Mouse And The Traps - Look At The Sun (1968)

Ronald Lon "Mouse" Weiss and Dave Stanley were members of a local band named Jerry Vee and the Catalinas (or simply the Catalinas) in 1964, and Weiss had also performed on the regional hit single 'Lucky Lips' by Steve Wright and The Catalinas, that was later released nationally by Dot Records. Weiss and Stanley met Bugs Henderson, lead guitarist for local instrumental band The Sensors, and Knox Henderson (no relation to Bugs), and the co-wrote 'A Public Execution' and brought the song to Robin Hood Brians, who managed Robin Hood Studios. This song – which strongly resembles Bob Dylan's music in the mid-1960s – was released as the band's first single in 1966 under the name Mouse, and shortly afterwards Jerry Howell and Ken (Nardo) Murray joined the group, with most of their remaining music was released under the name Mouse And The Traps. 'A Public Execution' has been described as more Dylan-esque than any of their later music, and reached No. 121 on Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, but although their second single 'Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice' was much punkier, it didn't repeat their earlier chart success. Their next single was a novelty song that went in a completely different direction, with 'Would You Believe' being a take-off on the running gag of that name by Don Adams on the television sitcom 'Get Smart', but this record was actually only credited to Mouse rather than the group. 

After releasing several singles on the Fraternity Records label, Mouse and the Traps also recorded two singles for Bell Records that were produced by Dale Hawkins, and they also performed on two of Hawkins' singles, and contributed toward his 1966 album on the label, 'L.A., Memphis and Tyler, Texas'. By 1966, the members of Mouse And The Traps – along with Robin Hood Brians and Doug Rhone – were working with singer Jimmy Rabbitt, who was attempting to launch a band under the name Positively 13 O'Clock. Continuing their Dylan connection, the name is an obvious play on Dylan's hit in the same time period, 'Positively 4th Street', and a Los Angeles studio session at Hanna-Barbera Records in September 1966 resulted in their only recorded single, a frantic version of Count Five's 'Psychotic Reaction', with a planned album by the band never materializing. By 1968 Mouse And The Traps had recorded enough material for an album under their own name, and so if they'd managed to get a label interested then it could have sounded very much like this. As this is a Mouse And The Traps album, I'm not including the singles released by Mouse on his own, which is actually a wise decision as the Dylan-esque vibes of 'A Public Execution' and 'Do The Best You Can' don't really sit that well alongside their more psychedelic/R&B offerings. 

Track listing

01 You Don't Love Me (You Don't Care)
02 Cryin' Inside
03 Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice
04 L.O.V.E. Love
05 I'm A Man
06 Lie, Beg, Borrow And Steal
07 Sometimes You Just Can't Win
08 I Am The One
09 I Satisfy
10 Requiem For Sarah
11 Look At The Sun

12 Like I Know You Do

13 Good Times
14 Mohair Sam