NAPOLEON XIV COMING TO TAKE ME N/MINT ORIG'67 STEREO LP

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32

    
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·       NAPOLEON XIV – THEY’RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA-HA! – ORIGINAL 1966 WARNER BROTHERS STEREO LP WS-1661

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·       ORIGINAL GOLD WARNER BROTHERS STEREO LABEL

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

·       CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·       MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-1B/-1B'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

 (►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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The weirdest novelty record to hit the Top 40 -- indeed, a strong candidate for the weirdest hit record of any kind, period -- was Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" Against a clomp-clomp tambourine beat, Napoleon spoke-chanted his manic-depressive tale of failed romance, the vocals suddenly speeding up into an unsettlingly cheerful giddiness as sirens revved up in the background. Not a single note of music was played or sung throughout the track, which zoomed up to number three in the summer of 1966, as the necessary counterpoint to Barry Sadler's insipid, similarly off-the-wall smash that year, "The Ballad of the Green Berets." The implications of a song in which the narrator describes himself going crazy and being carted off to the loony bin selling a million copies had unsettling implications for a nation that prides itself on its stability and character. It engendered great controversy and only stayed in the Top 20 for five weeks, partially because many radio stations withdrew the record from their playlists, possibly because of complaints from concerned parents and other righteous citizens.

Napoleon XIV was actually Jerry Samuels, a 28-year-old recording engineer who had previously written small hit singles for pop crooners Johnny Ray and Sammy Davis, Jr., as well as making a conventional single of his own. "They're Coming to Take Me Away" was a sophisticated production feat for its time, with a maddening beat produced by tambourines, drums, and thigh slaps. The principal drum pattern was crafted by looping a ten-second piece of tape, and Samuels varied the speed of the vocals to simulate the off-the-rails state of a man going crazy while keeping the background tempo constant. Even weirder was the flip side, "!Aaah-ah, Yawa Em Ekat ot Gnimoc Er'yeht," which was -- you guessed it -- the A-side run backwards, a blend that yielded what was probably the most unlistenable piece of vinyl of all time.

To capitalize on the left-field success of "They're Coming to Take Me Away," Samuels/Napoleon XIV quickly produced an album of variations on the theme, such as "Bats in My Belfry" and "I Live in a Split-Level Head." Most of the material (unlike the single) was not written by Samuels, but by comedy writer Jim Lehner (once the head writer for Jonathan Winters) and composer Bobby Gosh (then writing with Sammy Cahn!), and the novelty quickly wore thin over the course of an LP. "They're Coming to Take Me Away" isn't the kind of single that lends itself to formulaic follow-ups, though Samuels/Napoleon XIV did release other singles, and recorded an unreleased album in the late '60s. Considering its title, For God's Sake, Stop the Feces!, it may have been better off remaining in the can.

Samuels went on to a career as unpredictable as his hit smash, making his living for a time selling marijuana roach clips to head shops. For a couple of decades he worked the piano bars of the Philadelphia area; on a Napoleon XIV reissue CD he proudly noted that "I became probably the most popular entertainer at nursing homes and senior facilities in the Philadelphia and Delaware Valley area." (Presumably he didn't play his hit single for those audiences.)

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY RICHIE UNTERBERGER, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

For additional historical information on this album, including track listing ►click here

THIS IS A NO-RESERVE AUCTION!

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·       CONDITION:

·       RECORD

 (IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)           Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·       COVER

THE COVER IS ABOUT VERY GOOD+(+)

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has some writing on its front side (name of the previous owner written in blue ballpoint pen, about 1/4 x 1/2  inch in size)

-         Cover has a partially split top seam (between 1 and 2 inches  / 2.5 to 5 centimeters)

-         Cover has a partially split bottom seam (between 1 and 2 inches  / 2.5 to 5 centimeters)

-         The front cover has a tiny, inconspicuous,  metal ring in the upper left corner, indicating that the album was the property of the radio or broadcasting station.

-         Cover has some ring wear.; On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 3  (front side) and 5 (back side).

-         Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging.

-         Back cover has circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

-         Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine  (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

-         Cover has some fraying/wear along the top and bottom seams

NO OTHER IMPERFECTIONS ON THE COVER:

-        No cut-out (drill) holes.

-        No cut-out corners

-        No saw-marks or indents

-        No stamps

-        No peel-off marks

-        No stains

-        No mold or mildew spots

-        No stickers or labels

-        No water damage

-        No razor marks, scratches, pressure marks, lines, streaks, or  cuts.

-        No warping

-        No wax, glue, paint or liquid drops on the cover

-        No glue traces or wax residue.

-        No bar codes

-        No RIAA stamps or stickers. 

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