David Stoughton - Transformer, UK Copy Top Condition
£
40
$
53
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Description
David Stoughton - Transformer
(Elektra EKS74034 Original 1968 UK LP)
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Tracks:
The Sun Comes Up Each Day
The Summer Had No Breeze
The Anecdote Of Horatio and Julie
Saving For A rainy Day
Evening Song
I Don’t Know If It’s You
Musicians:
David Stoughton - Guitar & Vocals
Joe Livolsi - Drums
Mal Mackenzie - Bass
John Nicholls - Vocals
Devi Klate - Vocals
Steve Tanzer - Flute & Piccolo
Peter Chapman - Horns
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Here’s a beautiful copy of one of the most difficult Psychedelic albums to track down as a UK pressing. Only released for a very short time on the rough textured orange Elektra label, this must have sold in miniscule amounts at the time, even in today’s enlightened world where every obscure album is known by everyone this is a fairly unknown one and although US copies are usually available for a reasonable price a lot of UK collectors don’t realise that this was also issued here.
Musically this fairly out there which can’t have helped it’s sales prospects at the time. The over-riding influences appear to be Tim Buckley, United States Of America and, occasionally, Love. Certainly side one begins as if it were influenced by Love with an orchestrated track including prominent trumpet, the singing is slightly flat but oddly it works in this setting. Track 2 is more USA-like with nice female vocals over a flute led backing. The next track is very trippy, like USA at their psychiest, at times it degenerates into a weird musical sound collage with the singer asking over and over “How do you like that Horatio?” before musical sense is resumed with a more structured ending, very strange and to these ears very good. Side two follows the same pattern with a straightish song begin the side which then gets more and more psychy as it proceeds with a very trippy, experimental, almost avante garde, feeling throughout. I like this album a lot and I know a lot of other psych collectors also rate it highly.
A very rare record as a UK pressing, in fact when I got my own copy about five years ago a very well known specialist Psych dealer told me that UK copies don’t exist and was astounded when I showed him mine. This is the first spare UK copy I’ve had since then and I don’t ever recall seeing another UK copy offered for sale. The story behind this record is that I was invited to look through the warehouse of a well known second hand record store a few months ago and found it there. The shop owner told me that he bought a load of unplayed Elektra albums in the mid 80’s and this had been lying around ever since. So, apart from the twice I’ve played this it’s entirely possible that it’s otherwise unplayed. Certainly the visible and aural condition would back up that theory.
The sleeve is in very strong condition indeed. A very strong EX, a couple of lamination creases at the bottom corners and a very slight circular indentation where the records sits are the only things that mar the front, these things apart, it’s extremely clean with no sign of any writing, no tears, no ringwear, the lamination is clean and bright with a nice reflective finish, a lovely example of a record cover which has been well stored for over 40 years.
The rear sleeve is in equally fine condition, again one or two light (light!) lamination creases but no other defects to speak of, no writing, no tears, no ringwear or any other type of wear - nice!
Both top and bottom seams are totally unworn
The spine is clean and totally unworn with all of the writing clearly readable.
Both labels are clean with no damage of any type.
The disc itself is about as close to Mint as a 41 year old record can be. I’m calling it NM and I doubt anyone will be disappointed. Visually it’s just beautiful, lovely and clean with no visible surface marks anywhere, even when held under a very harsh lamp no marks were revealed. When played it easily lives up to the high standards set by it’s visual appearance. The sound is clear and clean and covers a wide dynamic range with no trouble at all. There was the odd very light crackle between tracks one side one the first time I played this but this must just have been very light dust deep in the grooves as the second play was fine. That aside this plays just a nice as you could hope for, no jumping, no sticking, no groove wear, no distortion, no crackles, pops or clicks just a beautiful clean audio experience.
So, a lovely copy of an extremely rare album, it will be a very long time before you see another UK copy of this album in this type of condition.
The price includes UK postage, overseas postage extra. I’d prefer payment by cheque from UK buyers but paypal is available if necessary, overseas buyers must use paypal. Sorry, but I will not post anything to Canada under any circumstances.
If anyone has any questions or needs more information about anything just let me know.
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