Corky's Debt to His Father

Corky's Debt to His Father is the first solo album by Mayo Thompson. It was released in 1970 by Texas Revolution.

Tracklist

Side A

1. The Lesson
2. Oyster Thins
3. Horses
4. Dear Betty Baby
5. Venus in the Morning

Side B

1. To You
2. Fortune
3. Black Legs
4. Good Brisk Blues
5. Around the Home
6. Worried Worried

Personnel

Musicians

Mayo Thompson (vocals, guitar, bass), Mike Sumler, Joe Dugan (piano)

Chuck Conway (drums), Jimi Newhouse (drums), Carson Graham (drums), Frank Davis, Le Anne Romano (baritone horn), Roger Romano, The La La's (backing vocals), The Whoaback Singers (backing vocals)

Technical

Mayo Thompson (producer), Frank Davis (producer, engineer), Roger Romano (producer, engineer)

Image gallery

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  Advertisement in January 7, 1971 issue of 'Rolling Stone'

Reviews

CMJ New Music Report

June 13, 1994

Drag City has reissued Corky's Debt To His Father, the hard-to-find 1970 solo album by Mayo Thompson, leader of the Red Crayola for almost three decades and a member of Pere Ubu in the early '80s. Corky, his only solo outing, is unlike anything he's done before or since, with a focus on melody and twisted lyrics in song structures that are relatively conventional compared to the psychedelic freakouts, experimentation and jagged pop of the Red Crayola. The beautiful ballad "Dear Betty Baby" is an unqualified masterpiece. Look for the first two Red Crayola albums to be reissued on the Collectibles label and a new Red Crayola album in the fall, with Thompson joined by members of Gastr Del Sol.

The Trouser Press guide to '90s rock

1997

In 1970, Thompson actually did record a solo album, Corky's Debt to His Father, which got an obscure local-label issue at the time in Texas, was revived in England years later and was finally introduced to American CD racks through the good offices of Drag City. A left-field version of a blues and neo-vaudeville album — played mostly acoustic on slide guitar, piano, bass and elementary traps, with some horns and electricity — Corky's Debt doesn't sound much closer to any mainstream in 1995 than it would have done a quarter-century earlier. The fairly titled "Good Brisk Blues" might have come from a Dylan bootleg, and "Venus in the Morning" does suggest a functional knowledge of barrelhouse music, but the lyrics ("they cover her politely from all indelicate eyes") are from a completely different realm. A self-conscious embrace of abnormality in all its glorious dislocation.