The Kitchen Cinq: "Everything But..." (LHI, 1967)

The Kitchen Cinq were a folk beat group from Amarillo, TX, who were heavily influenced by the British Invasion bands (the Dave Clark Five in particular) and West Coast folk-rock (Beau Brummels, etc.). They evolved from another local Amarillo-based group, the Y'Alls (who, in 1966, recorded the Beatles' "Run for Your Life," along with an original, "Please Come Back to Me," for the Ruff label).

In 1967, the Kitchen Cinq -- Mark Creamer (guitar/vocals), Dale Gardner (bass/vocals), Jim Parker (guitar/vocals), Dallas Smith (guitar), and Johnny Stark (drums) -- issued a total of five impressive singles and one album, Everything but...the Kitchen Cinq, which collected these tracks and added a few additional numbers, including covers of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man" and Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Codeine."

The album and singles were recorded under the supervision of songwriter/arranger/producer Lee Hazlewood and released by Hazlewood's Hollywood-based LHI label (who also issued Safe at Home by Gram Parsons' International Submarine Band). Hazlewood also contributed the closing track, "Need All the Help I Can Get."

The band's jangly version of the Beau Brummels' "Still in Love With You Baby" was a regional hit in many U.S. cities. The Kitchen Cinq released a couple of singles on Decca during 1968, before Parker and Stark joined up with a U.S. touring version of Them. The remainder of the Kitchen Cinq re-formed as Armageddon, issuing an LP on underground label Amos in 1969.

~ Bryan Thomas, All Music Guide