HUNGRY TIGER - "HUNGRY TIGER"

Artist: Hungry Tiger
Title: Hungry Tiger
Label: Magna Glide
Catalog: SP 3506
Year: 1977
Genre: rock
Concept: Stephen Saban
Cover art: Stephen Saban

Grade: **** star

The subject matter; the jarring color scheme - this one simply jumps out at you.

Moreover, if you've ever cruised the BadCatRecords website, you'll know that I have an interest in tax scam labels.  The Magna Glide label's particularly interesting to me in that it seems to have had some tax scam characteristics and was operated by bubblegum kings Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz's. The attached link provides a little bit of information on the label:  

http://badcatrecords.com/BadCat/AA_REVIEW_MAGNAglide.htm 

Assuming they were a real band, based on the abbreviated liner notes on the album, Hungry Tiger featured the talents of brothers Denny (lead guitar and vocals) and Randy (vocals, guitar, keyboards) Davidson, drummer Michael Medeck, and bassist James Webster.  Given many Magna Glide acts were from Ohio, that's where I'd guess these guys were based. 

The group's link to Kasenetz and Katz goes back to 1968 when they produced a killer one-shot blue-eyed soul single for the White Whale label for the band:

- 1968's 'Fee-Fi-Foo-Fum' b/w 'Tic Tac Toe' (White Whale catalog number WWS 313)

Co-produced by Kasenetz, Katz, and Randy Davidson, musically 1977's "Hungry Tiger" offered up a pretty decent set of MOR pop with a heavy emphasis on ballads like 'Ten Miles Long', 'Forget About Tomorrow', and 'Small Craft Warning.'.   Randy was responsible for most of the material and most of the vocals. The other three members each handled one tune.  Randy was an okay lead singer, though his delivery was occasionally on the nasally and fragile side ('Can't Stop Breathing'),   Unfortunately the heavy emphasis on ballads gave the album a one sided flavor and on those rare occasions they took a stab at an up-tempo rocker, the results  were sabotaged by flat vocals - check out Webster's performance on 'Time To Love'.  They clearly were a talented outfit, but the absence of a strong lead singer was something they simply couldn't overcome.   

Let me add the back cover liner notes don't show the proper running order.  The information below has the songs in the proper sequence.

You can read the rest of the review at BadCatRecords:

Co-produced by Kasenetz, Katz, and Randy Davidson, musically 1977's "Hungry Tiger" offered up a pretty decent set of MOR pop with a heavy emphasis on ballads like 'Ten Miles Long', 'Forget About Tomorrow', and 'Small Craft Warning.'. Randy was responsible for most of the material and most of the vocals. The other three members each handled one tune. Randy was an okay lead singer, though his delivery was occasionally on the nasally and fragile side ('Can't Stop Breathing'), Unfortuntnately the heavy emphasis on ballads gave the album a one sided flavor and on those rare occasions they took a stab at an up-tempo rocker, the results were sabotaged by flat vocals - check out Webster's performance on 'Time To Love'. They clearly were a talented outfit, but the absence of a strong lead singer was something they simply couldn't overcome.    Let me add the back cover liner notes don't show the proper running order. The information below has the songs in the proper sequence.