title: Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign
text: # Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign
  
  Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign was the fourth solo LP by Dory Previn, released in November 1972. This was a thematic album about Hollywood misfits. The songs were intended for a musical revue that ran briefly in Los Angeles. It was planned to stage it on Broadway, but the previews were poor and the show was cancelled before it opened.
  
  ## Reception
  
  Professional ratings :
  
  | Review scores ||
  | - | - |
  | Source | Rating |
  | Allmusic | |
  | Christgau's Record Guide | D |
  
  Robert Christgau, writing in Creem, panned the album, saying "Previn doesn't just belabor a cliche, she flails it with barbed wire, and she never writes about a concrete situation when with extra words she can falsify it with abstraction."
  
  Charles Donovan, for AllMusic, wrote: "Even when writing in cliché she impresses: "The Perfect Man" is her take on the tale of the golden man with feet of clay, and should by rights be toe-curling and unimaginative. Instead, it's an arresting piece with a pretty, counterpoint piano accompaniment. Only the grating honky-tonk arrangements elsewhere disappoint."
  
  ## Track listing
  
  * "Mary C. Brown and The Hollywood Sign" (4'41)
  * "The Holy Man On Malibu Bus Number Three" (4'45)
  * "The Midget's Lament" (4'07)
  * "When a Man Wants a Woman" (2'25)
  * "Cully Surroga He's Almost Blind" (5'12)
  * "Left Hand Lost" (4'56)
  * "The Perfect Man" (3'11)
  * "Starlet Starlet On The Screen Who Will Follow Norma Jean?" (2'36)
  * "Don't Put Him Down" (3'55)
  * "King Kong" (3'54)
  * Medley (8'36)
     * "Morning Star/Evening Star"
     * "Jesus Was a Androgyne"
     * "Anima/Animus"
  
  ## Personnel
  
  * Laurindo Almeida – guitar
  * David Cohen – guitar
  * Bryan Garofalo – bass
  * John Guerin – drums
  * Peter Jameson – guitar
  * Tom Keene – keyboards
  * Michael Lang – keyboards
  * Joe Osborn – bass
  * Earl Palmer – drums
  * Reinie Press – bass
  * Dory Previn – vocals, guitar
  * Peggy Sandvig – keyboards
  * Ron Tutt – drums
  