam identified it for me I was both pleasantly surprised and intrigued. Granted, it's not as good as the gorgeously sexy Barbara Lewis original, which is one of my all-time fave early 60s soul records, but it's beautifully sung and arranged, and it has a really nice almost sunshine pop vibe. Not surprisingly, I immediately decided to check out more stuff from the album, but don't worry, I have no intention of inflicting that on you; let's just say the side-two version of The Beach Boys' "Disney Girls" sounds uncomfortably like the work of somebody who's suffering from a debilitating disease. That said, I probably should investigate the 1970 album Cass did with none other than Dave Mason, which I recall being ambivalent about at the time, but who knows?

I should add that while researching the above I was gobsmacked to discover that in 1962 Cass had lost out to Barbra Streisand for the role of Miss Marmelstein in Broadway's I Can Get It For You Wholesale, a casting choice that clearly changed history in all sorts of unfathomable ways, and that, later, she did a week as a guest panelist on my favorite afternoon TV show Match Game '73, the videos of which I am gonna have to track down on YouTube immediately.