2 Psych 45 Left Banke Coke Hertz ADS DesirePS

$

40

Welcome to my Psych, Prog, Garage, Surf, Folk and Funk, and Oddball LP sale!! See my other ads for more strange and exotic LPs!... This is for 2 rare Left Banke 45s "Desiree" on US issue Smash Records and a strange 45 (with spindle hole for LP size) possible import/private pressing of 3 radio ads for Coke "Things Go Better", Hertz Rent A Car, and Toni Hairspray "Holding Power?"......The Desiree 45 sleeve has a "217" written in ink on top right corner and very minor ring wear, so overall in very good condition- which is really tough to find as these thin paper sleeves fell apart FAST! The 45 vinyl (Desiree/I've Got Something) has some minor storage marks, but played fine, overall it is in very good condition.. The Ads 45 has the 3 ads on both sides of the vinyl, and a fold out cover with live and studio photos of the band - has a quality like a photostat, but that's the way it was! The vinyl is near MINT, played great!! and very very strange to hear them hawking stuff with their music! It really sounds just like them!!!.....I use Goldmine Magazine's strict guidelines for grading records.. This is part of a friend's collectors hell- he would buy the 45s and LPs used, put the jacket in a poly outer sleeve, and place the LP in a poly lined inner sleeve, then store it, NEVER playing it!!!.If it was sealed, he never openned it!!!...Mailed in a special Hard cardboard LP or 45 mailer for the safest ride to your house...I will combine auction wins to save you postage, but please let me know, and multiple purchases in the USA will ALL GO INSURED...Overseas buyers have the option for registration.. Also I do want to MOVE these out of here, so please complete all the combined auctions in a 2 week period, if possible...Overseas buyers please note that many countries have a 4 pound MAXIMUM on air mail packages, so there is a 4 to 5 LP limit on each shipment. And luckily NO packages have been lost via airmail overseas. Please check the US Post Office internet for postage costs and policies...Personnel: MICHAEL BROWN (LOOKOFSKY) piano A C D E GEORGE CAMERON drms, (vcls) A B C E F G WARREN DAVID drms A TOM FINN bs A B C E F G STEVE MARTIN vcls, drms A B C E F G JEFF WINFIELD gtr B RICK BRAND gtr C E EP: 1 Adverts: Coca Cola/Hertz/Toni Hair Spray (Winfield Boot) 1990 45s: Desiree/I've Got Something On My Mind (PS) (Smash 2119) Oct. 1967 98 The brainchild behind this band was Michael Brown, who'd been born in New York as Michael Lookofsky. He'd undergone a classical musical training and his father, Harry, was a respected musician who owned a recording studio and gave his son much encouragement in his career as a producer and pianist. Brown's first disc was a 45 in 1965, Its Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)/They Just Don't Care, which was credited to an outfit called Christopher and The Chaps. The 'A' side was a Bob Dylan cover, the flip was written by M. Lookofsky and B. Jerome (whoever he was) and produced by Harry Lookofsky's World United Productions. However, it soon vanished without trace. Brown resurfaced soon after with line-up 'A' of The Left Banke, although on their debut 45 Walk Away Renee, which appeared on Smash in July 1966 and eventually made it into the Top Ten in November that year, Harry Lookofsky made use of session musicians. It seems that the musical abilities of some group members were rather dubious. The song was later covered by The Four Tops giving them a massive U.K. hit. After the follow-up, Pretty Ballerina, had also made the Top 20, the band began work on their debut album. Around this time Jeff Winfield was replaced by Rick Brand, a talented guitarist and songwriter. The album was a successful vehicle for Michael Brown's songwriting talents, his father's production skills (making use as it did of studio techniques and session musicians) and Steve Martin's haunting vocals. It's a very consistent album and, aside from the first two singles, it featured several other gems notably Shadows Breaking Over My Head, She May Call You Up Tonight and I've Got Something On My Mind, it's rather sad, therefore that the group subsequently collapsed when Michael Brown announced he wanted to experiment and compose in the studio and wouldn't tour with the band anymore. Hereafter, the band's history becomes rather complex with both the remaining four members and Brown (who'd put together a new line-up (D)) claiming the name. Brown and Tom Feher (from (C)) penned another lovely song, Ivy Ivy, which was released as a follow-up 45 and later withdrawn when the other four band members demanded that radio stations boycott the disc. She May Call You Up Tonight was released instead, but neither 45 made any commercial impression. An attempted reconciliation took place in September 1967 and another Brown/Feher composition Desiree was issued in the hope of relaunching the group. However, radio stations tended to steer clear of it and the anticipated commerical comeback just did not happen. At this point Brown quit the group but the remaining members soldiered on producing a brace of good 45s:- Dark Is The Bark, Goodbye Holly and Bryant Hotel - which came nearer to the 'group' sound as opposed to orchestrated backing that Brand and the other remaining members wanted. They also released a further album, Too, which suffered overall from Brown's absence but matched their earlier effort in its finest moments (particularly with There's A Storm Coming). It was generally ignored and after just one further 45, Myrah (which has become the band's rarest 45), the band (by now a trio (line-up E)) gave up the ghost, shelving plans for a projected third album with just one cut left in the can. Brown went on to form Montage in 1969, which was really another vehicle for his songwriting and production skills and later he formed Stories (in 1972) and The Beckies (in 1976). More recently, circa 1998, he was responsible for producing / engineering / songwriting and providing keyboards on Yvonne Vitale's On This Moment CD. Sadly, the album, on the aptly named "Endangered" record label, was quickly withdrawn and less than 200 copies are thought to have survived. Bert Sommer became an actor in the Broadway production of "Hair", had a minor hit single with We're All Playing In The Same Band in 1970, and died of liver failure on July 23 1990. The Bam-Caruso compilation, issued in 1982, rekindled some interest in the band. It was reissued in 1988 with two additional cuts, Walk Away Renee and a mono version of Foggy Waterfall (the one track in the can for the third and never completed LP). Voices Calling was taken from the master tapes of a 1978 reunion of line-up E. This and all the other retrospective compilations except for There's Gonna Be A Storm - The Complete Recordings 1966 - 69 (which contains both their original albums, as well as several rare bonus tracks) are now deleted. With their lavish orchestration and complex arrangements, this baroque-rock outfit is still lovingly remembered by many psychedelic rock fans. Compilation appearances have included: Walk Away Renee on Highs Of The Sixties; Desiree on More Nuggets (CD); and Pretty Ballerina on Nuggets, Vol. 11 (LP); The bands Coca Cola ad from 1967 can also be heard on From The New World, Vol. 1 - one of three adverts they which has also featured on a recent bootleg EP. From The New World Vol.1 also includes Christopher and The Chaps' They Don't Care. Tom Finn had earlier been in The Magic Plants.