Cats & Dogs
Studio album by
Mental As Anything
ReleasedSeptember 1981
StudioAlbert Studios, Sydney, Australia
GenrePop
Length39:24
LabelRegular Records
ProducerRussell Dunlop, Bruce Brown (plus, on various international versions, Cameron Allan and/or Elvis Costello)
Mental As Anything chronology
Espresso Bongo
(1980)		 Cats & Dogs
(1981)		 Creatures of Leisure
(1983)
Singles from Cats & Dogs
  1. "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?"
    Released: May 1981
  2. "Too Many Times"
    Released: September 1981
  3. "Berserk Warriors"
    Released: December 1981

Cats & Dogs is the third studio album by Australian band Mental As Anything. It was released in September 1981, produced by Bruce Brown and Russell Dunlop,[1] the album peaked at #3 on the Australian chart and #2 on the New Zealand Album charts.[2]

At the 1981 Countdown Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Australian Album.[3]

Cats & Dogs was released in the USA and Europe as If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?.

In October 2010, Cats & Dogs was listed in the top 50 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums[4] having previously been listed in similar polls in the music magazines Rolling Stone, Juice and The Edge.

Recording

Greedy Smith claimed this was their first "proper" album: "With the first one, we didn't know what we wanted or what we should sound like, and the second one just got away from us all together. This time, we put our foot down with the record company and said we wanted more time. We were able to put tracks down, then leave them and think about them."[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]

AllMusic said, "the Mentals created their first true 'classic' album, which takes the best elements from their debut album and betters them by leaps and bounds. Everyone in the band shines on this album, from Martin Plaza's warm drawl to Reg Mombassa's amazing slide fretwork and Greedy Smith's confident and playful keyboards."[7]

Rip It Up agreed the album was, "generally acknowledged as the Mentals' most accomplished album, where their diverse ideas came together consistently."[5]

Cash Box reviewed the revised American version of the album called If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?, which has a slightly different track listing. They claimed "This album of down under 'punk funk and beatnik rockabilly' is actually comprised of selections from two previously released gold Aussie albums and a peppy single produced by Elvis Costello entitled 'I Didn't Mean to Be Mean'. Look for AOR, pop and progressive play on these shores, especially in the wake of the success of antipodean peers Men At Work."[8]

Track listing

Australian & New Zealand Editions

Cats & Dogs [Australian & New Zealand release]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Too Many Times"Andrew 'Greedy' Smith[9]2:52
2."Walking on Rails"Reg Mombassa[9]2:34
3."If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?"Martin Plaza[9]3:12
4."Berserk Warriors"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:51
5."Let's Cook"Martin Plaza[9]2:30
6."Got Hit"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:14
7."Ready for You Now"Martin Plaza[9]2:42
8."Looking for Bird"Wayne Delisle , Reg Mombassa, Martin Plaza[9]3:41
9."Chemical Travel"Reg Mombassa[9]2:57
10."Catalina's Reward"Martin Plaza[9]3:10
11."Psychedelic Peace Lamp"Reg Mombassa[9]3:05
12."Sad Poetry"Andrew Smith[9]2:50
13."Hararei I Akarana"Martin Plaza, Reg Mombassa1:56

Canadian edition

The Canadian edition of Cats & Dogs dropped the album's final five tracks ("Chemical Travel", "Catalina's Reward", "Psychedelic Peace Lamp", "Sad Poetry", and "Hararei I Akarana"), and added two earlier singles ("The Nips Are Getting Bigger", and "Egypt", both of which had originally appeared on Get Wet.)

Cats & Dogs [Canadian release]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Too Many Times"Andrew 'Greedy' Smith[9]2:52
2."Let's Cook"Martin Plaza[9]2:30
3."If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?"Martin Plaza[9]3:12
4."Berserk Warriors"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:51
5."Got Hit"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:14
6."The Nips Are Getting Bigger" (Produced by Cameron Allan from Get Wet)Martin Plaza[9]3:19
7."Walking on Rails"Reg Mombassa[9]2:34
8."Ready for You Now"Martin Plaza[9]2:42
9."Looking for Bird"Wayne Delisle , Reg Mombassa, Martin Plaza[9]3:41
10."Egypt" (Produced by Cameron Allan from Get Wet)Reg Mombassa[9]2:42

US edition

The American edition of Cats & Dogs, re-titled If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?, dropped four tracks ("Chemical Travel", "Catalina's Reward", "Psychedelic Peace Lamp", and "Hararei I Akarana"), and added "The Nips Are Getting Bigger", "Egypt", and the newly recorded single "I Didn't Mean to Be Mean" (produced by Elvis Costello).

