Mint Tattoo was born as an off-shoot of the legendary '60s proto-punk acid band
Blue Cheer. Bruce Stevens and Ralph Burns Kellogg had played together in
Blue Cheer on the band's self-titled album in 1969, but after that one album, Stevens left the band to pursue other interests. Kellogg stayed on with
Blue Cheer until the demise of the band in 1971, but during his tenure with
Blue Cheer he reunited with Stevens, along with drummer Greg Thomas to form the band
Mint Tattoo. Produced by James William Guercio (
Chicago) and engineered by Phil Ramone in New York,
Mint Tattoo is a mixture of blues-styled original songs, a cover of classic blues numbers and some rather uninspired, typical-for-the-era hard rock tunes. Not an overly exciting album, compared to the early
Blue Cheer material, but none the less a period piece and better than most material that was being released in the early '70s. [The album's reissue contained a bonus track and faithfully reproduced the graphics as they originally appeared on Dot Records in 1969.] ~ Keith Pettipas