The plan was for the
Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist
Tim Bogert and drummer
Carmine Appice to join with guitar god
Jeff Beck and his singer
Rod Stewart in a supergroup of sorts. The plan was derailed when
Beck had a motorcycle accident that incapacitated him for 18 months.
Stewart then joined pal
Ron Wood in the revamped
Faces (and pursued a somewhat lucrative solo career), leaving
Bogert and
Appice to find alternates for their dream band. They recruited guitarist
Jim McCarty from
Mitch Ryder's disassembling Detroit Wheels, and singer
Rusty Day from
Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes. One can only wonder what might have been.
What was, was
Cactus, a generic boogie band that never got beyond opening-act status and never sold many records. The band's first album,
Cactus, was OK, with a speed-demon version of
Mose Allison's "Parchman Farm," but their music never amounted to anything more than the formulaic on subsequent releases. The band had a short life.
After
Cactus' dissolution in 1972,
Bogert and
Appice finally joined with
Beck to form
Beck, Bogert & Appice. However, that group's one release showed very little magic, and BB&A lasted little more than a year.
–
Jim Newsom, Rovi