If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? [USA release]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?"Martin Plaza[9]3:12
2."Let's Cook"Martin Plaza[9]2:30
3."Too Many Times"Andrew 'Greedy' Smith[9]2:52
4."Got Hit"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:14
5."Looking for Bird"Wayne Delisle , Reg Mombassa, Martin Plaza[9]3:41
6."Ready for You Now"Martin Plaza[9]2:42
7."I Didn't Mean to Be Mean" (Produced By Elvis Costello)Martin Plaza[9]3:25
8."Walking on Rails"Reg Mombassa[9]2:34
9."Sad Poetry"Andrew Smith[9]2:50
10."The Nips Are Getting Bigger" (Produced by Cameron Allan from Get Wet)Martin Plaza[9]3:19
11."Egypt" (Produced by Cameron Allan from Get Wet)Reg Mombassa[9]2:42
12."Berserk Warriors"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:51

UK and European edition

The UK and European edition of Cats & Dogs was resequenced, remixed and re-titled If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?. It included all tracks from the Australian edition ("Harerei I Akarana" was renamed "Holiday in Auckland"), and added "I Didn't Mean to Be Mean". All the tracks were remixed by Dunlop and Brown, in some cases resulting in significantly different timings from the tracks on the original Australian/NZ release. Also note that the version of "I Didn't Mean to Be Mean" included on this album uses a different vocal take than the Australian single mix.

If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? [UK & European release]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?"Martin Plaza[9]3:11
2."Let's Cook"Martin Plaza[9]2:30
3."Too Many Times"Andrew 'Greedy' Smith[9]2:45
4."Got Hit"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:10
5."Looking for Bird"Wayne Delisle , Reg Mombassa, Martin Plaza[9]3:40
6."Ready for You Now"Martin Plaza[9]2:40
7."Chemical Travel"Reg Mombassa[9]3:00
8."I Didn't Mean to Be Mean" (Produced By Elvis Costello)Martin Plaza[9]3:25
9."Walking on Rails"Reg Mombassa[9]2:34
10."Sad Poetry"Andrew Smith[9]2:50
11."Berserk Warriors"Peter O'Doherty[9]3:45
12."Psychedelic Peace Lamp"Reg Mombassa[9]3:02
13."Catalina's Reward"Martin Plaza[9]3:11
14."Holiday in Auckland"Martin Plaza, Reg Mombassa1:53

Personnel

Musicians

Recording details

  • Bruce Brown — Producer, Engineer
  • Russell Dunlop — Producer, Engineer

Charts

Chart (1981/82) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[10] 3
Canada (RPM (magazine))[11] 44
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[12] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1982) Position
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[13] 49

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[14] Platinum 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalogue
Australia & New Zealand September 1981 Regular Records Vinyl LP, Cassette L37646
UK & Europe 1982 A&M Records Vinyl LP, Cassette AMLH64921
Canada November 1982 Solid Gold Records Vinyl LP, Cassette SGR1009
United States November 1982 A&M Records Vinyl LP, Cassette SP4921
Australia 1992 Regular Records CD D19562

References

  1. ↑ Holmgren, Magnus; Johns, Shane; Warnqvist, Stefan. "Mental As Anything". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  2. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  3. ↑ "Australian Music Awards". Ron Jeff. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  4. ↑ O'Donnell, John; Creswell, Toby; Mathieson, Craig (October 2010). 100 Best Australian Albums. Prahran, Vic: Hardie Grant Books. ISBN 978-1-74066-955-9.
  5. 1 2 Duncan Campbell (1 April 1982). "Mentals: Greedy spills the beans". Rip It Up. No. 57.
  6. ↑ AllMusic review
  7. ↑ Stephen Schnee. "Cats & Dogs". AllMusic.
  8. ↑ "Feature Picks" (PDF). Cash Box. 11 December 1982. p. 8. Retrieved 5 December 2021 – via World Radio History.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 "APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 5 December 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  10. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 198. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. ↑ "Volume 36, No. 25, July 31, 1982". RPM 50 Albums. Library and Archives Canada. 31 July 1982. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
  12. ↑ "Charts.nz – Mental as Anything – Cats and Dogs". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1982 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  14. ↑ Baker, Glen A. (28 May 1983). "Australia - Explosive Talent Gains Temper Year of playing Dangerously" (PDF). Billboard. p. A=6. Retrieved 31 October 2020 – via World Radio History.
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